BestAdvice Photography

It used to be that the art of picture taking was something only hobbyists and professionals worried about, but today most cell phones and smartphones have built-in cameras that border on the quality of the top cameras of only a few years ago.

So, basically, everyone has gotten into the act. Judy Holmes and Greg Baer think most people could use a little help. Okay, in some cases, a lot of help.

"Taking good pictures is about so much more than pointing and shooting," said Holmes, a 20-year veteran professional photographer. She and co-author Greg Baer have just written the friendly, no-nonsense, how-to book That Picture Stinks!.

"While there are many things that make a bad picture, there are three things that jump to mind: they're too light or dark, the composition is poor or people don't use the flash enough," added co-author Baer. "The results can range from lousy to boring to, well, embarrassing. With just a few basics, people can dramatically improve the quality of their pictures and ensure that they capture memories worth preserving in a manner that’s worth showing."Read more

Featured in Freeman's The Photographer's Eye Field Guide, this Brooklyn holiday skyline was taken with focal length 35mm and ISO 100. (Photo: Business Wire)

Are you planning to photograph this year's Fourth of July fireworks displays?

Take some advice from international photographer, Smithsonian magazine lead photographer and Focal Press photography book author Michael Freeman. Freeman offers his Fourth of July photography advice below:

1. Anticipate the action: Research when the show begins, ends, and how high the fireworks will be. Secure an unobstructed view by arriving early, and then consider the background and foreground of your shot. Try different zooms or interchangeable lenses, and experiment with buildings to give scale and anchor to your shots. Use the first few bursts to finalize your lens, focal length and framing.

3. No tripod? Find a solid surface at head or waist height with an unobstructed view. Use something soft to balance your camera. A Ziploc bag filled with beans or rice will hold your camera steady once you've pressed it down firmly. Read more

When it comes to buying a digital camera, you may be quite overwhelmed unless you are a true camera expert. These days, anyone and everyone out there owns a digital camera, and many people still choose to only use their phones as an alternative. And who can blame them when it comes to the high quality pics now available through the iPhone and iPad?

Nonetheless, if you want to find the right digital camera for your style and budget, here are a few tips to help you know what to look for:

Choose your type: There are four basic types of digital cameras, which are the Enthusiast (or Pro), Super Zoom, Compact, and Ultra Compact. The compact is obviously the most popular category, and it offers a great deal for the average Joe. If you need something even smaller, the ultra compact is streamlined but may not give you the best picture value. The enthusiast category is often a great choice for those that want better control over their pictures, especially if they may be reproduced as a larger print. These super zoom also may be a great choice for accurate zooming, depending upon your picture purpose.Read more

You've been using point-and-shoot digital cameras for years, perhaps with mixed results, and now you're starting to wonder if it's time to invest in a digital single lens reflex camera. The type of camera that's right for you depends on how serious you are about capturing high-quality images.

Your compact point-and-shoot is probably all you need if you're taking mostly family shots: your mom blowing out candles on her 60th birthday, your daughter pulling to her feet for the first time, your son hitting a home run on the Little League field. But if you're the kind of photographer -- amateur or professional -- who is literally sprawled on the floor of the basketball court, determined to get the perfect action shot, you are probably ready to make the switch to a digital SLR camera.

Digital SLR cameras typically cost much more than regular digital cameras -- in some cases several hundred dollars more -- but many photographers feel that the high-quality images they produce are worth the extra expense. DSLRs, which use a mechanical mirror system and pentaprism to direct light from the lens to an optical viewfinder on the back of the camera, have multiple image sensors and excellent light sensitivity. Plus they have a wide variety of settings and can be souped up with add-on lenses and flash units -- all of which allows you greater flexibility and control in getting just the right shot. Read more

Hurricane Gustav chased an estimated two million people from their homes. Fires in Southern California and Yosemite Park areas destroyed thousands of acres and burnt hundreds of homes. Floods in the Midwest swept into homes despite residents’ best efforts. Every day natural disasters take their financial and emotional toll.

In Katrina’s Path
Donna Wilsker, a long-time scrapbooker and resident of Beaumont, TX, was partially prepared when Katrina sent her and her husband, Ira, to their daughter’s home in Houston two years ago. They fled the area with as many of their valuables as they could fit in their Honda Accord, including her scrapbooks and a stack of 20 CD’s, containing the family’s complete digital photo collection. Read more

In the last article, I explained what online photo sites can do for you, and why you might want to use them. It's time now to get down to business: choosing the one that's right for you. What specific features should you look for? And which are most appropriate for your personal level of technical sophistication?

By and large, every one of the online photo sites accomplishes the same goal. Each lets you upload a collection of digital photos, and they make it easy (or at least it's supposed to be easy) to share them with other people. They also let you (that is, encourage you) to order prints of your photographs, and perhaps other customized items.

But, naturally, few sites stop there. Each site has its own unique features to make you choose that company instead of one of the other dozens -- perhaps hundreds -- available. Sometimes, the "extras" are the special attention they invest in making the process easy for computing novices, or maybe they're fancy tools to add bubbles or comic-book style captions to the photos. Other times, the site has unique capabilities to link your photos to other sites and to help you participate in a public community. Read more

Questions just keep rolling in at Verbatim’s user information site www.photostorageguide.com. General questions from people on how to gather, save, protect their family moments/memories photos and videos.

Here are answers to some of the latest questions (and answers) on archiving photos:

Q. Why are CDs and DVDs the best way to archive?

A. Since it is estimated that one out of seven computer hard drives "crash" within the first year, it could be dangerous to rely on storing irreplaceable photos on a hard drive alone. Optical discs (CD, DVD) are a very economical and reliable way to archive photos. For added security, write-once CD-Rs and DVD-Rs should be used and extra copies should be made that can be stored at another location. Users can add to the disc but cannot alter the content stored on the discs. The portability of CDs and DVDs also makes them easy to take with you in the event of an environmental disaster. Read more

Sarah is typical of most young women today, balancing her marketing career, running a household, and enjoying her 10-month old son, Grayson. There just doesn’t seem to be enough time to complete daily chores, let alone additional projects. However, after Jack, her husband, accidentally erased the memory card with the family’s photos of their recent trip to visit Sarah’s parents in Maine, she decided to take on the task of organizing and protecting the family’s memories.

“It wasn’t as though we had lost our entire collection, but those photos were irreplaceable,” Sarah said. “Luckily, we were able to find a software program that recovered most of the pictures from the card. Otherwise, Jack may still be sleeping on the couch.” Read more

Questions just keep rolling in at Verbatim’s user information site www.photostorageguide.com. General questions from people on how to gather, save, protect their family moments/memories photos and videos.

Here are answers to some of the latest:

Q. I want to organize and archive my photos. Where do I start?

A. Start by giving your photos descriptive file names. This will speed the search process. If you name the files as you download them, you won't have to go back and view each one to name it. You can also use the tag capability offered with most photo applications to attach a keyword (or many keywords) to a photo file. You can also organize your photos by creating folders for various themes, i.e., family vacations, reunions, and various family members.

If the task seems overwhelming, start with the most recent photos and work your way back through the older ones. Read more