If you are going to download images onto your computer, you need to design some type of filing system that will help you remember when and where you took the photos. This might seem a bit silly at first, but believe me, when you get to the stage where you have 6,000 images, it can be messy trying to recall each and every one, the dates, the places and so on, especially if you travel.

Rather than leave it until you have a massive collection of digital media, deal with potential confusion and time wasting by setting up a sound filing system BEFORE you go crazy taking shots. I recommend that you file under date, place and describe the event eg, 6 Jun 07 - Home - Grandson’s Birthday Party.

If you use the same filing methodology consistently, it will be much easier to find what you want, when you want it. For example, if you can’t remember the date, you may remember the event or place … or vice versa, which will make a search more productive.

If you don’t have a software program to help you manage your digital images, then set up folders on your computer that reflect the above. If you use Windows XP you will have a folder titled “My pictures”. Under that folder create additional folders for each photographic event or collection you create, but also keep an eye on your hard disk space because photographs in their native format can be large and it doesn’t take long to chew up 10-20 Gigabites of disk space.

An excellent free program that will not only help you categorise and file your images, but also enhance them by getting rid of red eye, reducing their size, improving contrast, cropping and so on, is Google Picasa. It enables you to see in a glance what photos are in what directories/folders. It has many other features too that make it very useful eg, you can copy files to a CD or DVD and set them up to show as a slide show. If you visit the Google site go to the right of the horizontal menu under the Google logo and select “More …”. You’ll find information and a download link for Picasa. It’s easy to learn and easy to use.

Once you have your file management system in place, the next thing you need to do is decide where you will store the images indefinately. Storing on your computer’s hard disk is not a long term option as you get more and more images taking up increasing loads of space. Here’s what I do with my images:

1. When I first download them from my camera I view and delete any imperfect images so as not to retain files that aren’t worth keeping
2. Next I file them locally until I’ve had time to view and do what I want with them
3. To archive them I either move them from my computer hard disk to a CD/DVD disk or move them to an external, portable hard disk drive (80 GB) that I bought for that purpose

Both archiving options mean that you don’t unecessarily bog down your computer with a load of files.

No matter how many digital images you create, you really do need to consider how you will file and manage them. This short article should have given you some ideas.

Copyright 2006 Robin Henry

The next article in this series discusses how to resize and crop your images and prepare them for email or the Internet.

Robin Henry is an educator, human resources specialist and Internet entrepreneur. He helps home-based businesses and individuals improve performance by applying smart technology and processes and developing personally. He runs his business Desert Wave Enterprises from his home base at Alice Springs in Central Australia, although at present he is on temporary assignment in the United Arab Emirates.

Tags: digital images, digital photography, filing photos, graphics, images, photography, storing imagesdigital images, digital photography, filing photos, graphics, images, photography, storing images

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With today’s digital technology, transforming colour images into black and white photographic prints is pretty straightforward but don’t throw away your rolls of black and white film.

Black and white photography is still regarded as a favourite with many photographers - dull landscape scenes become more dramatic with black and white photography.

Most subjects that are shot in colour can be taken with black and white film. Portraits are still widely taken by professional photographers all over the world.

One of the most popular uses of black and white photography is with wedding photographs. More couples are now opting for a combined wedding album of black and white images that really capture the mood and emotions of the special moment.

Black and white landscape photography is becoming popular again and is more suitable for taking images when the day is dull or too bright. If a scene does not have an entire spectrum of different colours, consider viewing it as a black and white photograph.

Do we need to learn black and white photography tips in a world of colour? You must choose the answer to this yourself - but here are a few pointers that will help you to make your decision.

1 Black and white photography is becoming more popular with the general public, and for that reason alone new opportunities will open up for you.

2. In some situations, black and white photography has the tendency to make photos look more like works of art - fine art images will sell better in galleries.

3. Landscape images often lack a multitude of colours, using black and white film when shooting daytime photos will add impact to your photography.

4. There is also the value of using your own darkroom - the thrill of developing your own film and processing your images.

The same principles for colour photography apply to black and white photography. If you have mastered the art of photography, taking images with a roll of black and white film should be easy.

Filters are just as important with black and white photography. There are fewer filters available for black and white photography, but one that you should use is the polarizing filter. This filter is very effective for both black and white photography and colour photography. The polarizing filter makes the sky stand out to give your landscape images serious impact. It also helps to reduce glare from the sun’s rays - which is very handy for urban or architectural photography.

Exposure with black and white photography is a small bit easier. Black and white film handles light more easily than colour film can - which gives you greater room for error. Most black and white film allows you to capture detail when you underexpose at two stops. With overexposure the range is greater - between five and seven stops are allowed. This is known as film latitude. With colour film you are limited to a latitude of one stop each way.

This does not mean that you can become lethargic when taking black and white images. It means that if you do make a mistake the results may be acceptable.

TJ Tierney is an award winning Irish Landscape photographer. For more tips you can visit his photography site. To view his images visit his on-line gallery of pictures of Ireland or see his travel site.

Tags: Black and White, images, photo, photography, photography tipsBlack and White, images, photo, photography, photography tips

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As a professional wedding photographer I get this question asked more than anything else. Rarely will somebody ask me about my wedding photography education, awards, or professional memberships. I believe the root to this question lies on misinformation about the different qualities of film and digital.

Film

For a photographer with no computer experience or who does not want to spend the time correcting digital files film is the way to go. Film allows the photographer to photograph a wedding or event and at the end of the day be done with the process. When the time comes to print the photographs the photo lab will take care of color balance adjustments and retouching.
From a technical aspect film has a wider dynamic range than digital. This means than in high contrast scenes film has the edge. It can handle them better without blowing the highlights.

Digital

The greatest advantage for digital is the control of the photographic process in the hands of the artist. The photographer is not longer at the mercy of the lab to produce a photo that reflects his inspiration and vision.

Digital allows the photographer to shoot more frames without the expense of film and development, which can translate into a more complete coverage. After the event the photographer simply edits out the bad photos and you as the customer end up with the best selection of the day.
The digital medium is ideal for backup. Multiple copies of the event can simultaneously exist in different locations in the event of a catastrophe. With film there is always only one copy of the negatives, which could be duplicated, but the second copy suffers significant quality degradation.
With digital it is possible to produce different versions of the same photo including black and white, color, sepia, etc. through a very simple process.

Digital allows for a faster workflow. If your photographer offers digital gallery previews your photographs can be available in a matter of hours for viewing and ordering. In addition, slide shows and DVDs can be produced for the client.

Digital retouching in the hands of an expert can create amazing results.
Since there is no chemistry involved to develop digital the digital process is more environmentally friendly.

Resolution

In terms of resolution both film and digital can produce similar results. With the advent of 11 mega pixel and above digital cameras, digital has the edge for enlargements due to its lower noise levels and the lack of grain.
Many purist talk of the film look, which is basically film grain and noise that gives film its unique look. This film look can easily be simulated with digital image processing techniques.
Many people would be surprised to know that most photo labs will scan film prior to printing. In other words direct film to print is a myth. Digital photos when printed on true photo paper are virtually indistinguishable from their film counterparts.

What does the film vs. digital war means to the client? I believe that when selecting a wedding photographer the client has to focus on the end product more than anything else. At the end it doesn’t matter if the photographer uses film or digital. What really counts is the quality of the photographs that he or she will produce for your wedding day.
There are good and bad photographers using film or digital. Your task as a client is to weed out the bad ones and select a photographer that will capture beautiful memories of your wedding day.

Juan Carlos Torres is a very respected and awarded wedding photographer in Oregon. He has a Masters Degree in Remote Sensing with a strong background in digital image processing and photography. He is a member of the several professional photographer organizations including the Professional Photographers of America, the Professional Photographers of Oregon, the Wedding Photojournalist Association, and the Oregon Wedding Photo Guild. His wedding photographs are unique and very artistic and have been featured in national and international magazines. For a sample of his works please visit oregon
wedding photographer and
salem oregon wedding photographer

Tags: corvallis, digital, eugene, film, photographer, photographers, portland, salem, wedding photographycorvallis, digital, eugene, film, photographer, photographers, portland, salem, wedding photography

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