Professional Photography

I realize that not all of you are curled up with this website in one hand and a digital camera in the other. You might already have a digital camera and have just want to find out exactly what you can do with it. However, I’m guessing that quite a few of you haven’t taken the plunge yet. You want to find out more about digital photography before expending your hard-earned money on the equipment you need. You have questions that need answered first: Can a camera that I can afford do the things I need it to do? Can a computer fumble-fingers like me really do digital photography? What’s the best camera to buy? Others of you are digital camera veterans who are already thinking of upgrading.

Choosing a digital camera that’s right for you can be tricky because a lot more goes into your selection than simply the specifications. Two cameras with identical specs can perform quite differently. One can exceed your expectations while the other one frustrates the heck out of you. However, if you want to get the most, your digital camera should have certain minimal features and capabilities. For example, if your digital camera is one of those Web cams that can capture stills measuring 320 x 200 pixels, or maybe 640 x 480 pixels, you probably don’t have what you need to take serious or semi-serious digital photos. One of those $79 digicams with a lens that can’t be focused, no exposure controls, and no removable storage probably won’t do the job for you, either, other than as a fun toy. If you believe the adage, “Any camera is better than no camera,” go ahead and slip one in your pocket and be ready to take a snapshot anytime, anyplace (as long as there is enough light, your subject holds still, and a wallet-size print will suffice). Such a minimalist digital photo system, however, won’t enable you to do much.

Any digital camera costing a couple hundred dollars or more will probably do a fine job for you. Even the least-expensive, true digital cameras today boast resolutions of at least 2 megapixels (MP). (That is, at least two million pixels of information, usually 1600 x 1200 pixels or more.) Typical digital cameras have automatic exposure, a color LCD viewing screen for previewing or reviewing your photos, and removable storage so you can take out your digital film card when it’s full and replace it with a new one and keep shooting. Most have a zoom lens so that you can magnify an image without moving forward, which is invaluable when you want to take pictures of different subjects from one spot. Those minimum specs give you everything you need to take great photos. After all, it’s the photographer, not the camera, that produces the best images. I once wrote an article for Petersen’s PHOTOGraphic magazine, in which I presented photos of the same subjects, side-by-side, taken with an inexpensive point-and-shoot camera and a full-blown professional system that cost 100 times as much. After both sets of photos had been subjected to the vagaries of halftone reproduction, it was difficult to tell them apart.

Spending a lot on a digital camera buys you a few new capabilities from better zooms, enhanced resolution, interchangeable lenses, or a more sophisticated built-in flash. If you have a full-featured model, you can find lots of information on how to get the most from your camera’s capabilities. But this website also contains workarounds for those owning more modest equipment. You can find digital cameras suitable for the most exotic of photographic pursuits, such as the underwater set-up shown in Figure 1-1. It’s a Canon WP-DC300 waterproof case for the Canon PowerShot S50 digital camera. It provides full access to all your camera’s controls while letting you photograph those colorful coral reefs in Tahiti at depths down to 100 feet!

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