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You see it every time you look at an advertisement for a digital camera. The ad screams 8 MP or 10MP. It looks impressive. It’s persuasive. It’s important, isn’t it?

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Let’s say you wanted to replace your old but reliable unit with a digital one. But you are not really sure which model to buy because there are a lot of units out there to choose from. You are not really that familiar with the features since your old camera doesn’t have much purpose except to produce a photograph just the way you shoot it.

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For the beginner photographer the amount of gadgets and electronic devices available is sometimes overwhelming. There are now digital cameras that range from simple point and shoot models to top professional level workhorses worth thousands. In order to take amazing photos there are a few basic pieces of equipment you must have.

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Many people who are getting started in photography will always wonder what equipment to get. This article will help you make the right decisions on which equipment to get when you are starting out on your journey to serious photography.

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Many people ask themselves, which digital camera is best for me? They wonder about the size, functions and technology. For someone that has used film cameras all their lives, a digital camera is going to be a treat

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The best compact digital cameras on the market these days are incredibly popular with consumers. With such a wide array of models and designs available compact cameras have become very affordable for many households.

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When purchasing a digital camera, it is often a tough decision to choose between a SLR digital camera and a compact digital camera. With this SLR digital camera review, we will cover the most important aspects in the decision making process.

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 As with any subject of interest, it is important to be familiar with and understand the terminology - and digital photography is certainly no exception. People that understand the meaning of common digital photography terms and abbreviations have the knowledge necessary to purchase digital cameras and understand the features they offer. Because many of the abbreviations and terms are unique to digital photography and digital cameras, it is imperative for hobbyists and professionals to understand their meaning. Here are some of the most common and important terms and abbreviations.

• Pixel – A pixel is the tiniest part or smallest discrete component of any digitized picture or image and all photos actually start with a pixel. Digital photographs are comprised of thousands or even millions of pixels, which are the photo’s building blocks.

• Megapixel – One million pixels make up one megapixel. When photographers use the term or word megapixel, they are referring to a digital camera photo’s maximum resolution in millions of pixels. In other words, cameras with a four-megapixel range take photographs that have a four million pixel maximum. This means quality to the consumer because better quality photos have higher megapixel counts. Buy a digital camera with the highest megapixel range you can afford, trying to keep it in the three or above megapixel range, especially for people wanting to make photo prints.

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• Resolution – This refers to the total amount of pixels in a digital photo, with the better quality, sharper pictures having a higher resolution.

• JPEG – Formulated by the Joint Photographic Experts Group, a JPEG is a compressing image standard or compression method. JPEGs along with GIFs are two of the principal graphic formats found on the web. The lossy compression method used by JPEGs, which is a lossy file format, sacrifices a little of the original image data each time you save an image. The 24-bit color image stored by JPEGs, which lets you save innumerable colors, is well suited for images and photos with fine grades of color and tone.

• Aperture – The opening that lets the light travel to the sensor inside the interior of the digital cam is the aperture. When you take a picture, inside the lens is a round, small opening that alters the diameter, which controls and measures the total light hitting the sensor in the digital camera. It is the shutter speed and aperture combined that control how much light reaches the camera’s sensor. An aperture priority mode, found on some digital cameras, allows the photographer to adjust the aperture to suit their requirements.

• Focal Length – Often overlooked in amateur photography, the term focal length refers to how much the camera lens is able to magnify a shot. Normally divided into two categories, the focal lengths are telephoto and wide-angle for narrow fields and spacious fields of view respectively.

• Memory – In the digital camera, storage space capability that stores the pictures is the memory.

Knowing the common digital photography terms can help people understand cameras better so they can purchase one that meet their requirements. And, of course - before you purchase, test the digital camera out first!

Terry Roberts is a professional translator and linguist with a wide range of hobbies. His website, Photography for Novices, gives great advice for beginners - don’t miss his 7 Tips for Digital Photography Beginners.

 Photography is a hobby that many not only enjoy, but have adopted as a profession earning money from some of the great photographs produced using acquired photography skills. Becoming a great photographer requires at least three essentials: practice, technical know-how, and an artistic eye.

photo credit: Matsuo Amon

Below are a few simple guidelines to assist beginners to move in that direction.

1. Choose the right camera

For a photographer, the camera is a significant part of life and separation from it can leave a photographer feeling almost as if physically disabled. Choosing the right camera is critical for taking great pictures. There are a wide variety of cameras available on the market, all within various price ranges. As with just about anything in life, a good quality camera will be more expensive.

The common types of cameras follow:

I. Disposable camera

II. Compact camera

III. Digital camera

IV. Single Lens Reflex camera (SLR)

It is advisable that beginners not spend too much initially on a camera. That advice is because the higher priced ones typically include features that are only useful for experts already familiar with their benefits. Try using a camera like Pentax, Canon, or Minolta. These types of cameras take pictures with almost as good quality as the expensive ones.

2. Select a suitable lens

There are two types of lenses that will meet the needs of a person just beginning in photography. They include 28mm to 80mm and 80mm to 270mm. Within those two broad categories are macro, zoom, and wide-angle lenses.

3. Film types

The type of film selected is also very important. You will want a good quality film both for the beauty of the picture and also for longer-term storage. Of course, you can select between color film or black and white.

4. Consider film speed

Generally, faster films are the ones with the higher ISO number. Typically fast ISO films are used to capture quick movements, such as birds or sports players in action. It is also used to take pictures when the preferred amount of light is not available. If plenty of light is available, then a 100 or 200 ISO film will work great.

5. Color balance

Always consider the type of light under which you plan to shoot. Film is very sensitive to light colors. If the film doesn’t match with the light, then unfortunately the colors in the pictures after development will be a mess.

Photography as a hobby is not limited by age groups. Whether young or old, anyone can find enjoyment in it. To become a great photographer, take the time to learn proper techniques and develop your skills. The guidelines above will assist you to begin producing pictures that over time may amaze even you!

6. Photographing People

The job of a good photographer is to capture their subject’s best moments, such as when they are truly at ease and not actually trying hard to “act natural” in front of a camera - usually a prescription for capturing a horrible pose.

A photographer should also make sure the people in the pictures look as natural as possible. A great picture will bring out the innate personality and beauty of the subject - rather than serving as an attempt to create what isn’t really there.

For practical photography & camera information, please visit www.photography-and-cameras.com, a popular site providing great insights about photography training, camera types, and more!

photo credit: Sebastian Fritzon

Ever wonder why some photos have a yellow or blue color cast? Why did this happen? Well it has to do with how your camera sees colors in a scene. Correct white balance is one of those technical aspects of photography that is often overlooked or misunderstood. But it can have a great impact on your photos, so it is important to understand how color in photography works.

What is White Balance?

Color is measured in temperature, in units of Kelvin. Warm colors have a low degrees Kelvin, while cooler temperatures have a higher degrees Kelvin. For example, the flame of a candle has a Kelvin temperature of around 1,500, while a blue sky has a Kelvin temperature of around 9,000. The human eye is very good at adjusting for variation in color temperature. Unless the temperature of the light is very extreme a white wall will generally look white. But a camera doesn’t have a human brain behind it (yet, anyway!) and so isn’t able to make the same adjustments. The result of this is a color cast that either looks too “cold” or too “warm”.

Adjusting White Balance

The purpose of adjusting white balance is to tell your camera to either warm things up or cool things down, depending on the lighting situation. So how do we do this? Most Digital cameras have automatic and semi automatic settings. Most commonly these are:

Automatic: where your camera takes a guess at the correct white balance. In most conditions this is pretty accurate, however in tricky lighting situations it is easily fooled.

Tungsten: used for shooting under tungsten (artificial) lighting such as an indoor bulb. As this type of lighting is quite warm, the setting cools down the colors slightly.

Daylight: used for shooting outside. Colors under a sky can appear quite blue so this setting is used to warm up a scene.

Different makes of cameras also have more variations on these settings, such as for cloudy conditions and flash photography.

Manually Adjusting White Balance

In most cases, using the automatic or semi automatic settings on your camera will produce good results. But if it’s just not doing it for you, or like me you are a complete control freak, most digital cameras will allow you to manually set the white balance.

This can be done in two ways. Some cameras have a setting that will allow you to set the white balance in degrees Kelvin. To do this of course you will need to know the temperature of your light source. This is easy to find out with a few test shots. For example, if you are shooting indoors under a standard house globe, you know that the temperature of the light will be quite low. Adjust your setting to a low number and take a test shot. Then check and make adjustments as needed until the color in your images looks right.

The second method is the tried and true grey card. By holding a neutral color in front of your lens, you are essentially telling the camera what white looks like. It then adjusts all other colors accordingly. To do this you need to have your white balance setting on manual.

With all the automatic settings that digital cameras have to supposedly make our lives easier, it is easy to be lazy and let the camera do all the work. However putting in a little extra effort into learning why things work the way they do gives you the edge next time you are dealing with a tricky lighting situation and helps you improve your photography.

Mark Eden is a freelance travel photographer and owner of Expanse Photography, a photographic services company You can see Mark’s, travel photography and contact Mark through the Expanse Photography website http://www.expansephotography.com.