Digital Camera Basic Picture-Taking Tips

Digital Camera Basic Picture-Taking Tips
Get to know your new camera
Read your instruction manual to familiarize yourself with your cameras features and settings.
Protect your new camera
Use the hand/neck strap that is included with your camera to prevent it from dropping. This will also ensure that the strap will stay out of your shots.
Setting image resolution
Set your camera on the maximum resolution. You can always lower the resolution on your computer later, but you can never raise the resolution once it is taken.
Set to Auto
While you are learning, set your camera on AUTO mode. This automates most settings such as shutter speed and whether a flash is used, allowing you to focus only on taking pictures.
Focusing
Before taking your picture, hold the shutter button down half-way to auto focus the camera. Once it focuses it should give some signal by either flashing or beeping, which means that the camera is ready to snap the image.
Composing your image
Use the LCD screen (or the viewfinder with a DSLR) to frame up your image before you take it, making sure you have everything you want in your picture. The rule of thirds is a good general composition technique that usually will produce better looking images. The rule of thirds suggests placing your subject one third into your composition rather than centering your subject.
Keeping your images sharp
To prevent blurry pictures, hold your camera with both hands and keep your elbows close to your sides. In low light situations using a tripod will help make your images much sharper. Many digital cameras also have what is called image stabilization, and I would suggest making sure this feature is turned on if your camera has this feature.
Make sure your subject is lighted properly
Keep lighting in mind since light is what is needed for a properly exposed image. Turn your flash on in low light situations. Avoid taking pictures directly into the sun.
Don’t run out of power
Keep extra batteries or bring your a/c adapter if you are traveling.
More is better
Take LOTS of pictures! You aren’t wasting any film, and you can always delete images you don’t like.
Allan|Senior Social Media Specialist | Best Buy® Corporate
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Also remember to change your ISO back to 200-400 for bright sunshine shooting the day after you were in a bar taking band pics at 6400. Was wondering why the shots yesterday were blown over. Smacking myself in the back of the head for that one. Glad it was just 'fun' shooting yesterday and not paid for.
King of the World...

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Digital Camera RAW Compatibility 6, Nikon NEF, ICloud & QuickView issue

Since a few weeks (maybe more) it appeared to me that my Nikon D7000 Raw Files went as plain black pictures on my IOS devices (Iphone or Apple TV running latests IOS releases).
Summary of the situation
Camera to Aperture => Fine
Aperture to ICloud photostream => ko
After some tests based on the discussion bellow
RAW files suddenly show up as "not supported" (Aperture 3.5.1, OS X 10.10)
it came clear to me that the key issue is related to Digital Camera Raw Update Compatibility Update 6. I made some tests using QuickView, iMessage & Aperture :
Test 1 : uninstall Digital Camera Raw Update Compatibility 6 and install version 5.07
Aperture => non supported format
QuickView (space bar) on NEF file => fine
Sent to my IPhone using IMessage => fine
Test 2 : reinstall 6.0.3
Aperture => fine
QuickView => plain black (after a time, I think QuickView is using first the camera preview before decoding RAW data)
Sent to my IPhone using IMessage => plain black
Did someone experienced the same ? Any solution ???
Kind regards,
Jé

Dear Torreypines,,
thanks for your reply. However I quoted the discussion "RAW files suddenly show up as "not supported" (Aperture 3.5.1, OS X 10.10)" to illustrate my test method (uninstall and install an older Digital Camera Raw Update Compatibility).
I do run the latests Aperture Update (updated directly from the Mac App Store).
To illustrate, here is a screenshot of an IMessage discussion.
Action : drag and drop a Nikon D7000 NEF file to the discussion and send it to an IPhone
- Test 1 : Yosemite, Aperture, Digital Camera Raw... up to date => plain black
- Test 2 : Older (5.07) Digital Camera Raw => picture ok (unfortunately, Aperture ko)
This illustrate also what appends into ICloud. All NEF files uploaded since a few weeks are plain black into photostream on IOS Devices (Iphone and Apple TV).
Kind regards,
Jérôme

Picture taking and videos vs. a digital camera?

I mananged to break my Sony 3.2 Megapixel Cybershot camera. I have been pleased with it, picture abilities, short video ability.
Anyway, it may not be worth fixing.
How does the iPhones photo and video taking ability to compare to a digital camera like this?
I would LOVE an iPhone, but can't justify buying one yet due to tight business budget, but if it can do great photo and video taking compared to a camera than I may just have to get one
Thanks in advance for all input!

Hi AndreaFahy, iphone takes nice simple still shots, it lacks a flash but you should be able to get good results in normal indoor lighting as well as outdoor daytime shooting. There are NO exposure adjustments on iphone, what you see is what you get. You must hold iphone very steady when pressing the shutter button or your picture will be out of focus, there is no tripod socket on iphone. There is NO video mode on iphone.
Hope this helps, Steve.

Recommend a 3 party package for taking pictures from digital cam

Anyone knows which package is good for that, or any solution. Thanks.

Hi,
You can try a package named: JTwain, which is available at http://asprise.com/product/jtwain.
JTwain supports all kinds of digital cameras and scanners. You can use Java to access, contorl digital cameras and scanners, and of course, to acquire images with flexible settings.
The developers' guide is available @ http://asprise.com/product/jtwain/devGuide.php
In the simplest case, one line of Java code can solve your problem.
Good luck!

Digital camera to Extreme for wireless picture downloads.

I have an AirPort Extreme to which I have successfully added a printer and external hard drive using a powered hub. I can access both wirelessly.
I am also trying to add a digital camera to the hub so that I can download my new pictures to iPhoto wirelessly without having to physically plug the camera into my MacBook, but I am having no luck with that.
Is it possible? If so, how do I do it?

Now I'm travelling to China at the end of the year I am hoping even more that some Apps guru can come up with even a basic processing App to load images that can attach to say, my daily news to my Friends on Facebook!
I know my Sony uses USB2.0 so all that would be needed is an intermediary link to plug into the Touch? I noticed there is Apple iPod Camera Connector (M9861) available but reviews don't cover the Touch and there's conflicting reports.
Already you can now get a useful photo retouching App (Picoli) which makes life even easier.
Fingers crossed I guess!

When importing pictures from digital camera, error/unreadable pics?

I'm new to Mac - and fairly green when it comes to all thinks computer related..so bear with me
I've connected by digital camera and tried using the iphoto to import - but it won't find/upload any pictures...I just get the spinning wheel/timer forever...and end up having to quit that process.
Then searching around a bit - found a process called "image capture". Not sure what the difference is - but when I use that icon to find my pictures...I'm getting about 1/2 way there...in that - for some reason while it will find and save SOME of my pictures from my camera/memory card - it seems to pick & choose which ones....and then I get an error message saying some of the jpgs were unreadable. But they are all jpgs on my camera ??? Help. Frustrated!! I want to use the iphoto editing software since it's much better than snapfish or others available and then order prints on line...but can't seem to get ALL the pictures I need.
Thank you!

Hi BDAqua - thanks for the update link for Graphic Converter. I'll be sure to give that a try. I do have the camera plugged in versus running on battery...and the MAC plugged in too. My camera is a Casio Exilim 10.1 mpixels. Any idea if that's making a difference? This last time I plugged the camera in...it downloaded the pictures but then I had to "select all" and import to library as a second step. And the video on how the iphoto is suppossed to recognize and pretty much automatically import your photos doesn't seem to be occurring as easily or quickly as implied in the video.
So I'll give the GraphicConverter a spin and see if that works better. Any tips on usage...and is it just the method to upload....but from there, I still use iphoto to store them in the library, etc? (told you I was green with all this stuff!) Thanks too for the warm welcome!

How can iPhoto upload pictures to a digital camera? Or SL 10.6.2?

How can I upload photos from my MacPro SL 10.6.2 to my digital camera? If iPhoto or the OS can do it, it's not intuitive because I cannot figure it out.
My digital camera appears om Windows XPs desktop and Windows treats it as another disk. Extremely easy to drag photos on drive D: to my digital camera to simply upload.
Can the Mac do that? I don't see the digital camera on the desktop or anywhere except inside iPhoto.
All I want to do is copy photos and movies onto an 8GB Secure Digital Memory Card in my digital camera and then put the memory card into my son's Photo Frame so that he can view the pictures and play the movies.
Thank you,
Don

What brand of camera do you have? Perhaps you might take it up with the manufacturer, after all, they are the ones who decide whether to support mounting on the OS X Desktop.
Given the amount of pictures I take, constantly taking my card in and out of the camera puts wear and tear on it,
Using a USB Card Reader is a much better and safer way to transfer your photos:
1. Less risk of your images being lost if your camera shuts down during transfer.
2. It saves the battery on your camera
3. It saves wear and tear on your camera ports - and replacing a worn USB port on a camera is somewhat more expensive than replacing a camera card - and what "wear and tear" is there on a card?
4. It’s almost always faster.
Regards
TD

Cannot load pictures from Fuji F10 digital camera onto OSX 10.5.2

I cannot load pictures from my fuji F10 digital camera. The Fuji support site does not appear to have any firmware that would allow compatibility between the two but was wondering if anyone has any ideas. I can't even bring them over using a zip drive because I get an error stating that the files are corrupt. any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Chuck

What brand of camera do you have? Perhaps you might take it up with the manufacturer, after all, they are the ones who decide whether to support mounting on the OS X Desktop.
Given the amount of pictures I take, constantly taking my card in and out of the camera puts wear and tear on it,
Using a USB Card Reader is a much better and safer way to transfer your photos:
1. Less risk of your images being lost if your camera shuts down during transfer.
2. It saves the battery on your camera
3. It saves wear and tear on your camera ports - and replacing a worn USB port on a camera is somewhat more expensive than replacing a camera card - and what "wear and tear" is there on a card?
4. It’s almost always faster.
Regards
TD

HT201317 Has anybody an idea, why my jpeg-picture uploaded to Photo Stream does not appear on my S4 like all the other pictures before? Ok, it's 4 years old, but JPEG and taken with a digital camera...! I'm despaired after trying since days...! Thank you!

Has anybody any idea, why my jpeg-picture upoaded to Photo Stream does not appear on my iPhone S4 like all the other pictures before?
Ok, it's a 4 year old picture, but taken with a digital camera as jpeg...! This cannot be the problem really, but I'm despaired after trying since days...! Thank you all for any hint you've got for me!

If you asking me, I would suggest to additonally use a second storage service which also allows you to store your pictures over the 30 days period. I personally use Dropbox with automatic upload for that (https://db.tt/cMEgDUFZ), but there are also other storage services like Flickr for example.

Cant find the pictures I imported from my digital camera using iphoto

Hi,
I have a macbook pro and imported part of some photos from my digital camera using Iphoto. When it prompted me whether the photos should be deleted from the camera, I chose 'yes'. It deleted the pictures from the camera, but I cant find them anywhere on iphotos. I have tried searching for the pics on my mac using the 'finder', but had no luck.
I repeated the same thing.. took some more pictures and tried to import part of them and then delete the same pics from the camera. Iphotos did the same thing..
I usually import all (and not part) of the pictures from my camera and then use the same option to delete the pictures from the camera after importing them to iphotos. This has always worked.
Please help. Thanks,
Kanchan

In the Event mode make sure the sort order is By Date ➙ Descending. That will put the newer Events at the top of the window. Check there to see if they are there or not.
The safest method to get photos from a camera to the library is to upload them to a folder on the Desktop first. That makes sure they are safely on the hard drive. From there you can import the folder into the library and when you've confirmed they are in the library you can delete the folder from the Desktop and have the camera reformat the memory card.
OT

Pictures taked with Camera are not saved.

When taking pictures using my iPad Air the app functions normally but the pictures are not saved to the iPad. Am I missing a setting somewhere in Settings?

Yes, they are on the "Camera Roll".
When I had iPad (the original) these are saved pictures from various apps (Facebook, Wikipedia, emails, ......)
When I up graded to iPad Air everything transfered over. Thus pictures are stored in "Camera Roll".
This still does not explain why pictures taked on the iPad are not saved anywhere.
Thanks for the response.

How does one import just 1 picture from one's digital camera?

I have 700 pictures on my digital camera and I only want to import one picture. Is this possible? How do I do it?
Thank you.

If your camera mounts on the desktop as an external device, then it's as simple as choosing File > Import to Library, then navigating to the camera and selecting the photo you want.
If not, use Image Capture, found in the Applications folder, to import. Save it to the desktop, then open iPhoto and import it. You can delete the first location once the file is imported into iPhoto.
A third way is to use a card reader. It will mount on the desktop, even if your camera does not. With a card reader, you can always preview the files before you import, and select only the ones you want. IMO, it's the best way to import.
Here's one more trick, copied from MacOSXHints.com: "In iPhoto 6.0.4, when you attach a digital camera and see the import screen, press the Return key on your keyboard twice in succession. iPhoto will switch to editing mode, showing all pictures that reside on the digital camera. You cannot make changes to the pictures, nor can you drag the pictures individually to your iPhoto library, but you can see everything on the camera." Old Toad says you can use this trick to drag one photo into the library, but that it only works with one at a time and is very slow. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4079344&#4079344

How do I turn the camera off after taking a picture?

How do I turn the camera off after taking a picture?

Exit the camera App by tapping the Home button.

Just got my new ipad2. Wondering if there is a way to download pictures from my digital cameras?

Just got my new ipad2. Is there a way to download pictures from my digital cameras?

If your camera has SD cards you can buy and use the camera connection kit and transfer the photos from the card to your iPad. If it doesn't have SD cards you can still use the CKK, but with a USB cable. Doing it the USB way does have issues and mixed successes because some drivers don't play well with the iPad

Can't see video picture with digital camera connected to Mac.

Hi,
I just bought a Sony DSC-S650 digital camera and shot a 1 minute video. When I plug it into my iMac intel Core 2 Duo it imports into iPhoto and when I got to play it I get sound perfectly but no picture. The digital camera shoots in .avi so when it shows up in Quicktime it is in .avi format. The Quicktime dialogue box comes up and says I am missing some things and directs me to this other page with all these XVid and different players on there. I've loaded a few of them but still no picture showing up. Is there a specific one I should try or any other ideas?
I'm having no problem importing regular photos into iphoto just the video part.
Thanks,
S.

Spiralgirl
The difficulty with the avi format is that it's really a hold all for a wide range of codecs.
Some things to try:
Have you checked with Sony for an updated driver for for Camera?
Try install Perian
Make sure that your Quicktime is up-to-date - it's at 7.1.5 now.
Regards
TD

Digital Camera Basic Picture-Taking Tips

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