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Unless you know that your camera's resolution is first-rate, skip the scenic shots and get close to the action. Close-ups are always more interesting anyway.
  technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

T e c h n o f i l e
How to get around the limitations of typical digital cameras


Feb. 16, 2003


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2003, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2003, The Post-Standard

   Your new digital camera isn't your father's Minolta. If you treat your new high-tech picture-taker as if it were a film camera, you might be disappointed with the results. Digital cameras have special talents -- they produce pictures that don't need to be sent out to be developed and that can be viewed on practically any computer screen -- but they also have a few big limitations. Avoiding these digital camera traps can help you get better pictures immediately.
   Trap 1: Shooting into the light. Most digital cameras are wimps when they try to capture excessively bright scenes. Their tiny image sensors get overwhelmed, and the portions of the picture hit by the excessive light aren't just too bright; they're actually washed out completely -- what photo technicians call "blown out." They contain no detail at all.
   Film, on the other hand, is much more forgiving. The newest digital cameras show signs of improvements, but a good general rule is to avoid shooting into the light in any brightly lit scene. Be especially wary of backlit scenes, in which sunlight or bright interior light can wash out part of the image or fool the camera into darkening the rest of the image.
   If you're taking pictures outside in bright sunlight without any shade, try to follow the old advice about keeping the sun over your left shoulder. This will force shadows to fall to the right, where most people find them more natural. (Most of us are right eyed as well as right handed, and we tend to prefer right-side shadows.)
   If you can avoid bright sun, be sure to seek out the shade when taking pictures outdoors. But find real shade, not the partial shade of small trees or short awnings. Your camera will do a better job if it doesn't have to cope with areas of bright sun in a mostly shady scene.
   Trap 2: Taking distant scenes. Most digital cameras can't capture as much detail as film cameras can. This measurement of a camera's ability to delineate every speck and whisker is called "resolution." Unless you know that your camera's resolution is first-rate -- 4 megabytes or more -- skip the scenic shots and get close to the action. Close-ups are always more interesting anyway.
   The lazy way to get closer is to zoom in. This never works as well as cozying up to your subject, because only by getting close can you perform that miracle of photography, bringing the viewer into the picture. Try taking your pictures from no more than four feet away. When you feel comfortable at that range, try getting even closer. Take a few test shots to see how close your camera can focus. You'll probably find you can get much closer than you ever thought possible.
   Trap 3: Erasing the evidence. Film cameras take pictures that stick around. You can usually pull the negatives out of their sleeves and have more prints made. But digital cameras store all their images as files that can be inadvertently deleted. Here's how to protect yourself: Never allow your computer to delete pictures as they're taken off your camera or memory card. Wait until you've seen them and saved copies of the pictures you want to keep. Then, and only then, should you delete the originals from the camera or from its storage cards.
   My technique is simple enough to recommend to others. First, I connect my camera to my computer or I snap my camera's memory card into my computer's card reader. (I use both methods.) A pop-up window asks me to confirm the copying process. The pop-up window also asks if I want the computer to delete the pictures after they are transferred. I always respond with a "No."
   After the pictures are copied to my computer, I look at all of them, one by one. I make copies of all the pictures that are good enough to keep, being very generous in my judgment. (The only ones I reject are bozo pictures such as shots of the floor when I set off the camera inadvertently or shots that are totally dark, taken with the lens cap on. I keep all the rest.)
   Then I delete the originals in the camera's memory card.
   Trap 4: The dog ate my battery and other tales of low-voltage woe. The batteries in film cameras tend to last forever and a day. The batteries in digital cameras might last only a few hours. If you're serious about digital photography, buy TWO spare batteries and keep the camera's main battery and your spares charged up.
   Nickel cadmium cells, the most common kind of rechargeable batteries, work better if you charge them only after they're completely drained. But if your camera uses nickel-metal hydride batteries, you can recharge them even if they're only partly drained.
   One last tip: If your camera uses rechargeable AA cells -- the kind everybody used to call "penlight batteries" -- you can keep some alkaline AA cells around for emergencies. They should stay in good condition for a couple of years.