Previous Digital Photo Good Idea of the Month
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Use your digital camera's highest resolution to take your digital photos. You can edit to a smaller size and keep the details, but you can't enlarge a low resolution digital picture and keep the crisp detail. If you have a small capacity memory card for your digital camera ... it's worth it to buy one that can hold more of the large, digital images.
Crop your photo before you even take the picture. Take a few extra seconds, examine the scene, and move closer to the subject. You'll avoid unwanted objects and don't need to waste time cropping the photo, you can just send it to friends as is.
Best digital photo holiday gifts to accompany the new digital camera you're giving as a gift, or to someone on your list who has a digital camera: memory cards to take more pictures and a digital photo frame to display all the holiday pictures.
Conserve your digital camera’s batteries. Try shutting off the LCD screen and flash if you don’t need them. When you transfer your digital images to the computer, remove the memory card from the camera and use a card reader.
Always download your digital photos to a folder on your computer designated for your pictures. Create the folders before you transfer the pictures to your computer. Label folders by month (ie. Apr08, May08), event (Easter 07), or other descriptive title. You'll be able to find and backup folders easier when they are clearly labelled.
Invest in a second memory card for your camera. The 256 or 512 MB that comes with the camera won't hold many digital images. As soon as you can, purchase a second memory card with a higher memory capacity, minimally 1 GB. Your smaller capacity memory card is your back up, in case the main card fails, or gets full when you need to shoot just one or two more pictures.
Use the right resolution setting on your digital camera to get the best pictures to either e-mail or print. If you are going to e-mail the digital photos you take, set your camera to a low resolution setting. The picture size will be smaller. Printing the photos? Use the highest, or second highest resolution setting to get the best quality digital photo possible. The file size will be much larger and you'll be able to take less digital photos with your digital camera, but the picture quality will be worth it.
It's easy to make a personalized photo greeting card for Valentine's Day, or for any special occasion, with your color printer. Pick up a package of glossy greeting card paper from your local or online office supply store. Using a graphic printing software on your computer, select your favorite digital image(s) and import them into the greeting card template. If you don't have the right software on your computer? Try a good free photo software like PrintMaster Express. For the best results, look for photo card stock that is glossy on the outside for great-looking photos and matte on the inside for crisp-looking text or handwritten notes
Blurry digital photos?A common mistake when using the LCD viewfinder screen to line up your digital shots is to hold the digital camera at arms length to get a better view of the screen. This leads to shaky, blurry digital images. Instead, bring the digital camera closer, hold it with one hand, and support your elbow with your other hand. The result ... a steady hand and a clear picture.
Create and frame a Photo Montage "heart" and present to your loved one on Valentine's Day. Gather all the digital photos you can of memories you share with your special person. It can be portraits, fun events, children's pictures, places, things, anything. Assemble photos into a heart with photo mosaic software, take or send the digital image file to a print shop, buy a nice frame for the resultant Valentine photo, and voila a one-of-a-kind gift that will last way longer than a box of chocolates.
New digital camera? Best way to learn how to use your digital camera is to 1) pick a feature (ie. macro), 2) take several pictures, 3) evaluate, and 4) delete the photos. Do these 4 steps for another feature, and another, and so on. You'll get the feel of the camera and learn about the features and important buttons on your digital camera.
Make and give a Christmas photo gift your loved ones will use and enjoy long after the day is over. Everyone has keys for something, and usually two or three rings of keys. Pick two or three favorite digital photos and make a Valentine's Day photo key ring for each set. Either pick up the key ring accessories and photo paper separately, or use a photo key ring kit, which includes all your supplies. No time? Order your key rings through your favorite digital photo printing service.
