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Use this digital camera buyers guide to get the information you’ll need to make a great decision. It’s short and sweet AND it’s all written inplain English! The goal of this digital camera buyers guide is to give you good useful information in a simple step-by-step process! Digital cameras make it easy to email, print and play with pictures. However, not all are made the same….some produce much higher quality images than others. Before jumping into the digital camera buyers guide decide what you’ll be doing with your pictures. It’ll make your decision making much easier. You’ll save yourself some time and money!

• Are you interested in emailing pictures? Maybe using online photo albums or putting them on web pages?
• Will you be making some 4 x 6 or 5 x 7 inch prints as well?
• Do you also want some blow ups, 8 x 10 inch pictures perhaps?
• Or are you looking for professional quality images?

All set? Great! Keep this in mind as you read the rest of the digital camera buyers guide…

Digital Camera Buyers Guide Step #1… Megapixels? You’ll Need Them

Understanding this first step of the digital camera buyers guide willsave you the most time and money! When looking to buy a digital camera you won’t be able to avoid making a decision about ‘Megapixels’. The term is plastered all over every camera ad. There’s tons of confusing information about megapixels in digital camera buyers guides. Here’s what you need to know… Digital pictures (or images – we’ll use both terms, how’s that!) are made up of lots of little dots called pixels. The more pixels, the sharper the picture. Camera manufacturers report the number of pixels using the term ‘Megapixels’. One million pixels = 1 Megapixel, two million pixels = 2 Megapixels and so on. Digital Camera Buyers Guide Tip: Sometimes you may see it referred to in horizontal and vertical numbers, like ‘1600 pixels x 1200 pixels’. Multiply the numbers to get Megapixels….in this case 2 Megapixels. The more Megapixels the higher the quality of the image. Most stores carry cameras ranging from 1 – 11 Megapixels. So you’d think your best move is to buy the camera with the mostMegapixels that fits into your budget. Right? Well, that’s one way and probably not such a bad approach. However, you may not need lots of Megapixels to really enjoy your camera and get great looking pictures. Here’s why… If you’re planning on viewing your images on a computer screen (for example, in email messages, on websites, or in online photo albums) you won’t notice a difference between a 2 Megapixel digital image and one that has 4 or 5 Megapixels. Your typical computer monitor can’t display all the detail that a 4 or 5 Megapixel picture contains. The images are just too big.  So when should you care about higher Megapixel cameras? Answer: If you’re looking for enlargements. Pictures taken with higher Megapixel digital cameras (4, 5 and 6 for example) contain more information. These pictures can be printed at larger sizes before they start looking fuzzy. The more Megapixels you want, the more you’ll have to pay. Digital Camera Buyers Guide Tip: If you’re a casual user who wants to email some pictures to friends and family and print off some 5×7 inch pictures a 2 Megapixel camera will be fine (I use a 2.1 Megapixel digital camera and love it!). Anything higher than 3 Megapixels may not be worth the money for a casual user. You won’t notice any difference in picture quality of 5×7 inch prints or on your computer screen with more than 3 megapixels. Of course there are exceptions… If you’re a professional and have a real need for the sharpest pictureavailable you’ll want to go for as many Megapixels as the budget allows. As you move up the Megapixel chain the cameras will have more manual controls and add-ons like interchangeable lenses. You’ll also be able to develop big enlargements of your best pics. One more tip… There’s more to a good digital camera than Megapixels. Good lenses and computer sensors also play key roles in image quality. Make sure you’re getting these by sticking with the top manufacturers (Canon, Olympus, Fuji, Nikon, Sony and Kodak for example). OK, let’s summarize:

Digital Camera Buyers Guide Step #2…  Zoom Zoom

Zoom allows you to change between wide angle and close up shots. This step of the digital camera buyers guide has a couple of things towatch out for when looking at zoom… Most digital cameras have optical zoom and digital zoom. Don’t be fooled….it’s optical zoom that produces the best picture quality. The two types of zoom work together. You can zoom in with optical zoom…this makes the lenses on your camera move…and then you can zoom in even more by using digital zoom. To see the results of the digital zoom you’ll need to look on the LCD on the back of the digital camera. But beware….the quality of your pictures can suffer when using digital zoom. Digital Camera Buyers Guide Tip: Digital zoom reduces the resolution of your picture. When you print your pictures there’s a better chance they may have some fuzziness. Look for a camera with optical zoom or a combination of the two. You can also buy add-on lenses to give you more flexibilty,  It’s common to find digital cameras with a 3x optical zoom lens. You’ll find some have as much as 10x. When putting this digital camera buyers guide together I found some cameras will advertise something like a 5x zoom without specifying if it’s optical or digital. Make sure you read the fine print. OK, you’ve figured out Megapixels and understand optical zoom isbetter than digital zoom….it’s time to move on. Next up, step 3 of the digital camera buyers guide…

Digital Camera Buyers Guide Step #3… You’ll Need Memory

Digital cameras use memory instead of film to store pictures. The memory is reusable, unlike film in a traditional camera. In this step of the digital camera buyers guide we’ll cover the types of memory and what you should know about each. There’s two main types: 1. Internal or Built-In Memory 2. Removable Memory…referred to as ‘Memory cards’. Low-end digital cameras will sometimes use built-in memory, however, most popular digital cameras use removable memory cards. Removable memory cards allows you to easily upgrade to handle more pictures. You can simply remove the memory card from the digital camera andslip in a new one. This gives you some flexibility to upgrade to a larger memory card or to swap out a full one with a spare so that you can keep snapping away. This is especially useful when you’re away from your computer or taking a lot of pictures on one trip. There are several different types of memory cards used by the different manufacturers. Most are about the size of a match book or stick of gum. CompactFlash is the most popular type of memory card. SmartMedia and the Sony Memory Stick are also widely used. Less popular ones include MultiMediaCards, CompactFlash II, and IBM Microdrives. Digital Camera Buyers Guide Tip: CompactFlash is typically the most durable and cheapest memory available. This type is used by Canon, Nikon, Casio, Minolta, HP and some older Kodak models. Most Olympus and Fuji digital cameras use SmartMedia cards….and both are now introducing a new type of card – called XD Memory cards. These XD cards are tiny! About half the size of CompactFlash memory cards and they’re really fast…so writing your picture to the card is pretty quick. Sony has created its own type of memory card called the ‘Memory Stick’. They use the same cards in Sony digital cameras, video cameras and the Sony personal digital assistant (their version of the Palm Pilot). This makes it really easy to share pictures between all their products. Researching for this digital camera buyers guide I found Sony also hasa digital camera that uses small recordable CDs instead of memory cards. These can be used in any CD-ROM drive. It’s the Sony MVC-CD250 2MP CD Mavica…pretty cool! MultiMediaCards (and their newer cousin – Secure Digital cards) are used in Palm Pilots, some Panasonic camcorders and newer Kodak cameras. The IBM Microdrive fits into a special type of CompactFlash slot, called CompactFlash Type II. These can hold the largest amount of pictures on a single card, more than 1Gig (1000MB) worth of your pictures. Most digital cameras will come with one 16MB or 32MB (MB = Mega Byte) memory card. The more MBs the more pictures you can hold on the memory card. Here’s an estimate of how many pictures will fit on memory cards with different sizes…

So if you plan to take a lot of pictures it may be a good idea to buy more memory for your camera. You can expect to pay less than a dollar per MB. Putting this digital camera buyers guide together I found 128 MB CompactFlash memory cards for $40…and you can buy them almost anywhere. I noticed my local drug store now carries them! Alright, we now understand memory! Next up in the digital camera buyers guide are…LCDs…

Digital Camera Buyers Guide Step #4… Show Me the Picture

Most digital cameras come with an optical viewfinder (the thing you look through to take your picture), just like the one you use on regular film cameras. Today almost all digital cameras also come with a LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). This allows you to see your pictures instantly! The LCD looks like a mini computer screen. Putting together this digital camera buyers guide I found only a few beginner cameras don’t have LCDs. Also, you may find a couple of 1 and 2 Megapixel cameras without them….when you see a really low price there’s probably no LCD. LCDs use the same technology as flat screen displays. They are one of the best features of digital cameras. After you take each picture you can see if you’ve cut anyone’s head off or maybe half an arm! You can also use the LCD to preview how the picture will look before you take it. They’re also great for browsing your pictures and deleting any that don’t make the cut. Digital Camera Buyers Guide Tip: If you wear eyeglasses look for a digital camera with a focusable diopter in the optical viewfinder so you can adjust the focus. And beware! Some digital cameras do not have viewfinders, only a LCD. This is bad for two reasons:

1. It’s difficult to hold the camera steady while looking at a little LCD screen.
2. LCDs eat up a lot of battery power. So if you’re using the LCD allthe time because you don’t have a viewfinder – keep extra batteries handy!

One more thing to note….more expensive digital cameras will sometimes refer to themselves as SLR cameras. SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex – in plain English – this means that what you see in the viewfinder is exactly what comes out in your picture. There’s another type of viewfinder that you should know about. They’re like mini LCD screens and replace the optical viewfinder. They’re called EVFs - Electronic View Finders. An EVF can provide a very accurate view of your picture but some tend to be choppy or very dark when used in poor lighting – however they are becoming more and more popular. Fuji Film is using them quite a lot on their higher end models. Okay, all done with viewfinders and LCDs. Next up in the digital camera buyers guide, Power…

Digital Camera Buyers Guide Step #5… Power Check

Digital cameras eat up batteries quickly….especially when using the LCD. I’d bet few of us consider batteries before making a purchase but in this case it’s important. You may get as little as 15 minutes of life on 4 AA batteries. If the digital camera you’re looking at doesn’t come with rechargeable batteries I’d suggest investing in some – they’ll save you money quickly. Some digital cameras come with an AC adapter, but not many…typically you’ll have to purchase an AC adapter separately. I’d recommend you seriously consider buying one if your camera doesn’t come with it – here’s why…it can be a real pain to run out of batterylife in the middle of transferring a bunch of pictures from your camera to your computer. It’s happened to me…my computer froze, I had to reboot it and then wait for the battery to recharge before I could start over – a real time waster! Here’s another buyers guide tip…when looking at rechargeables keep in mind the two best types:

1. Lithium ion – long lasting power, small and recharge quickly (but more expensive and they are camera specific!)
2. Nickel Hydride – cheaper and these come in common sizes (AA for example), so you can use them with other toys.

Nickel cadmium batteries are the third type, but these lose power over time. They hold less battery life after every charge. Let’s move on to step 6 of the digital camera buyers guide…

Digital Camera Buyers Guide Step #6… Choose Your Camera Size

Big, small, short, tall….digital cameras come in all sizes. In this section of the digital camera buyers guide we’ll go over the three main types. 1. Small compact cameras are great for carrying around with you in a pocket. You won’t have to give up quality for size…. there’s a greatselection of compact cameras with good Megapixel counts and lots of features (like Macro mode for shooting close ups and movie mode for taking short 30 second clips with audio). I love my compact Canon PowerShot Digital Elph. It’s a popular choice. On the downside smaller cameras have smaller buttons so they can be harder to control. They can also be harder to hold steady in large hands. Some very small digital cameras will leave off a LCD to save space. 2. The widest range of digital cameras come in the same size as a typical film camera. Standard size digital cameras have the best range of features and price. When you’re browsing you’ll find that most digital cameras fall into this category. Typically standard size cameras can offer larger buttons and better optical zoom because of the extra space. 3. Professional cameras are larger still but offer the most options. They’ll handle add-on lenses easily and have tons of features to adjust every detail (mostly around shutter control). These are larger than standard size cameras and are usually overkill for the casual user.

Digital Camera Buyers Guide Step #7… Is Your Computer Up To It?

Connecting a digital camera with your computer is where the real funbegins! You can email out your pictures, put them up on web sites, create digital photo albums, personalized calendars, greeting cards with your picture on it! The possibilities are endless. Digital Camera Buyers Guide Tip: The software that comes with the camera will have some minimum computer requirements. Double check this. Also, most cameras will connect to your computer via a USB or Serial connection. Check that your computer can handle that. The software will usually allow you to see thumbnail size images of the pictures on your camera before you download them to your computer. It should also allow you to do basic editing of your pictures…. adjusting brightness, resizing or adding special effects. You can make tons of copies so you don’t destroy the original!! Some new printers allow you to insert your digital camera memory card directly into it, no need for a computer! If you want advanced image editing ability you’ll want to use image editing software. Adobe Photoshop and Jasc Paint Shop Pro are two very popular choices for this. Also, if you’re using a MAC make sure the software will work for you. Next up in the digital camera buyers guide…quick review and what you can expect to pay!

What is a photograph? It is a story. What is a story? It is is a series of sentences connected to each other. The same is true about photography. To create a photograph, it is not enough just to take an image of something. The first impression from a photograph is determined by the composition balance of an image.

2D Composition Rules

To increase the expressiveness of your digital pictures, apply the picture composition rules while taking the photos or modeling their edges.
You can look at photos in two ways – either as a 2 dimensional plane with color, or as a three dimensional scene that has been flattened into a 2 dimensional photo.  Some types of photos (macro, long focal lengths or shallow depth of field) tend toward 2 dimensional interpretations and the 2D Composition rules seem to work well.  Other photos (mostly wide angle, deep depth of field) seem to require the strong three dimensional sense to really pop out to the user.  Of course no rule is hard – almost the opposite, simply following the rules often leads to just acceptable images.

Rules of Thirds: The rule of thirds is by far the best known composition rule.  If you divide the photo into thirds, place objects where the thirds cross ie main subjects are located around one of the intersection points rather than in the center of the image .

Your landscapes will be optimally pleasing to the eye if you apply the Rule of Thirds when you place your horizon line.
If the area of interest is land or water, the horizon line will usually be two-thirds up from the bottom. Alternately, if the sky is the area of emphasis, the horizon line may be one-third up from the bottom, leaving the sky to take up the top two-thirds of the picture:

Golden Section rule

It has been found that certain points in a picture’s composition automatically attract the viewer’s attention. Similarly, many natural or man-made objects and scenes with certain proportions (whether by chance or by design) automatically please us. Leonardo da Vinci investigated the principle that underlies our notions of beauty and harmony and called it the Golden Section. Long before Leonardo, however, Babylonian, Egyptian, and ancient Greek masters also applied the Golden Section proportion in architecture and art.

To get a clearer sense of these special “Golden” composition points, imagine a picture divided into nine unequal parts with four lines. Each line is drawn so that the width of the resulting small part of the image relates to that of the big part exactly as the width of the whole image relates to the width of the big part. Points where the lines intersect are the “golden” points of the picture:

Diagonal rule

One side of the picture is divided into two, and then each half is divided into three parts. The adjacent side is divided so that the lines connecting the resulting points form a diagonal frame. According to the Diagonal Rule, important elements of the picture should be placed along these diagonals. If there are strong lines in the scene, try to get them to disappear into the corner.   If the lines break into the center or the edge, it tends to divide the photo, but disappearing into a corner seems to make composition stronger.:

Use “S” Curves

Apparently, they eye enjoys following “S” curves.  This rules seems to apply mostly to water, roads and the silhouettes of people.  It doesn’t strictly need to be an “S” either – reverse it or even just a strong zig-zag can be enough.

Monotonous Content:

Some images would make killer jigsaw puzzles – they contain many examples of the same object but with deep detail allows the brain to dwell on and discover arbitrary parts of the photo.

Anti Left Right Symmetry:

The eye seems to enjoy a little surprise.  Left right symmetry is the rule in this world – many things have symmetry.  If you can find examples where there is symmetry (where it isn’t expect) or symmetry is missing when it should be there, your eye will dwell to reconcile  the situation.

The first is a surprising example of symmetry – your eye goes to explore the exceptions.  The second is broken symmetry – if water is spaying up, why is one side of the background dark and the other bright?

Tips for beginners

• Hold your camera at the main object’s level. Taking a picture from above or below brings in the photo an element of exertion.
• Ordinarily, the main source of light should be placed behind you. To take a picture with the light between you and the object is the task for a specialist.
• Use a dark background for taking a picture of a light object, or, alternatively, a light background for doing so of a dark object. Note though, that the absolutely white background causes flare effect that leads to reducing the contrast of a taken picture.
• When the main object of an image is located on the long shot, the whole image will look better if the foreground objects will be taken into the image as well.
• A space in a shot should be reserved in front of an actually or potentially moving object.
• Don’t be afraid of breaking rules! As Edward Weston said, “Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk.”

Everyone starts their photography journey as a beginner.

Everyone, at some point in time, looks to those who have more experience and expertise than them and feels inadequate. It can be overwhelming to pick up this amazing machine [Point & Shoot OR DSLR camera] that is capable of so much, and not really know what to do with it. It is easy to fall into the trap of feeling incapable.
If you have felt like this, you are not alone.

Here are 5 mind-traps common to beginning photographers, and why you shouldn’t let yourself buy into them.

1. My Photos Are Bad:

It’s easy to feel like your photos are junk. Everyone starts at the beginning; not knowing a thing. Learning about your camera can be a bumpy road, and there will be lots of bad photos for every good one you take. That’s the nature of learning. Each time you take a photo though, you’ll get a little bit better. Don’t fall into the trap of feeling like you should be taking perfect pictures right away.

2. My Gear Isn’t Good Enough:

Expensive gear doesn’t necessarily equal good photos. If you don’t know how to use a camera to its full potential, the most expensive gear in the world won’t give you great photos. That said, fantastic photos can come from all ranges of equipment.

I started my photography journey when I was in grade school, with several small film Point & Shoot cameras. I upgraded to the digital world with another round of Point & Shoots. I took some photos that I’m really proud of with those Point & Shoot cameras, set on Auto mode. Sure, I have taken better ones with my DSLR, mostly because my knowledge of photography grew and I learned what my camera is truly capable of. But that doesn’t change the fact that I love some of the photos that came from my Point & Shoot camera.

3. I’m Doing This All Wrong:

There is no “wrong” way to take a photo. Many beginners feel like they are inadequate because they don’t understand manual settings, and can’t effectively use them. Don’t fall into that mind-trap! Auto isn’t a bad setting. It is a great place to begin your photography journey. The Priority modes on DSLRs are designed to offer a transition from Auto to full Manual settings, when YOU are ready. Advance at your own speed. Remember, great photos are what count. The settings you used to capture the great photos aren’t important.

*Don’t let the fear of progressing past Auto hold you back, though. It’s a scary world at first, but there is no reason not to take the leap. In the digital world, there’s no consequence for taking hundreds of photos, even if most turn out horrible. Who cares? That’s what the DELETE button is for! Once you’ve mastered Auto mode, practice using the other settings. Research how they work and what they do. Play around with them. They are conquerable and you WILL succeed. It’s all about learning and practice.

4. I’ll Never Be Able to Take Photos Like the Pros

Remember – the pros were beginners once too!

Everyone has to start somewhere. Learn from the pros. Study their work. Use them as inspiration to practice and grow.

5. I Can’t Afford Any Editing Programs:

Photoshop might not be in your arsenal right now, and maybe it never will be. Have no fear! There are plenty of other choices out there, many of which are free. Creative control over your photos is at your fingertips!

Check out these free options:

Windows Photo Gallery
iPhoto
Picasa
Picnik
If you’d like more editing capabilities but still don’t want to invest in the full Photoshop suite, Photoshop Elements is a great alternative. PSE has most of the best features of Photoshop, for a fraction of the cost, and in a slightly less intimidating form. Adobe also has the Lightroom software; an organizational and complete editing package, for less than the Photoshop bundle.

It’s easy to let these mind-traps seep into your consciousness and get you down. They might even make you second guess your photographic talent. Don’t let them! Don’t give up. Keep shooting and watch yourself and your photography grow.