Digital Picture King

If you have a unique or great picture of your dad, you could possibly win a Canon Photo Dream Kit from the NFL shop. Click here to submit your photo. Hey, someone has to win, so why not take a chance. The dream kit includes EOS Rebel Xsi, 55-250 mm lens, Powershot 110, Binoculars, Dual Flash Memory, Pixma All In One Printer. This is a great contest with Fathers Day approaching.

When I find a good buy on camera equipment, I like to share it with all of you. I have found the most fantastic deal on a Canon Digital Rebel XT with lens for only 448.88. This digital camera is 8.0 megapixel and Canons Digic II Image Processor. It is compact and light with great imaging, and extremely easy to use, even for beginners. It can host a variety of lens also. If you are in the market for a great price on a great camera, be sure to check this out.

Just wanted to share a few pictures I took of my latest find, a 1993 90Th. Anniversary Edition Harley-Davidson Sportster 1200 with only 26500 miles. The bike is in great shape for a 15 year old , someone must have taken really good care of this Harley.  

You don’t have to go far to get some real nice nature pictures. If you just look around your neighborhood you can find some very good opportunities. I left the house for no more than a hour and came back home with these very nice shots of some local nesting birds. Even though I had a very small zoom lens with me I got some very nice pictures. Another local photogragher had the same idea.

Lets talk about how much fun you can have after you have spent a fun day with your camera taking those great pictures. Depending on what type of camera you have it should come with software to edit those great pictures. Most likely it will be photostudios lastest version. I would like again to share a few photos from the Honda St. Petersburg Grand Prix, a picture before and after editing.

Here is the original picture I shot.

And heres the picture after I cropped it and sharpened it using Photoshop. See what a big difference utilizing photoshop can make.

Look what you can do with a 28mm-80mm zoom lens, you can get some quality shots of sports events, wildlife or just general life events with this size zoom lens. You can find these lens new or used at some very good prices. If your budget will not allow for the price of a new lens there are also some great buys on good,  reconditioned used lens. I was at the Honda Grand Prix in St. Petersburg, Florida a couple weeks ago and shot these pictures. The cars were moving about 120 mph when these were shot, though you would think they were sitting still. I was having to take them through the chain link fence, and had to avoid the lens focusing on the fence by backing up from the fence a bit and use a different angle, so be careful if you are shooting like this.

First theres the choice of Matte or Glossy/Semi Glossy. I use  a different one depending on the type of picture I will be transferring. Most of the time I prefer the glossy for scenery or artistry pictures, it makes the color pop out better. For actual photos, I prefer matte over glossy because its a little more natural and softer look then the glossy. As for the brand of paper, I definately prefer Kodak over any other. Theres a buy 2 and get 50% off sale right now which is when I stock up. Fuji also makes a decent paper and its actually a little cheaper than what Kodak normally runs. Be sure also to watch that if you are wanting to print in color, that you get paper for color printing. If you are wanting to print in just black and white, you get paper for black and white prints. These allow the pictures to have a deeper black and more outstanding white. For printing black and white pictures in digital, it is always best to shoot them in color and use photoshop to convert them to black and white before printing.

We’ve discussed in other blogs some of the advantages of digital over film but theres one that I haven’t mentioned which could be very important to some people. With film, you have to take it or send away to be developed, wait for it to come back and then if you want it stored on your computer, either do it with the CD you receive back with your prints or scan it them in. I don’t know about you, but for me, scanning can be a real pain. With digital, you can download your pictures directly to your computer from either a docking station, which the point and shoot cameras have available or directly from your camera, which the SLR cameras are capable of doing with a pc cord, or directly putting your memory card into your computer.  This makes storing the pictures on your computer very easy for projects such as sending them to your friends and family or personlizing an item like greeting cards, mugs etc. You can print them directly to your printer if you have a quality photo print which we will discuss in another blog. Another way to keep a great picture is on canvas. While you probably can’t print a photo on canvas yourself, you can purchase one at Canvas on Demand. This is an awesome way to turn a memorable picture into a piece of art. If you don’t like the background of the picture or would like a different border, they can do it all for you. All it takes is uploading you picture to them, choosing your size and design and in no time you have a great memory on canvas. Digital photography has made this so easy.

Care of your 35mm SLR lens, I would recommend that you protect the front element with a good skylight filter. These filters do not block light coming into your lens or distort photo image quailty. The most popular types of the filter thread onto the front of your lens. These filters protect your lens from scratches that can harm your picture images. These SLR lens are expensive so invest a little extra to keep the lens scratch free.

I’ll admit, it has taken me a long time to get use to using digital. What really got me thinking was one Christmas my grandaugher kept coming over to me to see her picture, the one I had just taken. But since I was shooting with film, she couldn’t see it, and was so disappointed. It was then I realized that I had to put the old thoughts away and in with the new.The die hard film guy that I am was just blocking the way. But, after purchasing my first digital camera, a Canon EOS XT, I can tell you I’m hooked.Though still available, it has now been replaced with the Canon EOS XTI, which has 10.1 mega pixels as compared to the 8 on the older version. I had researched everywhere, spoke with everyone and anybody that would even talk to me about the digitals, and for me, it was the best price with the best features and best quality.