Lotsa Dots

by Budly

Nowadays, there are only two accessories missing from the new-fangled, pocket-sized digital cameras:

• A combination stylus and tweezers to hold the little suckers and press the really, really tiny controls


• A magnifying glass to see all the information on the screen

Otherwise, the amount of power packed into your pocket is just amazing - variable focal length lens, variable exposure capabilities, video, slide show and more.

In the old daze, when men were men and photographers like David Hume Kennerly and Ron Galella wore helmets and used film, Kodak was king. Then the company decided to not pay the exorbitant fee to be the Official Film of the 1982 Los Angeles Olympics, and Fuji came along with their products and the king was systematically dethroned.

But don't feel bad for Kodak. Many of the imaging chip patents in use today were developed during that same time period. Kodak was hired by the federal government - using our tax dollars - to develop the original digital imaging chips that were in our spy satellites monitoring The Evil Empire (a/k/a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a/k/a U.S.S.R. a/k/a Russia). At the time, the chips were created because it was kinda hard to get a roll of film out of an orbiting satellite and into a one hour photo joint.

Today, you can have photo lab capability in your house, and never get your fingers wet or smell a putrid chemical - it's all computer hardware and software.

However, whether film or computer file, the age-old adage still holds true:

A camera is only as good as the person who uses it.

Granted, a great photographer with a great camera is a great combination. But a great photographer with a disposable camera can still make a great image.

To make your pocket camera a powerful creative tool, there are several considerations to keep in mind before purchasing:

Flash

Having a camera with built-in flash is like carrying day light in your pocket. For film or the image chip - known as a CCD, or Charge Coupled Device - in a camera to work, it needs light. Without it, all of your photos will look like a black bear at night eating a chocolate bar. So a flash can provide illumination in dark places or make faces visible when backlit by the sun (silhouetted).

However, it is important to understand that if you are in the nose-bleed seats of Madison Square Garden watching The Rolling Stones, the flash in your pocket camera is not going to illuminate Mick Jagger's face. In short, you ain't gonna get no satisfaction. So don't even try. No don't try. No don't try. No don't try-y-y-y. You won't get no. . . .

By the way, red eye is neither a sign of alcoholism nor demonic possession. It is a reflection of light against blood vessels in the eye.

Exposure Adjustment

In simplest terms, being able to control over and under exposure of your photograph allows you to have better control over how your final image looks. Fancier (read: more expensive) cameras use f-stop (lens opening / diameter) and shutter speed (amount of time that light is allowed to hit CCD) to regulate this. Less costly cameras just use an over (+) and under (-) exposure scale. Either way, this is how a photographer can provide greater self-expression to their images. Lighter, more ethereal and pleasant. Darker, more sinister and foreboding.

Optics

In the old days of fixed focal length lenses, walking toward or away from your subject was the "approved" method of fine-tuning composition. In today's couch potato society, with a push / pull on a lens or the toggle of a switch, the same job can be accomplished with a zoom lens. Although the optics look like they are built in a contact lens factory, they are still a critical component of a camera. Good glass captures good images. Optical coatings improve the image's color quality. It is important to note that as the telephoto gets longer, and the angle of view (what the camera sees) gets narrower, there is a transition from pure optical image gathering to optical and mathematical imaging gathering. In other words, the glass in the lens works just so far, then the math in the camera's chip crops and enhances the image.

A final consideration to keep in mind about optics is angle of view. Some cameras start with a wider view - can see more - and do not zoom as far. Other cameras cannot "see" as wide a view but can zoom to a tighter view.

Batteries

The whole world runs on batteries - cameras included. There are two choices when it comes to digital camera batteries: recharge or replace. With rechargeable batteries, the pocket cameras are generally smaller, but you need to remember to plug-in at the end of the day. If you don't, tomorrow you'll get to the perfect Ansel Adams moment, and have no juice for the photo. Replaceable batteries (read: AA or AAA - and especially long-lasting are the lithium type) seem to make pocket cameras a wee bit larger to allow for the battery compartment. However, in return, you can be in the most backwater location on the planet, and there is a very high probability that you will be able to buy 2 AA or AAA batteries. The other difference between rechargeable and replaceable batteries is cost. Cameras using replaceable batteries tend to be less expensive than cameras using rechargeables.

Once you get past flash, exposure adjustment, optics and batteries, the other features on these pocket cameras are just a question of which bells and whistles you also want to have.

Software

Photography used to be about light and film. Sunrise, sunset, indoor, outdoor, color or black and white. Today, it's about light and math. When you press the shutter, the camera spends its time "translating" blue skies and brown eyes - using complex algorithms - into the 0's and 1's of binary code that computers read. Those computer files are in formats like jpg (compressed and viewable in many applications like Internet Explorer and PowerPoint), or raw (a larger file size with greater image adjustment in fewer applications). Once the file is created, it can be stored on your computer or using a variety of internet services like Kodak or Snapfish, stored on the internet for viewing
by family, friends, co-workers and the rest of the planet Earth. Those images files can then be printed on your home inkjet printer or at fairly reasonable cost from an online service.

But let's say you're not the world's best shooter, and that once-in-a-lifetime picture of Uncle Charlie has a tree growing out of his head, now what? Fun! Also known as PhotoShop, its light-weight sibling, PhotoShop Elements or the freebies from the internet, Paint.net and GIMP (Graphic Image Manipulation Program). These are the software programs that alter reality without narcotic effect or hangovers.

Naturally it takes time to "get good at them", but once you do, you could put John McCain's head on Sarah Palin's body kissing Barak Obama. Yes, the potential is unlimited for both good and evil.

So what are you waiting for? Your shoebox to fill up? Set a price range, get a storage card for the camera, and start snapping. Just remember:

The more you can store, the more you can lose. . . but that's a discussion for another
day.