Get The Most Out Of Your Digital Camera Today!

Get The Most Out Of Your Digital Camera Today!

by: Kevin Rockwell

Point and click. The new life of digital cameras gives us all the opportunity to capture images as we go. Whether you simply hit the shutter button to take pictures of your friends and family or if you want to have your camera with you at all times in order to capture the beauty of life wherever you find it, getting the most out of your digital camera can be easy.

Letกs imagine ourselves with the perfect set up of digital camera and a few accessories to make things just right. My personal and professional recommendation is that we start with memory. Get more today. If you only have one memory card for your camera it is time to add to the collection. If you have more than one then good job! The more memory you have for your digital camera the less likely it will be that you get stuck wanting to take more pictures and have no more room on the storage. Memory is relatively cheap, takes up no space in your kit and gives you total control over creativity.

Your camera comes with a variety of quality settings to work with when taking images. Don’t use TIFF, leave it on one of the medium quality level settings and your camera will take fine images for you and not eat up all your memory. If you use the highest setting you will get very few images onto your card. They will for the most part be of very high quality but you would only want to shoot at that level of quality if you are intending to make high quality large format prints of your images.

Now if that child of yours is just so incredibly cute and your wall is aching for a portrait of his or her shining face then by all means do it on the highest quality. The key will be to use good software to process the image and then a printer that can make a large format, high quality print of your image. They exist and for not unreasonable prices I might add.

I was stunned at a recent art show in my neighborhood to be looking at a photographerกs exhibit of large size prints (18×24 and up in size) to find out that he shoots exclusively in digital now. He was a former film photographer who switched over in recent years and now makes stunning prints from his digital images. His landscape images were simply amazing and to find out that he shot them on a good digital camera made me very curious about the process, but that is fodder for another article.

Juice is the answer to your next question. Always have more juice. I spent 20 years in the TV news business and my mantra was always have extra batteries ready to go and an extra tape under the back seat in case of emergency. For TV cameras the batteries were always big and heavy rechargeable NiCads. Lithium batteries are the rage nowadays as they are lighter in weight, have no memory problems, and run longer. Digital still cameras can take advantage of Lithium batteries but the cost is often slightly prohibitive for most of us. Some camera systems use proprietary battery systems. I would recommend not buying into that sort of system. Try to buy a camera that uses universal types of batteries such as AAกs. I use a camera that takes AAกs and I have three sets of rechargeable batteries so I can rotate through them and never be caught short. Total cost for three sets of batteries is about $30, and they will last you several years if you treat them right. If you just buy regular AA batteries and shoot a lot of images your battery cost might triple that over a like period of time.

Edison did it and now we consider him a genius. Experimentation is the name of the game. Digital images cost you nothing but time and a little battery life. Play around and take lots of shots of things, people, events, you name it. Look at magazines, newspapers and notice what images look cool to you. Try to take shots like that yourself so you can see how it is done. This will get you thinking about how to make your everyday shots better. Look for new and different ways to frame things, take both a vertical and a horizontal shot of the same thing and see how it changes perspective. Get closer to your subject, or get farther away to see which looks better. Find something unique about your subject and look for a way to exploit that for a better image. Here is and example, say for instance you have a great looking car you want a picture of, well don’t stand across the street from it and zoom in on the car, get right up close with the sun behind you so the car is sparkling shiny and fills the whole frame of the image. Find itกs best feature and center that in the shot say the awesome lines of front of the car or snazzy wheels.

Print something from your camera every week to remind you of the beauty of everyday things. Take shots all the time, pick one and print it out and then put it in front of you for a day or a week. Live life as though you want beauty around you all the time. If you are madly in love then surround yourself with pictures of that love. If you live in a beautiful place then take pictures of it all the time to make sure you never forget how special it is to be there in your life. Don’t let those images hide away and not be seen. Wallpaper on your computer can be another place to put your weekly image, change it regularly with images from your family, work, life, hobby and you will get more smiles and more joy out of your camera than you know what to do with. My current wallpaper takes me back to a wonderful day on a mountain lake this past summer paddling kayaks in the afternoon breeze. What about yours?

About The Author

Kevin Rockwell worked as a network TV cameraman for 20 years shooting news. Now a devoted fan of digital photography and video he works to gather information and news for digital camera users. Free reports >http://greatdigitalcameras.com/gdcj.html

This article was posted on September 14

by Kevin Rockwell

Easy Editing Using Microsoft Image Suite 10

Easy Editing Using Microsoft Image Suite 10

by: Blur Loterina

Are you fond of digital photography? Are you looking for a new tool that will let you organize, edit, enhance, share and archive your digital image? Read on.

Microsoftกs Digital Image Suite 10 is a package that offers you the advantages of both Digital Image Library 10 and Digital Image Pro 10. This upgraded image editing software is ideal for digital photos. With added features from Digital Image Library 10, you will be able to organize your photo collection. It helps you upload your photo easily. You can even rate images or flag them for future use. Library also allows you to add captions on your images and categorize them using some keywords. You can classify your images according to date, size, favorites, ratings and more. It has an automatic backup reminder to safeguard your photos in the right places.

This software will enable you to edit images with ease. Just launch the Digital Image Pro 10. It logically arranges your tools and enables you to make changes using the Auto Fix commands. Although, it offers fewer options and requires complex commands, it will provide you with excellent results.

Digital Image Suite 10 allows you to create a movie out of your photos. It’s a sort of a stop motion animation that’s commonly used in cartoon movies and clay animation. A stop motion animation is a process in which pictures are arranged and shown in such a way that it looks as if the motion is continuous.

Also, it features an easytofollow wizard that lets you to create a video out of your photos. Not only that, you can also add background music, narration and title pages.

It contains flags that will remind you of the next steps, such as which photos need to be printed or sent. With Auto Fixes, your camera phone images can now be adjusted. This feature helps you edit the color, exposure or any ‘imperfection’ automatically. You can also use the Color and Exposure toolsets to balance brightness, washedout colors, and the like.

This program also allows you to adjust curves including red, green, blue, saturation and luminosity. Also, you can eliminate noise, red eye effect, and faded or bright color pixels.

Another remarkable feature is the Smart Erase tool was added so that you can remove unwanted images or backgrounds. Its Panoramic Stitching feature enables you to put together vertical and horizontal photos to show the whole story in one single scene. It also allows you to burn images to CDs or DVDs.

Microsoft’s Digital Image Suite 10 is your complete tool for editing images, as well as adding life to your photos. One drawback is that it only allows you to edit images one at a time, which means that you cannot have two or more copies of an image when editing.

About The Author

Blur Loterina

You may wonder why I write articles. Besides from the fact that it’s my job, I used to write short stories when I was younger. I think it would be helpful if I said I’m a big fan of Zach de la Rocha and Rage Against the Machine. This would explain my own views about a lot of things. Their songs were about national issues, politics and human rights. They support the American Indian Movement and Che Guevara, the face you see on tshirts. Not that it concerns me. I only like their music and idealism.

I’m not an artist, I’m not a poet. I just love writing anything I want. I wasn’t born a genius, I just want to know and understand something I don’t. I like to find the difference between similar things. It’s like counting birthmarks on each identical twin.

For additional information and comments about the article you may log on to http://www.printingquotesonline.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 10

by Blur Loterina

Maximising Google’s PageRank of your Website to Ma

Maximising Google’s PageRank of your Website to Maximise Traffic

by: Brian Daniels

Google uses PageRank to rank your pages. To maximize your rank, you must understand how to work with it.

Page rank is defined as follows:

We assume page A has pages T1…Tn which point to it (i.e., are citations). The parameter d is a damping factor which can be set between 0 and 1. We usually set d to 0.85. There are more details about d in the next section. Also C(A) is defined as the number of links going out of page A. The PageRank of a page A is given as follows:

PR(A) = (1d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + … + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))

Note that the PageRanks form a probability distribution over web pages, so the sum of all web pagesก PageRanks will be one.

The Anatomy of a LargeScale Hypertextual Web Search Engine (Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page, founders of Google)

To conform to the PageRank algorithm follow these steps:

1. Get inbound links to your website

Google ranks your pages according to the number of links pointing at your page. Try to get as many links pointing at your pages as possible.

2. Your Title Tag

The title of your page is important. Place a descriptive title to you HTML tags in the section of your web page. Do not leave it with a title like กNew Pageก, or ขuntitledข.

3. ContentLaden Pages (Keyword Density)

Use more of your keyword on your pages. Be focused on your content. It has often been observed that Google considers keyword density a large factor in ranking pages in search engine results, more so than many other search engines.

4. Keywordladen Links?

Insert more description on links to your website. For example, a link with the text กCheap Medical Storeก pointing at your site will cause your site to be listed earlier if a visitor searches for กcheap medical storeก than if the link simply said กclick hereก.

5. ALT tags on Images

Place description on images. Add ALT tags to achieve this on images. Google indexes the text given in the ALT tags of images.

6. Use the Google Toolbar

The Google Toolbar is an ActiveX control that installs into IE, and shows the Page Rank of any page that you visit. The toolbar can be obtained from http://toolbar.google.com/. If you use Internet Explorer, you can get an idea of what Google thinks of how important your site is in general, by downloading the Google Toolbar.

7. Others

Good Google Search Engine Optimization looks at over 100 items, but here are some of the major items that Google analyses on web pages:

Words in Headings

Words in Bold

More weight is given to first 25 words of text on a page

Words in URL

Having more than 250 words on a page helps.

Phrases used to describe pictures.

Other major items covered on separate pages here. . .

DMOZ listing, PageRank, Back Links.

Google may also penalize for having too much repetition, or by กSpammingก them.

If it looks like you are trying to ‘trickก Google, then there is a chance you may penalized by Google. You must follow good practices.

8. Advice

Concentrate on a niche that isn’t too big.

Think about the keywords that you should use.

Make a site map so that itกs easy to get to all your pages.

Target the audience. Find out who should know about your site.

Be creative in marketing your site. Newsletters are a must.

Steer clear of any tricks like hidden text/links, sneaky redirects, etc.

Add a page of content a day to your site.

About The Author

Brian Daniels ([email protected]) is the founder of http://www.xcelweb.com, a company dedicated to online Internet Marketing and Web Design. He has just released a new Ebook dedicated to Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation.

This article was posted on April 26, 2004

by Brian Daniels

How a Digital Camera Works

How a Digital Camera Works

by: Jakob Jelling

The digital camera is not something of a magic box that came out of the blue and made wonders! The digital camera is very much like the conventional analog camera, but the technology has been altered. It also contains most of the associated components that the conventional camera contains, like lens and a shutter for letting in light, however instead of reaching a photosensitive film, the light is made to fall upon array of image sensors or photosensitive cells. Much of the differences are like this, yet most of it still remains in oblivion for the ordinary people. And it order that the digital camera gets its true respect, it is necessary to explore these areas of truth and reveal them in light.

Looking a bit more in details about the working of the fantastic device, the digital camera. As a continuation of the above lines, it can be further investigated that the sensor array is basically a microchip about 10 mm across. Every image sensor is a chargedcouple device (CCD) converting light into electric charges, and is essentially a silicon chip used to measure light. These charges are stored as analog data that are then converted to digital via a device called an analog to digital converter (ADC). Over the chip are present a collection of very small lightsensitive diodes, named photosites, or pixels that convert light (or more scientifically, photons) into electrical charges called electrons. The pixels are very much light sensitive, therefore with brighter light striking them, produces greater build up of electrical charges. Each 1000 array receptor creates 1 pixel, and every pixel corresponds to some information stored. The light enters the digital camera via the lens, which is the same mechanism as the conventional analog camera. And this light hits the CCD when the photographer presses the shutter button. The shutter opens and thereby illuminates every pixel, however with various intensities.

Taking a look apart, it can be observed that quite a few digital cameras use CMOS (meaning complementary metal oxide semiconductor, a technology of manufacturing these microchips) technology based microchips as image sensors. The basic advantage is that the CMOS sensors are appreciably cheaper and simpler to fabricate than CCDs. Another great advantage from CMOS sensors is that these take very less power compared to other technology, which adds up to the fact as to their extensive use, and can thus even support the implementation of additional circuitry on the same chip like ADC, some control units etc. Thus it can be stated that CMOS technology based cameras are small, light, cheap and also energy efficient, yet at the cost of some amount of image quality.

However the common trend remains that all cameras of the mega pixel range and higher up use CCD chips instead of CMOS. This is because of the fact of picture quality only, leaving aside the price differences.

This is basically the fact about how digital cameras work! Having known this much difference would not come in the photographing expertise of the users, but it always feels a kind of satisfaction on understanding the inner depths of a device that is so close to the eyes!

By Jakob Jelling

http://www.snapjunky.com

About The Author

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.snapjunky.com. Visit his digital camera guide and learn how to take better pictures with your digicam.

This article was posted on October 20, 2004

by Jakob Jelling

Get The Most Out Of Your Digital Camera Today!

Get The Most Out Of Your Digital Camera Today!

by: Kevin Rockwell

Point and click. The new life of digital cameras gives us all the opportunity to capture images as we go. Whether you simply hit the shutter button to take pictures of your friends and family or if you want to have your camera with you at all times in order to capture the beauty of life wherever you find it, getting the most out of your digital camera can be easy.

Let’s imagine ourselves with the perfect set up of digital camera and a few accessories to make things just right. My personal and professional recommendation is that we start with memory. Get more today. If you only have one memory card for your camera it is time to add to the collection. If you have more than one then good job! The more memory you have for your digital camera the less likely it will be that you get stuck wanting to take more pictures and have no more room on the storage. Memory is relatively cheap, takes up no space in your kit and gives you total control over creativity.

Your camera comes with a variety of quality settings to work with when taking images. Don’t use TIFF, leave it on one of the medium quality level settings and your camera will take fine images for you and not eat up all your memory. If you use the highest setting you will get very few images onto your card. They will for the most part be of very high quality but you would only want to shoot at that level of quality if you are intending to make high quality large format prints of your images.

Now if that child of yours is just so incredibly cute and your wall is aching for a portrait of his or her shining face then by all means do it on the highest quality. The key will be to use good software to process the image and then a printer that can make a large format, high quality print of your image. They exist and for not unreasonable prices I might add.

I was stunned at a recent art show in my neighborhood to be looking at a photographer’s exhibit of large size prints (18×24 and up in size) to find out that he shoots exclusively in digital now. He was a former film photographer who switched over in recent years and now makes stunning prints from his digital images. His landscape images were simply amazing and to find out that he shot them on a good digital camera made me very curious about the process, but that is fodder for another article.

Juice is the answer to your next question. Always have more juice. I spent 20 years in the TV news business and my mantra was always have extra batteries ready to go and an extra tape under the back seat in case of emergency. For TV cameras the batteries were always big and heavy rechargeable NiCads. Lithium batteries are the rage nowadays as they are lighter in weight, have no memory problems, and run longer. Digital still cameras can take advantage of Lithium batteries but the cost is often slightly prohibitive for most of us. Some camera systems use proprietary battery systems. I would recommend not buying into that sort of system. Try to buy a camera that uses universal types of batteries such as AA’s. I use a camera that takes AA’s and I have three sets of rechargeable batteries so I can rotate through them and never be caught short. Total cost for three sets of batteries is about $30, and they will last you several years if you treat them right. If you just buy regular AA batteries and shoot a lot of images your battery cost might triple that over a like period of time.

Edison did it and now we consider him a genius. Experimentation is the name of the game. Digital images cost you nothing but time and a little battery life. Play around and take lots of shots of things, people, events, you name it. Look at magazines, newspapers and notice what images look cool to you. Try to take shots like that yourself so you can see how it is done. This will get you thinking about how to make your everyday shots better. Look for new and different ways to frame things, take both a vertical and a horizontal shot of the same thing and see how it changes perspective. Get closer to your subject, or get farther away to see which looks better. Find something unique about your subject and look for a way to exploit that for a better image. Here is and example, say for instance you have a great looking car you want a picture of, well don’t stand across the street from it and zoom in on the car, get right up close with the sun behind you so the car is sparkling shiny and fills the whole frame of the image. Find it’s best feature and center that in the shot say the awesome lines of front of the car or snazzy wheels.

Print something from your camera every week to remind you of the beauty of everyday things. Take shots all the time, pick one and print it out and then put it in front of you for a day or a week. Live life as though you want beauty around you all the time. If you are madly in love then surround yourself with pictures of that love. If you live in a beautiful place then take pictures of it all the time to make sure you never forget how special it is to be there in your life. Don’t let those images hide away and not be seen. Wallpaper on your computer can be another place to put your weekly image, change it regularly with images from your family, work, life, hobby and you will get more smiles and more joy out of your camera than you know what to do with. My current wallpaper takes me back to a wonderful day on a mountain lake this past summer paddling kayaks in the afternoon breeze. What about yours?

About The Author

Kevin Rockwell is a life long photographer and digital camera convert. He has spent his whole adult life taking pictures and now spends his time shooting sports images, training soccer players, and writing about digital cameras. The Flash Times is filled with tips, news, and information about digital cameras. Visit www.greatdigitalcameras.com/signup.html to sign up today for this monthly newsletter.

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 02, 2004

by Kevin Rockwell

Building Brand Awareness Through Tradeshows

Building Brand Awareness Through Tradeshows

by: Susan Freidmann

Branding is a basic marketing concept that is designed to set your products/services apart from the competition. By using a particular name, phrase, design, symbol or a combination of these, you can create a unique identity. When choosing a brand name, consider the following five criteria:

It should suggest product/service benefits.

It should be simple, memorable, and unique.

It should fit the image of the company.

It should have positive connotations for the target market.

It should be easy to pronounce and to pictorialize.

Branding is not a sales and marketing gimmick. Instead it refines and defines corporate culture and identity. A brand must have meaning to its consumers, its organization and its employees. Brand is an emotional link between you and your customer. It is what people buy when they buy your product or your company. The most important part of a brand’s identity is the promise it makes to customers. The essence of branding is simplicity and timelessness.

Integrating Brand Awareness Into Your Exhibit Program

Since exhibiting is a powerful extension of your company’s advertising, promotion, public relations and sales function, that automatically means it is an excellent way to enhance brand awareness. Everything your company stands for, no matter how large or small, is being exhibited on the show floor. This means there needs to be total consistency, congruity, clarity and focus in every aspect of your exhibiting program, before, during and after the show.

Here are three important points to consider as you plan to integrate brand awareness into your tradeshow program.

Consistency and repetition is vital in creating brand awareness. People buy brands they know and they trust! A brand is a promise that companies make to their customers. Strong branding requires all the levels of communication to agree with one another.

Ensure all your marketing and promotions are consistent and that they have your logo, colors, typeface, slogans and characters. Everything you develop should have the same look and feel.

Peoples’ perception about your company, products, and services is a major factor in their choice of brand preferences and their buying behavior. All perception is subjective and based on experience. Individuals tend to interpret information according to existing beliefs, attitudes, needs and mood.

The following is a 10point checklist to act as a reminder for many of the questions you need to ask and answer as you plan brand integration into your exhibit program:

1. What needs to be done to ensure that your booth conveys total consistency, congruity, clarity and focus of your company image and brand?

Consider:

booth size

location

graphics

demonstrations

staff

handouts and giveaways

lead management

2. How can your graphics work best for you?

can be easily seen and read in three seconds

use a simple and bold typeface

have striking and grabbing visuals

are instantly memorable

use a unique size or shape

reinforce your message

make your message a single, strong, provocative idea

use a กWhat’s in it for me?ก message

use bold colors

3. What are the best promotional activities you can use to enhance brand awareness?

Personal invitations (e.g. with incentive and response form)

Direct mail with incentive

Preshow advertising

trade and/or local publications

local media

websites (e.g. company, show, association)

broadcast faxes

association newsletters

city billboards

transit advertising

Atshow advertising

show catalogs

show dailies

airport billboards, banners/electronic message boards

hotel closedcircuit television

hotel on door or in room promotion

kiosks/banners at show site

convention television channels

4. What types of PR communications could be used?

Preshow:

press releases for local and trade publications

product/service application articles

personal invitations to trade/local editors

company newsletters

Atshow:

press kits for the press office

press reception

video/slide presentation at the booth

reprints of articles as giveaways

seminars/workshops

contests

personalities/spokesperson at booth

5. What sponsorship opportunities exist and would complement your company image?

Some of the most frequent sponsorship opportunities are:

press room

international lounge

speaker or VIP room

awards reception

educational programs

keynote sessions

coffee breaks

luncheons/dinners

banners

badge holders

audio visual equipment

display computers

tote bags

shuttle buses

6. What advertising premiums will be consistent with your image and complement the message you want to convey?

Consider:

budget

originality

usefulness and appropriateness for your target audience

distribution

7. Who are the best ambassadors for your company the right people to staff the booth?

8. What training should they receive?

Consider:

prospect qualification

booth etiquette

product knowledge

product demonstration

obtaining commitment

9. What is the best dress code to convey your company image?

10. What is the best way to followup after the show that is consistent with your exhibiting program?

Remember that branding is a process, a business system, that fuels and sustains all customer/company relationships! Total consistency, congruity, clarity and focus in every aspect of your exhibiting program, before, during and after the show are essential.

About The Author

Written by Susan A. Friedmann,CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, author: ขMeeting & Event Planning for Dummies,ข working with companies to improve their meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and training. Go to http://www.thetradeshowcoach.com to sign up for a free copy of ExhibitSmart Tips of the Week.

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 29

by Susan Freidmann