When asked about doing a regular column in Contemporary Family magazine, I replied, "that's great", a photography column would
interest readers. It could be anything from choosing a camera, a printer or saving their pictures. They could also learn about taking
better pictures at home or on vacation.
I can say first hand that parents I have contact with are not impressed with their digital pictures. Here's a quick intro . . . . .
Let’s look at film capture. Taking pictures with a $10 disposable camera gave you film quality. The problem with film capture is with
the cheap processing and printing, so the true performance of the film never really had a chance to shine.
The same could be said for a good quality point & shoot digital camera that is used improperly. With digital, people just do the print
kiosk in the mall or they have a printer that will do direct print from their SD card. The results are acceptable, but if you compared it to
something that was run through post capture software and sharpened you'll see a difference in quality. For a good example of what I
mean, be sure to read my Nikon Capture NX article.
How do you get better pictures? Take some workshops and you could pick up on some good pointers. I taught photography to a girl
who did home schooling for high school. I shot her wedding (in my web site) and she shoots 1000 pictures a month of her son, also
featured in my site. Because of her constant exposure to me, she has learned some tricks of the trade to get the best possible
images with her point and shoot. The problem with point and shoot digital cameras is slow start up, not very good auto-focus
especially in low light, auto everything that defaults to the highest ISO in low light giving horrifically grainy pictures, slow data
processing after each picture and the list goes on.
Unfortunately, it takes at least a $500.00 basic digital camera to get the speed equivalent to the old days of a motor driven film camera.
With practice and a few workshops, parents and family members could get better photo's of their children, produce high quality prints
and learn safe archival methods.
interest readers. It could be anything from choosing a camera, a printer or saving their pictures. They could also learn about taking
better pictures at home or on vacation.
I can say first hand that parents I have contact with are not impressed with their digital pictures. Here's a quick intro . . . . .
Let’s look at film capture. Taking pictures with a $10 disposable camera gave you film quality. The problem with film capture is with
the cheap processing and printing, so the true performance of the film never really had a chance to shine.
The same could be said for a good quality point & shoot digital camera that is used improperly. With digital, people just do the print
kiosk in the mall or they have a printer that will do direct print from their SD card. The results are acceptable, but if you compared it to
something that was run through post capture software and sharpened you'll see a difference in quality. For a good example of what I
mean, be sure to read my Nikon Capture NX article.
How do you get better pictures? Take some workshops and you could pick up on some good pointers. I taught photography to a girl
who did home schooling for high school. I shot her wedding (in my web site) and she shoots 1000 pictures a month of her son, also
featured in my site. Because of her constant exposure to me, she has learned some tricks of the trade to get the best possible
images with her point and shoot. The problem with point and shoot digital cameras is slow start up, not very good auto-focus
especially in low light, auto everything that defaults to the highest ISO in low light giving horrifically grainy pictures, slow data
processing after each picture and the list goes on.
Unfortunately, it takes at least a $500.00 basic digital camera to get the speed equivalent to the old days of a motor driven film camera.
With practice and a few workshops, parents and family members could get better photo's of their children, produce high quality prints
and learn safe archival methods.
Children, Digitally Speaking!
| Click on the images below for a larger view |
| Disposable Film Camera |
| Point & Shoot Film Camera |
| SLR Film Camera |
| Point & Shoot Digital Camera |
| DSLR Digital Camera |
It's not uncommon for Cd's, DVD's or even hard drives to just stop working. Data becomes corrupt and unreadable
in the digital age and even with perfect storage methods, it just happens. Film has the edge when it comes to
stability and readability over the long term, but it may not be mission critical to worry about pulling up a CD from 5
years ago and finding out it has a fatal error. The image below is forever gone except this low resolution web site
version. The hard drive and CD both crashed within days of each other. This doesn't mean you should stop using
digital and go back to film. You just need to know that everything could be gone without any warning.
in the digital age and even with perfect storage methods, it just happens. Film has the edge when it comes to
stability and readability over the long term, but it may not be mission critical to worry about pulling up a CD from 5
years ago and finding out it has a fatal error. The image below is forever gone except this low resolution web site
version. The hard drive and CD both crashed within days of each other. This doesn't mean you should stop using
digital and go back to film. You just need to know that everything could be gone without any warning.
| DSLR Digital Camera |
© Mark LaMonica. All Rights Reserved.