What is the true nature of digital photography? Many people have been asking this question for a long time. In fact, when people ask the question about the true nature of photography, they often mean to ask whether it is art or it is science.

Many people consider photography as an art because it allows for an expression of emotion. They believe that digital photography is a continuation of the art of drawing or painting. You see, photography is just like painting in the sense that although it does take accurate pictures of reality, it also allows for some modification through the various digital tools available today.

Even without the editing many people still believe that digital photography is art because of the fact that it does take an artist’s eye to find a great subject of digital photography. The nature of electronic photography as an art has something to do with the fact that an artist is able to express emotions and statements through visual subjects.

The supporters of this art also argue their case by stating its ability to convey emotional messages through aesthetics. The beauty of each photograph, of course, needs also to be credited to the person taking the pictures. One of the strongest arguments for the artistic nature of electronic photography is the fact that the picture is rarely really what is seen with the naked eye. Through the camera and computer, a person can alter the image in order to present what he or she wants to show.

Some people argue that science is the true nature of this art. One argument is that photography, unlike painting, actually comes from something existing and not from a painters mind or emotion. This can be very persuasive since, indeed, a photographer does not actually make photographs. He or she merely takes them.

Another argument regarding the scientific nature of digital photo taking is the fact that the editing that people do and adjustments that photographers make are based on a series of steps that can be narrowed down scientifically. People who argue for the scientific nature of digital photos may reason that the same series of steps can be taken in order to achieve the same results. There is a certain quality of constancy about this type of photography that renders it a science.

But what is the true nature of digital photos? We have read the various arguments supporting science and art. There appears to be no solution to this question, right?

The true nature of digital photography will always remain to be a paradox. This means that though it can be considered as an art, it can also be considered as a science. When is the paradox of the nature of digital photography solved? Well, it is solved when a person takes a digital photograph.

More than likely some of your more recent goals would have been to take up a hobby that will include the latest in electronic gadgets. It will also encourage the mind to learn something new and at the same time allow you to indulge in a pastime that reflects your enjoyment for photography. Digital photography is an ideal hobby that mixes together all these three goals together. Now go out and purchase and learn to use your new digital camera.

If you are new to all this type of latest technology, it is very important to educate yourself with a well thought out basic digital photography lesson plan. Your basic digital photography lesson plan should include how to shop for a digital camera and a basic understanding of how to utilize this new electronic apparatus.

Some Basic Features

A no frills digital photography lesson plan will start with the purchase of a digital camera. Let’s not forget there are many factors that need be considered prior to purchasing your digital camera.

One of the first considerations should be the number of mega-pixels that the camera is rated at. A pixel is considered the smallest unit of a digital image that encompasses the entire digital picture. Therefore a mega-pixels can be defined as over one million pixels. This attribute of a digital camera is very important as the greater number of pixels equates to a higher quality digital image. For that reason it is important to select a digital camera that has over five mega-pixels.

Another essential learning step in the digital photography lesson plan is the purchase of a memory card. The memory card should meet your digital photography needs. Generally speaking the physical size of these memory cards are the same. However, the amount of data that the memory cards can hold varies from card to card. Quite often the memory cards come in 4 different capacities. Those capacities are 8MB, 16MB, 32MB or 64MB. Obviously the more megabytes the more data the memory cards will hold. Let’s not forget that the greater the capacity size of the memory card, the greater the cost will be.

Another essential accessory that you will need to invest in is the battery charger. Often digital cameras will expend the power of the batteries quite quickly, especially when the viewfinder is utilized repeatedly. Therefore, it is important to have a spare pair of batteries as well as a battery charger.

Basic Operation Steps

The next step that you will work towards in the digital photography lesson plan is the basic steps required to operate the digital camera.

When the power has been turned on, an indicator light usually signals to the photographer that the camera is ready to take photographs. Some features on the camera may allow for the activation button to be depressed without taking the photograph. This action allows for the lens to focus on the image to be captured.

Once the digital image has been taken, the camera may allow for the image to be viewed on the viewing screen. This gives the photographer the opportunity to immediately view the digital picture to make sure it meets their standard.

The final step of the digital photography lesson plan is to become acquainted with the enclosed software that the digital camera is packaged with. Often this software can be simply inserted into the CD drive and the software will begin to download itself onto your computer.

Photoshop is now one of the major computer programs around. The basis of it all, however, is the photographic image. Very often the quality of the original image can get overlooked or can be considered unimportant. We hear sentences like: “Oh that’ll do - we’ll fix it later in Photoshop”. Perhaps it can, but starting off with a better photograph in the first place can save a lot of trouble later. Well begun is half done. Here is the first of a series of tips to improve basic photography. Have a strong foreground, as well as the distance, and if possible have subject matter in the foreground, the middle-distance and the far distance. Looking through an archway or standing by a tree so that the branches frame the picture will give a strong foreground and serve to give the photograph a good impression of the depth there will be in the actual scene. Other objects can be found in the country to have a similar effect, such as flowering shrubs, gates, pieces of farm machinery or perhaps a charging bull.

If you’re planning on opening up a studio to take children’s photos then you’re going to need to lease a building. It doesn’t have to be anything large but it should be in a visible part of town with a lot of other businesses. Visibility is half the battle won. Finally, you’re going to have to take lots of photos, especially if you want to build a reputation for yourself. You’ll want to put together a portfolio of your work so that you can bring it around with you. Again, this is going to depend on what field you want to get into, whether it be freelancing for a magazine, setting up your own shop, or working for somebody else, which is usually a good way to break in. The world of photography is wide open. There are many options to each aspiring photographer. So pick a game plan and stick to it. With patience and perseverance, you’ll eventually get to where you want to be.

By using digital photography, even the novice photographer has the capability to produce professional quality pictures at a fraction of the cost. Photography has been around for a long time, and people have always wanted their memories captured to last for generations. By using digital photography, the photography community has opened up the doors for photo sharing in every technological form if one has the right equipment. The first thing that a person must invest in when thinking of using digital photography is the right camera. In order to understand what constitutes the right camera for someone, a person must understand how exactly the digital camera works. A digital camera works is by using an electronic device to store and capture an image into binary data. In other words, the picture is turned into a form of information that can be understood by a computer’s electronic brain.

Classes are composed of 30 lectures on various topics. You will get a brief introduction through each and then can specialize on a particular field of interest. The nice thing about the program is that you don’t have to quit your regular job. This can be done in your free time so there isn’t any pressure in learning everything about photography. Aside from theoretical lectures, there will be a lot of hands on experience. This will make it easy for you to apply what has been learned as seen in the photographs that have been taken using the camera. The common notion of being a photographer is that you must have a dark room to develop the photos. You will be happy to know that this isn’t the practice anymore. Some of the best names in the business don’t do this anymore which gives more time to focus on getting the perfect shots.

Some of you may have more options than others depending on where you live. If there are several schools in your area I highly recommend investigating the following; 1) Go over the course outline; by looking over the subject matter in the digital photography course, you will be able to check out which classes are suitable for your skill level. Some classes teach just the basics like how to work your camera. So if you’re well passed that, why not take on something a little more challenging? 2) See if there are any interesting aspects to your class. Does the class teach nothing but black and white photography? Will you be out and about in nature trying to photograph birds at six in the morning? Some of this may interest you and it also might give you a headache.

There are many people who want to make photography as their career. Many people find it fulfilling to engage in a life of taking pictures. This venture entails a good photography education. Just like any other kind of school, the appropriate selection of a photography school which will meet the needs of the students is essential for a good education. This article tries to lay down some tips on how you can choose a good photography school. Listed below are the tips: - Look at the bigger picture: In choosing a photography school, you must be able to look from afar to able to see the bigger picture. The selection of a photography school must be made under consideration of your general career goals. There are several tracks which can be taken in the field of photography.

Are you a budding travel photographer with all the required skills but not the time to travel to the locations to take those one in a million shots you’ve been dreaming of? You feel you are ready to take the leap and launch your photography career but can’t afford to give up the 9 to 5 just yet? Odd as it may sound, shooting travel photography doesn’t necessarily mean going anywhere. I remember leaving regional Australia to live in London for a few years in my early twenties thinking I was finally moving to somewhere picturesque, somewhere interesting. Returning home a few years later I realized what I had left behind.

Digital photography may seem like an intimidating subject to many people who are just starting to pick up photography or simply looking for ways to take better pictures. However, you are not the only one stuck in this pit as I found myself grappling with the different technical terms and jargons used in photography too when I first started learning about photography (I mean what in the world do all those terms mean, can they speak English?!). That was basically what went through my mind most of the time when I was flipping through photography magazines. Hence, the gist of this article is that once you have understood the terms used in photography, your learning process will be much easier and of course accelerated and you will find yourself becoming a better or even a professional photographer in no time! Without further ado, let me give you a brief explanation on the most common digital photography terms.

Megapixel

Megapixel refers to one million pixels. A pixel is a tiny square on a computerized display that is so small it appears as a dot. The display screen is a solid grid of these squares or dots, which can be easily seen with a magnifying glass. When we use the term megapixel, we are also referring to the maximum resolution at which a digital camera can take photos in terms of millions of pixels. The more pixels or dots that make up the display screen, the clearer the resolution or image will be. In other words, the higher the megapixels count, the better the quality of your photos. However don’t get too obsessed over the number of megapixels your camera has as this is only crucial if you want to make large prints of your photos. What I am saying is that do not view the amount of megapixels as the only factor when you are purchasing your camera.

Focal Length

Focal length is basically the distance from the lens of a camera to the film, also known as the image distance. On a high level perspective, the focal length of a lens determines its angle of view, and also how much the subject will be magnified for a given photographic position. For example, lenses with a focal length of less 21mm have an extensive wide angle and allows you to take landscape pictures or architecture like bridges and huge landmarks while lenses with a focal length of 300mm allows you to take pictures like birds and flowers etc. Hence focal length also means how much can your camera see.

Optical Zoom

Optical zoom works just like a zoom lens on a film camera. The lens changes focal length and magnification as it is zoomed while image quality remains the same throughout the zoom range. Of the two types of zoom available, optical and digital, I cannot emphasize enough that the optical zoom is far more important. The optical zoom uses the camcorder’s lens to magnify part of the image without losing any image quality as the optical zoom lenses physically extend to magnify your subject. Remember as mentioned earlier, the longer the focal length of the lens, the more magnified your subject will be.

Digital Zoom

Digital zoom is sort of like a cheap and dirty way to zoom in on your subject. It crops your image and magnifies the result of the cropped image. This magnification process is called interpolation. To make the cropped area larger, digital zoom interpolates pixels to add to the image, which may often give less than satisfactory results. Unlike optical zoom, which uses the physical lenses inside the camera to enlarge a scene, digital zoom electronically enlarges the pixels in the center area of a photo, meaning that every time you use the digital zoom function on your camera, you are actually sacrificing the quality of your photos. Perhaps it is a good idea to disable the digital zoom function in your camera if you do not want this to happen.

ISO

The term ISO stands for the International Standards Organization, but what does this have to do with your digital camera?! The organization sets standards for photography, and the ISO range of a camera refers to how sensitive the camera is to light. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the image sensor and hence the better it is for you to take photographs in low-light conditions.

For example, a low ISO number (100 or under) is not very sensitive to light, and is best for shots in good lighting conditions. A higher ISO range means that the camera will be suitable for photography in darker conditions however the higher the ISO number, the more noise you will have as a result in your photograph. And just what is noise?

Image Noise

Image noise is generally the grainy effect that you get in your photo sometimes when your ISO setting on your digital camera is too high or when take your picture in low light conditions. While it may degrade the quality of your picture, it is sometimes useful as it can add an old-fashioned/vintage feel to your photograph if you would like.

Shutter Lag

Shutter lag as its name suggests, refers to the lag time between moment when you press the button to snap your picture and the moment when the picture actually gets taken. This is a common problem when taking photographs of fast-moving objects, and is usually solved by pressing the button with before hand.

Aperture

Aperture basically refers to the size of the ‘hole’ in the lens that opens up in your camera when you hit the button to take a picture. As the ‘hole’ opens up, it allows light to fall on the image sensor in your camera and capture the image of the scene you want to capture.

Aperture is measure in ‘f-stops’ which is usually written as ‘f/number’ such as f/2,f/2.8,f/4. Each f-stop halves or doubles the size of the ‘hole’ and each successive number is a factor of 1.4 of the previous number. The smaller the opening or ‘hole’, the larger the number, for example, the f/4 is a smaller aperture that f/2.

Taking landscape photos may seem very difficult and like it requires many expensive pieces of equipment but now it doesn’t. Of all the equipment available for landscape photos all you really need to take good photos is a quality lens.

If you’re like me you have tried to take landscape photos before. I have tried taking landscape photos with my normal zoom lens that came with my digital SLR. The results were anything but spectacular. The reason is because these lenses are not that great for landscape photos and don’t give you the flexibility to take great landscape shots. Despite the many advances in technology, you still need a good lens in order to get quality landscape shots.

The lens that you should be using for landscape photos is a wide angle lens. This type of lens is great for shots that require a massive amount of land to be taken in. Of course, not all landscape photos use wide angle lenses. Some actually use telephoto lenses and make mountains that are very far away appear closer and together. But in the case of most landscape photos your best bet is to use a wide lens.

The benefit of using a wide angle type of lens for these types of photos is that this type of lens will enable the camera to see very large amounts of the scene in very clear detail. Having this type of lens is much better than the normal lens that your camera probably came with. Most zoom lenses are not as good of quality as fixed lenses.

You can use wide angle lenses not only for large land shots but for other shots that have a large amount of land. Also, wide angle types of lenses can be used for crowded areas and can make these areas much larger looking. As a matter of fact many filmmakers use wide angle lenses when shooting scenes on location because of the lack of space and need to make the scene look bigger. If you have a camera that has a zoom lens, although not as good as a fixed lens, you can see the results of taking landscape shots with this. Zoom out as much as possible and take the picture.

So, if you are interested in taking large vista type shots of the wilderness then a wide angle lens is your answer. This piece of equipment will ensure that everything will be sharp and crisp.

The harder it is for you to capture these kinds of photographs the more money someone would probably pay you for them. If you’re an adventurous kind of photographer these kinds of shots will be just ideal for you. With safety in toe, take a calculated risk in order to create the perfect digital experience.

If you are taking digital photographs outside in the rain you will notice the way the rain tends to make everything around just shine. Whether your in the city or out in the country, looking across a field of grass or flowers, everything just seems to kind of sparkle. This can create a really nice photograph. Actually the rain, along with a few good size clouds can create just the perfect natural light setting, removing any fade outs or shadows that might appear in your digital photograph otherwise. With a little bit of rain you will have the chance to create some really great landscaping photographs or even of the wildlife that surrounds you, if you’re in the right spot at the right time. Just make sure you have something to cover up your lens to keep the droplets away. You don’t mind the rain but when it gets on your lens that could be a problem.

Taking a photograph of lightning can be complicated, you have to snap it at just the right time and that is very unpredictable. You will have to have a tripod for taking these kinds of photographs and a rather long shutter speed. You can hold down your shutter manually if you’d like so that all you have to do is shut it on your own as the lighting passes through the sky or slams down onto the grounds. You’ll want this kind of photograph to be as bright as you can possibly get it, to get that full affect.

Snow photographs are a very appealing photograph to create. The light from the snow creates such a nice contrast along with all of it’s surroundings. Capturing a photograph of the snow melting off the tree limbs or using the snow as a nice background for whatever your main object is that you are photographing. Some nice nature shots or friends and family playing in the snow, or you could even get a nice portrait type picture with snow all around.

You can do so many things when using digital photography, even things that may seem a little bit extreme. Making sure you have all the right gear and the drive to get out there and take risks is all you need, no matter what mother nature has in mind for that occasion.