Where To Find Digital Photography Tips You Can Actually Understand

For those of you who still scratch your head when it comes to using your digital camera or just want to pick up some pointers on how to take better pictures, you'll appreciate a site called Shortcourses.com. Billed as "The On-line Library of Digital Photography" you'll find that it's an impressive resource filled with tips and tutorials to help you get serious about your hobby.

Especially if you're a budding digital photographer who's looking for information presented in plain English, this site is a must-see!

Enjoy National Geographic's Photo Of The Day

If you appreciate great photography you'll love the Photo of the Day feature from National Geographic. Each day their editors select a notable photograph from their immense archive to display on the National Geographic homepage.

You can also view the National Geographic photo of the Day right here on The Senior Surfer through the handy widget you'll find in the left-hand column of the page.

Enjoy!

Tour The American Museum Of Photography

Want to know where you can see thousands of artistically and historically significant photographs? They're online at The American Museum of Photography, a collection of virtual exhibits that will be of interest to anyone who's ever held a camera.

Many of the pictures you'll see date back from the earliest days of the art form when photographs were known as daguerreotypes. Included in the digitized collection are works from notable photographers like Scott Mutter, Shotaro Shimomura, and Ansel Adams, among others.

If you're a budding digital photographer who wants to "see" the history of photography, you'll love the tons of classic images accessible right from your desktop-this is one museum you'll be visiting often!

Tips From The Pros On How To Photograph Fireworks

Do you plan on attending any fireworks displays in celebration of the 4th of July this year? Are you bringing your digital camera? Then you might want to turn to the Web for some tips on making sure the photographs you take are as spectacular as the fireworks themselves.

Here are a couple of great sites that will teach you everything you need to know about photographing fireworks:

• Photographing Fireworks - Tips and tricks from Kodak.com

• Take better photos: fireworks - Advice from The HP Digital Photography Center

• How to Photograph Fireworks - PC World's take on photographing fireworks

Good luck with your photos!

Discover The HP Digital Photography Center

Do you find that the technology surrounding digital photography can get a little overwhelming at times? Don't worry-you'll be happy to know that there are resources-some even on the Web-that make understanding digital photography a whole lot easier.

Take the HP Digital Photography Center for example. If you're passionate about digital photography but short on patience for all the technical mumbo jumbo it usually entails, you'll love this online resource, loaded with tips and tricks that's informative and easy to understand.

Some of the topics they cover include:

• How to take better photographs
• Free digital photography projects
• Tips for printing better photographs

And much more! This is one handy Web resource that'll help you get the most out of your hobby!

How To Turn Your Digital Photos Into A Coffee Table Book

Remember the days when you would take your favorite photographs and put them in a scrapbook or photo album? Imagine if you could have taken those photographs and turned them into a coffee table book? Back then it would have been cost prohibitive, but now, thanks to innovations like digital photography and the power of the Web, it's much more affordable.

Today, many Web sites are offering user-friendly bookmaking software that makes it easy to turn your photographs into coffee table books, and in many cases, this software is available for free. A good example of such a site that offers free software is Blurb.com.

At Blurb.com, simply download their free Booksmart software to your computer, then add your digital photographs, and either have the software automatically lay out the book for you or manually drag and drop the images onto the pages yourself.

To learn more about using this software and see how easy it can be to make a coffee table book out of your photographs, make sure you watch the Step-By-Step Guide To Creating Your Book, a helpful how-to video created by Blurb.com. It really covers everything you need to know to get started!

When you're satisfied with the layout and design of your photo book, you can purchase it from their online bookstore-oh, you can also make it available for sale to the general public if you choose!

Get More Out Of Picasa

Assuming you're a big fan of Picasa, the free digital photography software from Google, (covered previously on The Senior Surfer), it's probably because it's so simple to use and noticeably improves your photographs-but are you getting the most out of this program? If you haven't visited The Official Google Photos Blog, the answer is probably "no."

Brought to you by the Picasa team, The Official Google Photos Blog is loaded with helpful tips and "secrets" about Picasa that you might not be aware of. What kind of useful info are we talking about? Here's an excerpt from a recent blog entry:

If you spend a lot of time in Picasa, here's a keyboard shortcut that may come in handy: When you're in Library View, move your mouse cursor over any picture thumbnail, hold down the 'ctrl' key, and then press 'alt.' You'll instantly get a full-screen view of that picture.

Want more tips about Picasa like this one above? Just make The Official Google Photos Blog a regular read!

Put Your Best Photo Forward

Think you have an eye for digital photography? Don't let your best digital photos just take up bits and bytes on your computer. Why not enter them in an online photo contest? A good place to start is with contests that don't require entry fees.

Here are some of the free photography contests available on the Web:

• Free Photo Contest at BetterPhoto.com

• Free Amateur Digital Photo Contest at SOAPhoto.com

• Monthly Focal Photography Contest at FocalPress.com

Make sure you read the terms and conditions before entering the contests and may your best photo win!

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Protecting Your Digital Photos But Were Afraid To Ask

Is there anything more frustrating than taking a bunch of digital photographs-especially of a momentous event in your life-only to lose them through some software or hardware glitch? That's precisely the reason you need to get into the habit of backing up your digital photo collection. If you're not sure how to go about doing this, there's a site designed especially for you called SaveMyMemories.org.

Created by industry leaders in the field of digital photography, SaveMyMemories.org serves to educate the average digital photography enthusiast on how to go about protecting those precious photos.

The site covers the following topics:

• Hardware and software issues you should be aware of

• A comparison of the different backup solutions available

• Tips for getting the most out of each backup method

And more. This is a must-see site for anyone interested in preserving their digital photographs and looking for some guidance on how to get started!

Create A Digital Scrapbook Online

Interested in trying your hand at digital scrapbooking without having to download any software onto your hard drive? Now you can by visiting a site like Scrapblog.com. Unlike digital scrapbooking sites that require you to install software onto your computer-sometimes at a hefty price-Scrapblog.com's digital scrapbooking software works directly within your browser to allow you to create some pretty impressive looking digital scrapbooks.

Scrapblog.com is also notable for allowing you to add audio and even video to your online digital scrapbooks-and when you're done you can easily share the fruits of your labor with the rest of the world or just family and friends.

You supply the pictures. They supply the easy-to-use software. Nothing to install on your hard drive-oh, and it's free! Getting started in Digital Scrapbooking doesn't get much easier than this.

Digital Photography Tutorials You Can Actually Understand

Is there anything worse than getting into a new hobby like digital photography only to be stymied by all the technical jargon you encounter? Do terms like ISO, aperture or white balance leave you scratching your head? If you're thinking, Can't someone explain this stuff in plain English already? you're going to welcome the online digital photography tutorials of Photoxels.com.

Succinctly written and in a style that's not off-putting, these digital photography guides from Photoxels.com make even the most arcane digital photography topics accessible to the average user.

Designed to help you take better pictures, they go beyond explaining the finer points of digital photography with mere words alone-they use photographs too, so you'll actually see the difference between great and not so great pictures.

A handy reference you'll find yourself going back to again and again!

Touch Up Your Snapshots With An Online Photo Editor

Want to know a quick way to touch up those digital photographs you just took even if you don't have any photo editing software installed on your computer? Now, thanks to the Web, you can use what is known as an online photo editor to give your photos a more finished look.

Here are some free online photo editing sites that even let you practice using this type of software on sample images that they provide:

• FotoFlexer.com
• Pixenate.com
• Pixer.us

Visit one of these sites and you can crop, resize and add other effects to your photos-all with photo editing software that resides on the site itself-no need to download anything, in other words. Give it a spin!

5 Sites That Make It Easy To Share Photos With Family And Friends

Are you still sending family and friends your latest digital photographs in e-mail attachments? Why not consider creating a free online photo album instead and make it easier to store and share your most treasured memories?

An online photo album is simply a location on the Web where your digital photos reside. When you want to share your pictures with friends and family, you e-mail them a link to the online photo album, instead of an e-mail attachment loaded with pictures.

Here are a couple of sites worth noting that make it easy for you to create online photo albums and offer free options for doing so:

• Flickr
• Picasa
• Snapfish
• Shutterfly
• Photobucket

Some of the sites above even give you the option to make your photo albums private or public, so you can decide whether you want to share your pictures with just family and friends or the whole world!

Photo Tips From The Pros & A Whole Lot More

Just like all cameras are not created equal, all photography web sites aren't either-some, like TakeGreatPictures.com are just a cut above the rest. A production of The Photoimaging Information Council, TakeGreatPictures.com offers advice from professional photographers among its many features that make it a standout.

Whether your interest lies in digital photography or just photography in general you'll find a lot to like here. Pay particular attention to the terrific selection of columns including:

• Master Photographers Tell You How
• Digital Photography
• Digital Camera information
• Scrapbooking
• Photo Tips & Techniques

In addition to all the informative articles they offer, TakeGreatPictures.com also provides helpful tools like a camera comparison guide, a qualified digital processing lab finder, and more. You'll want to check out this site, before you take your next snapshot!

Picasa: Free Digital Photography Software From Google

Are you just starting out in digital photography and don't want to spend a lot of money on fancy software? You should know about the free digital photography software available on the Web courtesy of Google. It's called Picasa, a feature rich program that's very easy to use and will allow you to organize and edit your digital photographs.

Here's a small sample of the photo editing touches made possible with Picasa:

• You can crop photos


• Straighten crooked shots


• Remove redeye


• Add artistic effects like Film Grain or Black & White
  

And more! To get started using this free but powerful program simply go to Picasa and download the software by clicking on Try Picasa Now.

A Digital Photography Guide For Beginners

If you've always wanted to take up digital photography but were afraid it was too technical for you, or you simply didn't know where to begin, you should know that the Web has some great sites that will teach you everything you need to know. Digicamhelp.com, for example, is a case in point-a treasure trove of digital photography information that covers the basics and then some-it's a great place to start.

The site offers in depth articles covering the following digital photography topics:

• Tips for choosing the digital camera that's right for you
  
• How to take better digital photographs


• What all those camera features are and how they work


• Everything you want to know about camera accessories

And more! They even feature an active question & answer forum. Especially if you're a beginner and would like to learn more about Digital Photography, you owe it to yourself to visit Digicamhelp.com!