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What is a Pixel? The primary grading method for digital cameras is how many pixels they have, or more accurately, how many mega-pixels. A pixel is a point in a picture and a mega-pixel is a million such points. A 5 mega-pixel camera stores each picture as 5 million points, or five million pixels. In each pixel is stored the amount of light received (brightness) and the color/shade of that light. So a good point to begin with in your search for a digital camera is the question: “How many pixels do I need?” If you are going to take pictures to share via the internet or small prints, then a camera with 3 to 5 mega-pixels will provide everything you need. You don't need a more expensive 8 or 10 mega-pixel camera for your purposes. Those cameras are important if you plan to make large prints (8 x 10 or bigger) of your pictures or crop them (print only a portion of the actual picture). When you enlarge a picture each pixel is expanded to cover more area in the print; taken to the extreme it becomes blurry. Similarly, if you crop the picture and only use 3 of the 5 mega-pixels in it, each pixel has to be expanded to make a print of the same size. The more pixels your camera has the more flexibility you have in cropping and enlarging your pictures.
Taking Good Pictures There are three important considerations to taking good pictures:
The surest way of keeping the camera steady is to place it on a tripod or mono-pod, but most people don't have one. You can find tripods on I'm Off Work dot Com's camera accessories page. If you don't have a tripod or mono-pod or don't have it with you the easiest way to steady the camera is to set it on a solid surface, or steady your hands on the surface. This will negate the blurring effect caused by tremors in you hands or even the pulsing of your blood. If a horizontal surface isn't available leaning the camera or your hands against a vertical surface will work as well. And if nothing else is available you can use your body to add stability to the camera, such as your knee or arm.
There is new image stabilization software available with many digital cameras to help with this. Originally developed to reduce the blurring caused by moving subjects, kids jumping or waving, it also works for jittery hands. The KODAK EASYSHARE C613 Zoom Digital Camera The most common mistake in picture composition is not lining up your eye with the center of the viewfinder. This can happen easily when you wear glasses, increasing the space between the viewfinder and your eye. Slight movement of the camera up and down and sideways will allow you to judge the center of the viewfinder. Many new digital cameras do not have a separate viewfinder and only provide a display. Once you've established the center of the viewfinder or have your subject centered in the camera's display you want to use your zoom feature to make the primary subject as large as you like while maintaining a border on all four sides. You will be happier with your picture if you avoid having the top of someone's head touching the top of the picture, or their arm touching the side. The same is true with a mountain touching the top of the picture, leave a little sky for the border. If your subject is a person or group of people and you show their feet, avoid having those feet touch the bottom of the picture. If you do not show their feet try to have the bottom of the picture at mid-thigh or above the waist, avoid having the picture end at their knees or waist. For scenic pictures make sure that there is something between the bottom of the primary subject and the bottom of the picture. The auto focus feature found on most digital cameras means you don't have to worry much about sharp focus. However, when taking a closeup or long distant picture you will want to ensure that any “Close” or “Distant” setting on your camera is in the proper status. When dealing with a lens that has manual focus be sure to twist the focus ring beyond the sharpest point and then back. You may want to do this two or three times, with smaller adjustments each time.
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