Guest speaker: Richard Miller August 13 2014

Topic: Digital cameras and computers workshop Q&A

Editing photos - removing elements / manipulation - it depends on the software that you have on your computer. We will look at various editing tools in future meetings. ADOBE CS2 (Creative Suite) including Photoshop is free to download.

Get the photo right first e.g light and focus. Golden rule - always put the sun behind you and try to get even light; either full shade or full light and by moving the subject if possible.

Using flash - some digital cameras have settings for when to flash. If not you can alter the flash with a tissue, or move back from the subject.
With an external flash you can rotate it to bounce off the ceiling to achieve a softer light.

ASA setting on film was fixed but with digital you can change the ASA to affect the light. E.g. 50 for very bright sun or 4800 for very low light.
Always shoot on your camera's maximum quality setting and then you can reduce the size for emailing on your computer, while retaining the original for printing.
Always get a good quality camera card, e.g. SanDisk Extreme.

Image size verses canvas size - image size will change the resolution, canvas size will change the dimensions which will crop the photo if reduced.

Battery quality is important. When traveling a camera with standard batteries is best rather than having to take a recharging device with you and international plug converters.

If your digital camera has no view finder it can be difficult to see the screen in sunlight but you can buy a shade screen.

Taking waterfalls and rivers that are moving you need to lower your shutter speed to about 10 and use a tripod. A Gorillapod tripod is very handy, see joby.com available at OfficeWorks.

To get professional photos you should turn off automatic mode and set the aperture and shutter speed.

Thanks to Richard for his great knowledge.