Helpless? Possibly. Hopeless? Definitely!

[gila]

i know nothing about photography. f-stops and aperture thingies and all that are beyond me. i'm also a techno dunce. it takes me like 47 steps to get pics from my digital camera to a CD. none of it is intuitive. and i see talk on the boards about editing...is that with photoshop? i've heard of it, but haven't every used it. i have other things on my computer--Picassa and a microsoft product pops up as an option whenever i plug my camera in. they ask me to change contrasts and brightness and different things on each photo, but i honestly don't know how to do all that stuff. yeah, you figured me out--i'm too lazy to learn
i'm trying to figure out what some of the functions on my camera do, but i'm mostly trying to work on choosing better pictures to take, rather than learning the technology. i do love the fact that with digital i can take a bunch of photos and not worry about wasting film, but i'd rather take a few that i feel good about rather than a couple of dozen that i have to weed through. i especially love that i can go back & forth from color to b&w so easily--i love b&w, especially for architecture, and especially in the rain. man, i'm rambling here, aren't i? do i have a point? oh, yes. so, you see where i'm coming from. i'm probably never gonna go the SLR/DSLR route. i'll probably be using my 4mp kodak with its 254 MB cards (it won't take a larger one) for quite some time. and i'm probably never going to bother learning how to do a bunch of post-production editing. my question is...is there one, maybe two things/techniques/technologies/software packages that you think i really, really, really should invest some time in learning, whether it's through research, a book, or class? sorry to be so long-winded. i enjoy reading what you all ahve to say, and i'd like to take good pics myself someday, but....i am pretty lazy about learning new techonologies

TIA!

 

[jann1033]

step number one imo is read your manual to learn your camera. no matter if it's a point and shoot or not you probably will have a hard time taking good photos if you are just "pointing and shooting". by reading your manual you will see what your camera is capable of then you can work within those parameters to get the best photos it can give. learning things like composition are great but how are you really going to be able to compose something when you have no idea how to use your camera to change the depth of focus or something similar. same with photoshop techniques, they help tweak a photo ( figuring you would shoot jpg) but are not going to make a horrible photo a great one. i get you aren't technically advanced but if you want to take good photos you need to learn the basics. there really isn't anyway around that.

 

[Frantasmic]

Every photographer has their own level of adequateitis. For some, their cell phone takes adequate pictures for their needs. For others, they want the full blown prosumer experience, including the capability to manipulate their final results.

Since you asked a question, you probably want a little more than what you are currently getting from your photography experience, but you don't know if you want to get too involved.

As is usually the case, the one thing that many posters here would recommend is the "Understanding Exposure" book. However, you have to DO something with your camera once you learn something. There's not a magic button hidden somewhere that makes better pictures (not that you claimed there were).

So, how adequate do you really feel with your current pictures or picture-taking process? That's what really matters.

 

[gila]

i appreciate the feedback, and you both make good points. i'm getting to the point of getting comfortable with the camera. i've read the manual and experimented, read the manual some more and experimented some more. i've taken the kids down to DC a couple of times in the last month to practice--indoor shots in the museums, outdoor shots, manuments, architecture, nature, candid shots of the kids, etc. our WDW trip is im may, so i'm trying to get as prepared as i can. i like the camera just fine, and i'm getting a good feel for the functions--the pre-set modes and some of the PASM modes, playing with the light settings (tungsten, flourescent) and ISO ratings. i'm getting there. i still struggle when it comes to what i guess are simple things like storing the photos. i'd like to bypass putting them on my hard drive and go straight from camera to Web Album like Picasa or Photobucket, but i can't seem to find an easy way to do either. and i see those thumb drive things at the store but don't know i'm supposed to those. and the photoshop stuff...i don't think i want to learn that. is there a good reason for me to?

 

[jann1033]

i'm guessing you received some kind of software with your camera. that propbably is enough for basic things like cropping and fixing red eye. the best reason i can think of for using something a little more advanced( ie photoshop elements, corel paint shop ) would be if you want to remove something from a photo,ie a car or lamppost or odd stranger. you may not be able to clone something out like that with your camera software. ( it would be under healing or cloning or something similar to that if it has it). a lot of stuff like brightness is just to your own taste. if you are using preset modes on your camera it is probably adjusting things like sharpness, maybe color saturation, depth of field/focus in the camera to get the best photo for that type of scene( like sports, snow, fireworks). most software has some auto controls that literally are just a button to click and it adjusts the brightness sharpness etc automatically. try that and if you like it you wouldn't need to do anything else. i think vista has some preloaded photo stuff but i haven't used it so don't know how involved it is( i just see an "edit" button when i open something in it )

if you don't want to keep photos on your hard drive i would at least download them and make a backup copy on a disk or an external drive or personal media type drive( depending on your computer you either just plug them into your computer in a usb port or some(like my hp) have a place where you just slip them in a slot ,sort of like an old tape player..) if you only download to an online source and they go out of business you are out of your photos

 

[wenrob]

if you don't want to keep photos on your hard drive i would at least download them and make a backup copy on a disk or an external drive or personal media type drive( depending on your computer you either just plug them into your computer in a usb port or some(like my hp) have a place where you just slip them in a slot ,sort of like an old tape player..) if you only download to an online source and they go out of business you are out of your photos

My sister did something like this. She only loaded her pics to Snapfish and even though I kept telling her that she had to purchase something from them once a year she didn't and her pics were gone. Lucky for her I copied her albums to my albums and had them all printed up as a surprise for her birthday. I also have all her pics on my EHD and burned to CD. Picture nut that I am, I just knew she'd do that and I couldn't stand for it to happen.

To the OP, digital picture taking is a little more work granted but freeing too. Of course getting the best shot you can is the goal but who cares if you take a bunch of non-keepers to get the good ones? Anyone who tells you they get awesome shots all the time and never have to toss any is a liar. There are those who get more keepers then losers but the fact remains, everyone has pics they need to delete. IMHO it's worth weeding through the duds to get a keeper.

I'm with Jann, make back ups and make sure they work, do not depend on online albums to be your only storage for pictures, it's something you'll regret for sure!

 

[gila]

thanks, all. yes, i'm saving all my pics to CDs first. i just wish there was an easier way of doing it. my camera will only hold 256 MB cards, so i'll have to drag my laptop along and dump the pics down onto a CD every day we're at disney probably.

 

[Frantasmic]

What operating system are you using on your computer?

Does your computer have a card reader or are you downloading straight from your camera?

How many 256 mb cards do you have? It may be easier to grab several of those rather than take your laptop and download them each evening, especially if that process is difficult for you.

It sounds like your are fairly conversant on photography (your discussion of what your camera can do shows you've worked with the camera in various settings and seem somewhat comfortable with it). So, your real problem seems to be downloading, saving, and posting the pictures.

Many digital photography books today discuss these aspects of downloading pictures and digital enhancement (the Digital Photography for Dummies book does anyway) and there are tons of sites on the Internet that discuss this process too. Google "how to download digital photographs.:

 

[jrc-elpaso]

If you have Picasa on your computer you can do a lot to enhance your photos - with a click of the mouse. And you mentioned you like the idea of being able to change from color to b&w. It's not necessarily a good idea to do that with your camera. I take only color and then if I want b&w it's easy to use Picasa to make the change. I'll take my laptop to WDW and download my pictures at the end of each day. That way I don't have to worry about losing much if a card happens to crash. And I can label them a bit so I don't forget what and when and where.

 

[gila]

frantasmic,

i'm not sure what the operating system is. do you mean like windows XP? i think that's what it is. but i think you're right. i'm more comfortable with the camera in my hands than i am dealing with downloading, manipulating, and storing the pics.

jrc-elpaso,

why is it not a good idea to shot b&w on my camera? now i'm confused again

 

[jrc-elpaso]

If you shoot in color you can have the best of both worlds - black and white AND color. And you can do some interesting editing in black and white in Picasa if you want to get artistic.