Moving over to Digital.

"Taking the first steps and some considerations along the way".

I know most of you have made the move to digital, but at the last Photoshop demonstration it was clear that some members may appreciate some help in getting started, so forgive me for covering ground that you have already covered. I would like to continue with this feature over future issues, including an advanced Photoshop section for the more experienced. I don’t claim to be the expert but if we can share our knowledge of this subject, we can build ourselves a nice little tutorial archive for all to refer to on an as and when basis, so if anyone has contributions they will be very gratefully received and added to the PCC Photoshop tutorial archive.

So, moving over to digital……

“Maybe I’ll hang on a bit longer, I love my film camera and all this digital malarkey seems a bit technical to me and then there’s the expense”.

Well, moving over to digital can be easier than you think, though you will need access to a computer when you are ready to view/manipulate your images for printing. If you’re not sure when to move over (if you haven’t already) then do it gradually, that’s the route I took and in no time at all I was hooked, sold, converted to digital image manipulation. So I could keep on using my film camera and had all my work transferred to CD at the processors, no more wasting cash getting them in print straight away, now I only pay for the prints I want, “marvellous”

Now to save the cost of pictures that never quite came out the way I would have liked and will now discard. To eliminate this cost, there really was only one answer, Go Digital the advantages over traditional film speak for themselves.

• Practically
• Technically
• Creatively and
• Economically

So now I’m digital, can take hundreds of pictures, check them out there & then and retake a shot if necessary, paying for itself already, I also get excellent picture quality and if need be, I can improve or even change any image on the camera or the computer. Most people are probably familiar with the basics of digital image manipulation, like darkening/lightening, hue/saturation etc, but there is so much more that is possible depending on the software you have, and of course your imagination, it’s only the minority that make use of the full power of the software available to us. As well as dark/light/hue/saturation, you can repair old photos, adjust colour, make major changes, include special effects or create your own montages, even have your own online gallery, the possibilities are almost endless.

Of course all of this sounds so simple, but there are a few things to consider when taking the Traditional/digital step, like what camera should I buy, what PC/Laptop will I need and what is the best software to get for the results I would like to achieve and not forgetting the cost.

Buying the essentials.

When buying your digital camera/computer or software, it would be a very shrewd move to seek as much advice as possible before spending your hard earned cash, as we all know there are plenty who are more interested in their needs than yours and would be more than happy to sell you something you will want to upgrade far sooner than you would like. With technology moving forward so fast nowadays, my rule of thumb is to buy the best I can afford, that way I have reasonably up to date equipment for a few years and there will always be somebody looking to upgrade their older equipment to the level yours is at, so no problems selling in order to upgrade when you are ready. Also consider the advantages of buying second hand and are your present lenses interchangeable with the new digital camera you would like, it doesn’t have to be really expensive moving over to digital.

The Camera.

The wide variety of digital cameras available to us today is mind boggling, even the seasoned photographer would have to look closely before buying, what with all the functions, megapixels and memory cards available, not forgetting the varying cost.

Some considerations before buying…….

• What do you want from your camera, to build your own online gallery, emailing images to friends and family, produce your own prints or for professional purposes.

• How many megapixels to go for, 4-5megapixels would be a simple camera, 6-8 megapixels would be a mid range camera and more widely used, 8 megapixel and above is moving into the more professional camera range, with that many more pixels, capturing the finer details in your images.

• What is your spend and is it flexible, decide how much you want to spend and if possible allow some flexibility.

• What memory card or micro drive to buy, don’t forget to check which is the correct card for your camera, depending on which format you like to shoot in, varies the image sizes, so the amount of images you can store will vary, its always worth trying to get a deal on storage, as you’re spending so much on the camera getting a good deal would maybe afford you two, always handy to carry a spare if you can, if you lose one of them at least you still have some of your images on the other.

The PC/Laptop.

• PC or Laptop do you expect to be mobile and need a computer with you, then the Laptop's your answer, even better if you have wireless capability or will you work from a static position like home then a PC may be a better choice.

• O/S (Operating System) this is a program installed on the HDD to run the computer, with Windows being the more popular followed by the Mac (Apple Macintosh) these are geared more for images and graphics and are generally more expensive as they come with the right software and hardware for imaging.

• RAM (Random Access Memory) If possible check how much memory is required to run the operating system and how much memory is left to run your other programs (the more RAM you have the faster your computer should run, hence checking available upgrade space to run more efficiently with your main processor.

• Software (Computer Program for specific tasks.) If you are going to use Windows, make sure you have the software you need, explain your requirements. Photoshop elements is a popular program as well as Paint shop pro amongst others, don’t forget the editing program disc you got when you bought the camera (usually provided).

• HDD and External Hard drives, your computer's storage space. It is nice to have all that space to store all your images and data but remember, if for some reason your HDD dies and you can't retrieve your data, it will all be lost, so it may also be worth considering an external HDD which are becoming cheaper all the time as a source of storage, bearing in mind that no media storage item is guaranteed not to fail.

• Always take advice if you are not sure, you’re more likely to get what you want and save money.

Ok we’ve got our camera and pc/laptop complete with software, we’re ready, can't see what all the fuss was about.

Well its not over yet, in fact, its only just begun, "Welcome to the world of digital photography and image manipulation" you'll love it.

Ray Hitchcock.