Digital photography tips and techniques

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The Top 10 Digital Photography Mistakes

As you plunge head first into digital photography with Windows, take comfort in the fact that others have gone before you. They made mistakes and learned from them. That doesn't mean you won't make a few unique missteps of your own. But you can avoid common mistakes that tripped up digital photography's early enthusiasts. To help, here are the 10 most common mistakes that you should avoid.

1) The camera has insufficient resolution or features.

Before you buy a digital camera, consider how you intend to use it (both now and in the future). If you plan on making lots and lots of prints that are 8x10 or larger, avoid lower resolution models. Similarly, if you want to connect a second flash, the camera must have a hot shoe or other method for triggering it (and most digital cameras don't). Develop your own list of must-have features, then choose a camera that can help you get there.

2) Select a low-resolution setting on the camera.

A good way to squeeze more photos onto a memory card is to set the camera to less than its maximum resolution. That's fine until you take a spectacular photo and want to make a large print from it. Reducing a camera's resolution limits the use of the photos it records, and it can all but eliminate the possibility of producing a detailed, large print. Unless you're absolutely sure that the photos will only be displayed on the Web, or put to another low-resolution use, keep the resolution turned up to its highest JPEG or TIFF setting. When a great photo comes along, you'll be glad you did. Learn more about resolution.

3) Run out of battery power at a crucial moment.

Digital cameras need power, and lots of it. There's nothing more frustrating than pressing the shutter button and hearing the sound of silence brought on by a dead battery. To guarantee the camera is ready when you are, make sure that the batteries are fully charged, and make sure you have a backup battery, too. Learn more about camera batteries.

4) Run out of memory card space at a crucial moment.

Most digital cameras come with a memory card. But it rarely has sufficient capacity for anything other than short sessions of photographing low-resolution photos. Consider how many pictures you're likely to take, and make sure you have the memory card capacity you need. Purchase the highest-capacity memory card your budget allows or purchase multiple lower-capacity cards, and you won't worry about running out of space when you need it most.

5) Prematurely pull the memory card out of the camera.

Shooting a picture kicks off a complex chain of events in a digital camera, which ends with a photo being written to the memory card. This process can take a few seconds. It takes even longer if you've shot several photos in quick succession. It's critical that you allow the camera to finish writing before removing the memory card. If the card is pulled prematurely, photos may be lost or damaged beyond repair. Digital cameras have an indicator light that blinks when the camera is writing. Check that it's stopped flashing before you start tugging on the card. A good rule of thumb is to turn off the camera before attempting to remove the card

6) Failure to anticipate and work with a camera's slowness to fire.

The good news is that more and more digital cameras offer the same responsiveness as film cameras. Simply put, they take a picture as soon as you press the shutter button. Unfortunately, some models are still slow off the draw, so what you see in the viewfinder is not necessarily the photo the camera captures. If this describes your camera, there are two ways to combat the problem. First, when watching a scene unfold in front of your lens, learn to anticipate when the best moment is coming and press the shutter button right away. Second, when shooting stationary subjects, become familiar with the camera's focus lock feature. Often, if the camera has already focused on the subject, it fires almost immediately after the shutter button is pressed.

7) Shoot fast-moving sequences in single-shot mode.

Out of the box, your camera may be set to shoot a single photograph, then write that photo to the memory card before it's ready to take another picture. It might also automatically display the photo briefly as it's doing this. This works fine when photographing things that don't move.

As soon as you turn your lens toward any sort of stop-and-go activity, you'll want to set up the camera differently. Most allow you to disable the automatic display after each photo, which usually improves the camera's responsiveness. Many models also offer a mode where you can shoot several photos in succession before the camera pauses.

8) Develop a digital workflow that's all work and no flow.

Maximizing enjoyment and minimizing frustration with a digital camera means starting out with a sensible plan for transferring photos to the computer, sorting and organizing them, backing them up on CD and more. Disciplining yourself to develop and adhere to a smooth workflow may sound like the height of dullness, but it's essential for trouble-free and efficient use of a digital camera. Learn more about creating a digital photography workflow.

9) Expect image editing software to fix everything.

In the movies, computers can miraculously restore the detail in a photo that is completely out of focus, or transform a photo shot at night into one that appears to have been shot at noon. In the real world, computers aren't endowed with the same magical powers.

Good image editing software can clean up odd color in a photo caused by fluorescent lighting, remove red-eye, improve brightness and contrast, and more, but there is a limit to how well a photo can be fixed. If you're shooting low-resolution photos, or photos of poor quality, you'll hit the limit often. With digital photography, the garbage in-garbage out rule applies. See Some Photos Can't Be Fixed.

10) Save over an original photo.

You know that sinking feeling: You're experimenting with an image editing software application, seeing how wild and strange you can make the photo's color. The effect is interesting, and you want to work on it some more tomorrow. Hit Ctrl-S and the photo is saved.

Only you didn't mean to do that. And now the original photo file has been overwritten by your study in psychedelic color. What you meant to do was go to the File menu, choose Save As, and make a copy of the original before editing.

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Resources

photoxels.com

Review and fact sheets on the best digital cameras

shortcourses.com

offers information and resources to sharpen your digital photography skill.

DigitalCamera-HQ.com

Unbiased reviews, prices and advice on digital cameras

http://www.oculartravel.com/pixworld/Digital_Camera.asp