Rediscovering Photography

Technology has a way of moving toward the biggest and smallest ends of every spectrum, and the case with mini digital cameras is no different.

While the trend in cameras has been to see how many more megapixels each manufacturer can squeeze into regular sized cameras, there is a growing trend of small mini sized cameras coming on to the market.

Some of these are small enough to be carried in a usb stick or on a key chain. While most users report that the photo quality of these smallest camera leaves a lot to be desired, there is still a notion in my mind that there is a place for these.

If you had a camera on your key chain, and for the first week or so after you got it you would take a few pictures every day, it would stick in your mind that you have this little gadget in your pocket or purse. The photos they take may not be the finest quality and you hear a lot of criticism when you read the reviews of these products. But it seems that people are really missing the point.

You should not think that if you pay somewhere from $10 to $40 for a little key chain camera or one of the really small mini units that you will get the same quality photos that you would get with a $2,500 Canon or Nikon DSLR. That’s not the point. The point is that they do take usable low to medium resolution photos in normal lighting conditions.

And there are lots of situations where having any type of camera to snap a quick photo would really be a benefit. If you are out shopping and you see something that you might want to consider in the future, snap a quick pick and research it later when you have time. Or if you see a sign in a store window, or spot something you want to remember for later, a quick photo will have enough quality for you to get the information from later.

If you see a news worthy event, or just want a quick shot of some special occasion, you will always have your little camera with you. And it goes without saying that if you would have the bad luck to be in an accident, or witness one, a few pictures of the scene and people involved can be your private record in case you need to refresh your memory later.

These also make excellent gifts for kids and will bring out the James Bond in them.

These types of camera typically use a single AAA battery, so the cost of using it is minimal.

It wasn’t that many years ago when having a camera and taking photos was an expense that forced people to take pictures only for ‘special’ occasions. Things have now radically changed with digital photography. The cost and ease of use of cameras has moved to the point that we should all keep in our minds that anything we see is something that we could instantly record if we just remembered to do it.

The power, quality and ease of use of all digital cameras continues to get better and better. Maybe now is the time for you to do some thinking about the way you use them in your everyday life.

Nobody sees the photos you have on your hard drive!

Why do you take photos? To keep them stored on your computer? To spend hours and hours post processing them with Photoshop or some other image processing software? And then saying, “I’ve got to get to bed. I’ll work on these some more tomorrow.”

If this sounds familiar, then you’ll know how I’ve felt about processing photos after I download them from the camera.

About a year ago I made some headway into solving the time it takes to sort lots of pictures when I wrote my PhotoMove program. It automatically sorts photos into folders based on the date the photo was taken (not the file date) and you can’t beat the price, it’s free. Download it and try it out.

But I think I’ve finally realized that our whole mindset has got to change about digital pictures. There are so many tools available to change and edit and adjust and sharpen and resize and fix the photos that we are constantly trying to make them “perfect” and end up never printing them or putting them up on the web for others to see.

So here’s a start on knocking down the “post processing barrier” that we spend so much time on.

After looking at many options, I found a free program that works exceptionally well at resizing images and is extremely fast to use.

The program is called the RIOT – Radical Image Optimization Tool. This is free resizing software but the author does ask for a voluntary contribution. If you can afford it, give the guy a few bucks. This is a nice piece of work.

This program is made for one thing only: Reducing the size of the image file while keeping the highest quality possible based on the size you pick. This allows you to use your photos quickly on your web page or in an email without spending hours getting it ready.

For fun, take a look at these instructions for How to Optimize a Picture for the Web from eHow.com. Can you believe it? Seven (fairly complicated) steps to convert an image.

We are going to be working on ways to allow people to see our photos, in very high quality so we can be proud of them, quickly and immediately so we don’t waste hours on the computer. And the RIOT tool is a great start for our system to accomplish this.

Download the program and give it a try. It’s a riot.

One of the neatest additions that I ever added to my never ending collection of gear was Timer Remote Control for my Canon 20D.

I originally decided to buy it thinking that I would like to try some time lapse photos and then post them to the site as sequences. You can find a number of different places on the web where people have done time lapse, especially night shots and star trails.

They look very cool on the web. But after you spend a few nights out in the wilderness sitting in your parked car waiting for two or three or four hours to go by, the coolness wears off. Time lapse is neat to see, harder to have the time and patience to do.

But I still love this remote because it solved one problem for me forever. It is great for when you are using your tripod and taking shots that are not really long exposures. Everyone has problems with trying not to have the camera move when you press the shutter button when your camera is on the tripod. But you don’t have any problems if you use a remote.

Now, every time I use my tripod, I just automatically plug this remote in. It has a shutter release button right on it and it completely eliminates any camera shake. I used to goof around with mirror lock up and trying to remember how to set that and then forget to change the shot mode to single rather than continuous, etc.

Using this remote just makes it so simple. (It really works for fireworks!)

It’s a little pricey using it how it turned out for me, but you can check on Amazon (the little picture above is linked to them). They show their other options for less expensive remotes also.

However, if you think you ever want to get into time lapse, this remote has really got it all. And I’m still glad I’ve got it in my bag. Someday I might even get the hankering to go back out and try those star trail time lapses again.