Frequently Asked Photo Questions
Answers to the most nagging questions about editing, printing, and hardware.Dave Johnson
Feature: A Mailbag Bonanza--Frequently Asked Photo Questions
Digital photography is popular because it's supposed to be easy, right? Well, there's an element of truth to that. But we all know that when you combine the worlds of photography and computers, more than a few questions tend to pop up. The old Digital Focus mailbag is starting to burst at the seams, so I thought this would be a good week to answer a lot of frequently asked questions that I haven't had the time or space to address in the weekly Q&A.
Hardware Stumpers
Q: My camera comes with a lot of resolution settings. Which one should I use?
A: The highest resolution is intended for printing. If you just want to e-mail or Web-publish your photos, you can use a lower setting like 640 by 480.
Q: Can I use the memory card that came with my digital camera in other gadgets, like my MP3 player?
A: If you're talking about Compact Flash or Sony Memory Stick, yes. But there's anecdotal evidence that you can ruin a SmartMedia card by doing that, though, so I'd keep SmartMedia for your camera in one place and SmartMedia for your MP3 player elsewhere. Don't mix them up.
Q: Should I get one monster memory card or several small ones?
A: If you shop smart, you can usually find several small memory cards for less than the cost of one really big one.
Editing and Printing
Q: How do I reduce the size of my digital picture to submit it for the Hot Pic contest, or to send it to my grandpa through e-mail?
A: Open your favorite image editor and look for the Resize tool, which is probably hiding up in one of the menus. Set the pixel size to 640 by 480--or thereabouts--and save it with a different file name (to preserve your original high-resolution photo).
Q: What image editor do you recommend?
A: My personal favorite is Jasc's Paint Shop Pro, which you can find on the PCWorld.com Product Finder. It's not the best or the most full-featured program in the world. Quite the opposite: Adobe PhotoShop probably takes that prize. I have found, though, that Paint Shop Pro has about 80 percent of PhotoShop's most common functions, and it's a lot cheaper (about $85) and easier to use. By the same token, Adobe PhotoShop Elements another excellent program, now rivals Paint Shop Pro in terms of cost and ease of use.
Q: What file format should I store my digital images in?
A: As a general rule, JPEG is fine for routine storage. But if you plan to edit an image, I suggest that you save it to TIFF format first, since JPEG images deteriorate somewhat every time you resave them.
Q: Is there really a difference between brands of ink-jet paper?
A: Absolutely. I've found that a given manufacturer's paper is often formulated to work best with its own printers, so I tend to use Epson Premium Glossy with Epson printers, for instance. There's no harm in experimenting--but if you use Hewlett-Packard paper in a Canon printer and don't like the results, remember that the problem might well be less-than-optimum paper rather than the printer itself.
Newsletter Administration
Q: Is there an archive of old winning pictures of the week?
A: Actually, those Hot Pics never really come down or get moved around, so you can always click the URL in an old newsletter to see the winning picture from that week. You can also visit the newsletter archives (the URL is listed at the end of every newsletter) to catch any topics or winning pictures you may have missed.
Q: I wish there were a printer-friendly printing option.
A: That's not really a question, but I'll answer it anyway. There is a printer-friendly option, but it's in the archives. At the end of every archived newsletter is a "printer friendly" link. Click it to print your newsletter in plain text.
Q: Is there a book on digital photography that you'd recommend?
A: I recommend my own book, How to Do Everything With Your Digital Camera(Osborne McGraw-Hill, 2001, 877/833-5524). Did you really think I'd recommend someone else's?
Q: How are you?
A: I'm fine. Thanks for asking.
Dave's Favorites: PDNonline's Photographer Portfolios
Sometimes you need a little bit of inspiration to grab your digital camera, go outside, and start shooting. For me, that inspiration often comes from looking at images taken by other photographers.
Photo District News (or PDN for short) is a wonderful online resource for photo news and information. The site operates an online portfolio service, PhotoServe, that hosts many of the best working photographers today.
When you want to see some images that'll make your mouth hang open with wonder, amazement, and envy, give this site a try. You can search by individual artist or check out portfolios by photographic style--like action, architecture, or automobiles.
Without exception, the images you'll find on this site are breathtaking and inspiring. So check them out and then go make some of your own digital photo magic.
Q&A: What's My Printer's Real Resolution?
Okay, I'm confused. You've said that ink-jet printers have a resolution of about 200 or 250 dpi. But Epson claims their printers' resolution is more like 2880 dpi. Which is it? How can one number be so different from the other?
--Randy Leppek, Lincoln, Nebraska
It is confusing, isn't it? The simplest answer is that printer companies aren't being entirely honest with you. The resolution they advertise on the box isn't a measure of how many pixels per inch the printer can accurately lay down on paper. If it were, 2880-dots-per-inch ink jets would be capable of printing photos of near professional magazine quality. And that's clearly not the case.
Instead, the advertised resolution is a measure of the accuracy of the step motor that drives the print head back and forth across the page. Certainly, you want that motor to be as accurate as possible--but keep in mind that it takes several steps for the print head to make a single dot on the paper. So an ink-jet printer with a resolution of 2880 dpi is not necessarily a whole lot better than one with a resolution of 1440 dpi. Visually, prints made with one printer will certainly not look twice as good as prints made with the other.
The printer's top resolution is indeed important, but other factors play major roles as well: For example, using a sharpening filter on your image and choosing the right paper can have just as much of an effect on the final print quality.
So what resolution should you use when you print? The honest-to-goodness resolution of most ink-jet printers is still in the range of 250 dpi. If you start with a sharp image and plan to use high-quality ink-jet paper, you might see a small difference in image quality if you feed the printer a 300-dpi image. But the difference will be small, and you can generally get decent results with resolutions as low as 200 dpi.
Hot Pic of the Week
Get published, get famous! Each week, we select our favorite reader-submitted photo based on creativity, originality, and technique. Every month, the best of the weekly winners gets a prize valued at between $10 and $100.
A gentle reminder, folks: We disqualify some really wonderful pictures every week because the submissions don't follow the rules. Be sure to include everything we ask for in your e-mail message, including a description of your picture and your complete contact information, or your entry is wasted!
Here's how to enter: Send us your photograph in JPEG format at a resolution no higher than 640 by 480 pixels. Entries at higher resolutions will be immediately disqualified. If necessary, use an image editing program to reduce the file size of your image before e-mailing it to us. Include the title of your photo along with a short description and how you photographed it. Don't forget to send your name, e-mail address, and postal address. Before entering please read the full description of the contest rules and regs.
This week's Hot Pic: "Crazy Driver," by Mike Allred, Provo, Utah
The moment we saw this photo, it was clear that it had to win. Often a successful photo is a matter of surprising the viewer, and this photo certainly succeeds on that count.
Mike writes: "I am a student at Brigham Young University, and I took this photo with an Olympus Z-2040 while riding my bike no-handed on a campus road. To capture the movement of the street below, I set the ISO to 100 and set the aperture as small as possible to guarantee some motion from the long exposure. The pattern of shadows cast by surrounding trees turned out to be quite interesting, and the blurred pavement creates an illusion of motion--kind of scary."
By the way, kids: Don't try this at home.
We want your feedback! Send your comments, questions, and suggestions about the newsletter itself to comments@bydavejohnson.com. If you have a question that you'd like to see answered in the weekly Q&A, send it to question@bydavejohnson.com.
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