Using a Digital Camera
Serious digital cameras give you creative control over your images. They do so by allowing you to control the light and motion in photographs as well as what's sharp and what isn't. Although most consumer digital cameras are fully automatic, some allow you to make minor adjustments that affect your images. The best ones offer a wide range of controls-in some cases more than you'd find on a 35mm SLR. However, regardless of what controls your camera has, the same basic principles are at work "under the hood." Your automatic exposure and focusing systems are having a profound affect on your images. Even with your camera on fully automatic, you can indirectly control, or at least take advantage of the effects these controls have on your images.
All digital cameras have an automatic mode that sets focus, exposure, and white-balance for you. All you have to do is frame the image and push the shutter-release button. You'll find that this auto mode of operation is great in the vast majority of situations because it lets you focus on the subject and not on the camera.
· Getting Ready. Turn the camera on and set it to automatic mode. To conserve your batteries, turn off the LCD monitor and compose your image through the optical viewfinder. If the camera has a lens cap, be sure to remove it.
· Framing the image. The viewfinder shows you the scene you are going to capture. To zoom the lens to frame your image, press the zoom-out button or lever to widen the angle of view and the zoom-in button or lever to enlarge subjects. If the image in the viewfinder is fuzzy, see if the camera has a diopter adjustment dial you can use to adjust it.
· Autofocus. The area you place in the focus area in the center of the viewfinder is used to determine the sharpest part of the scene. How close you can focus depends on the camera you are using.
· Autoexposure. Programmed autoexposure measures light reflecting from the scene and uses these readings to set the best possible exposure.
· Autoflash. If the light is too dim, the autoexposure system will fire the camera's built-in flash to illuminate the scene. If the flash is going to fire, a flash lamp usually glows red when you press the shutter-release button halfway down.
· Automatic white balance. The color cast in a photograph is affected by the color of the light illuminating the scene so the camera automatically adjusts color balance to make white objects in the scene look white in the photo.
The Kodak DC4800
Loaded with features, including outstanding 3.1-megapixel resolution quality for printing personal pictures up to 11" x 14". Manual and automatic settings give you creative control and flexibility to get the pictures you want. Saturated, neutral, black-and-white, or sepia color balance provides even greater creative freedom. A 3X-optical zoom (28 - 84 mm) 2X digital zoom lens let you get as close to your subject as possible without losing any details.
Downloading the Pictures
For WINDOWS 98, WINDOWS 2000, or MACINTOSH computers using USB, after installing the camera software (the driver software provide with camera) do the following:
1. Plug the appropriate end of the USB Cable into the port on your computer marked with the USB symbol.
If the port is not labeled, see your computer User's Guide for a diagram that illustrates all of the external ports.
2. Open the door on the side of the camera.
3. Plug the other end of the USB cable into the camera USB port.
4. Turn on the camera
On a WINDOWS-based computer, a window appears showing the contents of the COMPACTFLASH Card.
On a MACINTOSH computer, a camera icon appears on the desktop.
You then double click on the icon…and there is a folder with your pictures in it. You can then drag them to your desktop…they are now saved to onto your computer.
After downloading/saving the pictures to your desktop, turn the camera off..the icon will disappear and you can disconnect the camera from your USB port.
Manipulating your pictures in Microsoft PhotEditor:
Now that you have your pictures saved to your computer, there might be a number of thinks you want to do to change or enhance the picture. You can resize it, crop it, brighten or darken it, sharpen it, add an artistic flair to it…the possibilities are endless.
Here’s just a sampling of what you can do and how:
Resizing an Image
1. On the Image menu, click Resize.
2. Type a new measurement or percentage for the width and height.
3. Select any other options you want.
4. Click OK.
Cropping an Image
1. Click the Select button on the Standard toolbar, and draw a box around the area of your image you want to keep.
2. On the Image menu, click Crop.
3. Select the options you want, and then click OK.
NOTE: You can combine cropping and matting to create attractive framing effects.
Changing the File Format of an Image
1. On the File menu, click Save As.
2. In the Save as Type box, click the file format type you want.
Changing the File Properties
1. On the File menu, click Properties.
2. Under Image, in the Type list, select the type of image you want.
3. If you select Palette or 256 color (8 bit) , do the following:
a. Click Custom.
b. Select the number of colors.
c. Click OK.
If you select one of the other options, do the following:
d. Select Palette or 256 color in the Type box.
e. Click Custom.
f. For fewer than 256 colors, click Variable and type a number in the Number of Colors box.
NOTE: The Standard palette type has 256 colors, which is the default setting for the Palette image type.
If you select Monochrome, do the following:
g. Click Custom.
h. Select the halftone options.
i. Click OK.
Changing the Resolution of an Image
1. On the File menu, click Properties.
2. In the Resolution box, type the value you want.
3. Click OK.
Apply Artistic Effects
The artistic effects commands are located below the separator line on the Effects menu.
1. Select all or part of an image.
2. On the Effects menu, click the effect you want to apply.
3. Make any adjustments you want.
4. Click Preview.
5. Click Apply.
Applying Special Effects
The special effects commands are located above the separator line on the Effects menu.
1. Select all or part of an image.
2. On the Effects menu, click the effect you want to apply.
3. Make any adjustments you want.
Remember. It’s ok to try things….and if you don’t like what you see…just don’t save the changes and your picture is back to its original state.
Helpful Sites
The only site you’ll probably ever need to become a master digital photographer is:
http://www.kodak.com/US/en/nav/takingPics.shtml
Other useful sites though include:
http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/dlc/support/pcbasics/index.jhtml
http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/cameras/dc4800/demo/
http://www.shortcourses.com/how/contents.htm
http://www.shortcourses.com/
Glossary
For a complete list….go to
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/glossary/glossaryContents.shtml
Ambient light – The natural light in a scene.
Archival – The ability of a material, including some printing papers and compact discs, to last for many years.
Aperture – A small, circular opening inside the lens that can change in diameter to control the amount of light reaching the camera's sensor as a picture is taken. The aperture diameter is expressed in f-stops; the lower the number, the larger the aperture. For instance, the aperture opening when set to f/2.8 is larger than at f/8. The aperture and shutter speed together control the total amount of light reaching the sensor. A larger aperture passes more light through to the sensor. Many cameras have an aperture priority mode that allows you to adjust the aperture to your own liking. See also shutter speed.
Application – A computer program, such as an image editor or image browser.
Buffer – Memory in the camera that stores digital photos before they are written to the memory card.
Burning – Selectively darkening part of a photo with an image editing program.
CCD – Charge Coupled Device: one of the two main types of image sensors used in digital cameras. When a picture is taken, the CCD is struck by light coming through the camera’s lens. Each of the thousands or millions of tiny pixels that make up the CCD converts this light into electrons. The number of electrons, usually described as the pixel’s accumulated charge, is measured, and then converted to a digital value. This last step occurs outside the CCD, in a camera component called an analog-to-digital converter.
CD-R – CD-Recordable: a compact disc that holds either 650 or 700 MB of digital information, including digital photos. Creating one is commonly referred to as burning a CD. A CD-R disc can only be written to once, and is an ideal storage medium for original digital photos.
CD-RW – CD-Rewritable: similar in virtually all respects to a CD-R, except that a CD-RW disc can be written and erased many times. This makes them best suited to many backup tasks, but not for long term storage of original digital photos.
CMOS – Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor: one of the two main types of image sensors used in digital cameras. Its basic function is the same as that of a CCD. CMOS sensors are currently found in only a handful of digital cameras.
CMYK – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black. The four colors in the inksets of many photo-quality printers. Some printers use six ink colors to achieve smoother, more photographic prints. The two additional colors are often lighter shades of cyan and magenta.
CompactFlash™ – A common type of digital camera memory card, about the size of a matchbook. There are two types of cards, Type I and Type II. They vary only in their thickness, with Type I being slightly thinner. A CompactFlash memory card can contain either flash memory or a miniature hard drive. The flash memory type is more prevalent.
Contrast – The difference between the darkest and lightest areas in a photo. The greater the difference, the higher the contrast.
Digital camera – A camera that captures the photo not on film, but in an electronic imaging sensor that takes the place of film.
Dodging – Selectively lightening part of a photo with an image editing program.
Download, downloading – The process of moving computer data from one location to another. Though the term is normally used to describe the transfer, or downloading, of data from the Internet, it is also used to describe the transfer of photos from a camera memory card to the computer. Example: I downloaded photos to my PC.
DPI – Dots per inch: A measurement of the resolution of a digital photo or digital device, including digital cameras and printers. The higher the number, the greater the resolution.
EXIF – Exchangeable Image File: the file format used by most digital cameras. For example, when a typical camera is set to record a JPEG, it’s actually recording an EXIF file that uses JPEG compression to compress the photo data within the file.
External flash – A supplementary flash unit that connects to the camera with a cable, or is triggered by the light from the camera’s internal flash. Many fun and creative effects can be created with external flash.
File – A computer document.
Fill flash – A flash technique used to brighten deep shadow areas, typically outdoors on sunny days. Some digital cameras include a fill flash mode that forces the flash to fire, even in bright light.
Fire – Slang for shooting a picture. Example: I pressed the shutter button to fire.
FireWire – A type of cabling technology for transferring data to and from digital devices at high speed. Some professional digital cameras and memory card readers connect to the computer over FireWire. FireWire card readers are typically faster than those that connect via USB. Also known as IEEE 1394, FireWire was invented by Apple Computer but is now commonly used with Windows-based PCs as well.
Grayscale – A photo made up of varying tones of black and white. Grayscale is synonymous with black and white.
Highlights – The brightest parts of a photo.
Histogram – A graphic representation of the range of tones from dark to light in a photo. Some digital cameras include a histogram feature that enables a precise check on the exposure of the photo.
Image browser – An application that enables you to view digital photos. Some browsers also allow you to rename files, convert photos from one file format to another, add text descriptions, and more.
Image editor – A computer program that enables you to adjust a photo to improve its appearance. With image editing software, you can darken or lighten a photo, rotate it, adjust its contrast, crop out extraneous detail, remove red-eye and more.
Image resolution - The number of pixels in a digital photo is commonly referred to as its image resolution.
Inkjet – A printer that places ink on the paper by spraying droplets through tiny nozzles.
ISO speed – A rating of a film’s sensitivity to light. Though digital cameras don’t use film, they have adopted the same rating system for describing the sensitivity of the camera’s imaging sensor. Digital cameras often include a control for adjusting the ISO speed; some will adjust it automatically depending on the lighting conditions, adjusting it upwards as the available light dims. Generally, as ISO speed climbs, image quality drops.