Photography help please

pennyshahin_2

Hi, I've just started digital photography as a hobby, I just wI'm mainly using anted to know the best site (are there any free ones which enable you to upload your photos and tinker round with them ,keep them in albums etc, I've got some photos in flickr, has anyone got any suggestions please, What setting for MP should I use on my camera, choices are 7.1,6.3,5.0,3.1,1.9,I'm mainly going to be using my camera to put photos on web

victor2

Tell us what the camera is if you want more suggestions on settings. But a good guide is to get the best quality pictures from the camera, then resize them to make the filesize acceptable for putting on the web. Picasa is a popular, easy to use picture editor and offers online albums as well. If you want a more sophisticated editor, check out Gimp. Both are free, just google them to download them.
As a rough guide, avoid the lower resolutions (megapixels). Something like 5 may give you reasonable shots for the camera, but generally, higher is better. The quality of the optics will have more of a bearing than the megapixels though. It costs nothing to take pictures, so take some of the same scene and try different settings to see how the quality varies.

pennyshahin_2

I've got a easyshare camera Z710,I think that my files are too big how do I make them smaller?

victor2

I don't know that particular camera, but it looks like it's quite a capable little unit, with a good zoom on it.
If you haven't got a card reader already, and don't use the Kodak docking system, they are worth it. Removing the card and putting it in a reader tends to be less strain on the camera than constantly plugging in a USB cable - and the camera doesn't have to be powered while you transfer pictures.
Avoid using the digital zoom, just use the optical one. You can do exactly what the digital zoom does on your computer.
Start with the automatic modes, then look at what you can do with the manual modes later. Avoid the higher ISO numbers, 64 to 200 usually gives better pictures if the light allows. With higher numbers, you start to notice pixellation in the pictures.
Experiment and take notes. Find the limits of your camera - I'm sure it's capable of producing some stunning photographs!

tonynw

Set it to the highest setting for quality ie 9.1 mp then resize the images with Ifranview before you upload them to the web.

ifranview

here http://www.irfanview.com/

tonynw

pennyshahin_2

Thanks for your help, I will try and experiment and see how I get on, I might tink about getting a card reader, you think its' worth it do you ?

victor2

pennyshahin wrote: »

Thanks for your help, I will try and experiment and see how I get on, I might tink about getting a card reader, you think its' worth it do you ?

Definitely. They're not expensive. This multiple format reader is only £2.99. Bet you'll pick one up just for SD cards even cheaper. I got one free when I bought an SD card!
Unless it is awkward to remove the card from the camera, a reader makes life much easier. When you fill the card though, copy everything off and format the card in the camera. That's quick and ensures the camera will have no problem writing to the card.

totalsolutions

>put photos on web

Set the camera to the lowest ie TV (640) This is the best size for the web small and fast uploading.
Images (Photos) need to be very small for web viewing and will look good too on a monitor.

Note images should not be stored on a web site that may disappear one day. Make backups of them.

For normal use set camera to highest quality. These will be ready for editing.

HTH

mr_fishbulb

I'd say shoot everything at the highest quality and resolution. You can always reduce them later and discard the original if you wish. Lots of free programs (such as Irfanview already mentioned) will allow you to resize in batch mode.

If you take a great shot you want to print and hang on the wall, but the camera was on the lowest settings, you are going to end up with a horrible looking print.

pennyshahin_2

Thanks for all your great advice, I'm currently editing and playing about on picasso, other questions if that is o.k tomorrow going out to the woods with my wife ,want to take pictures of trees wildlife etc-I'd like to have a go on the manual side not just auto-can you advise me please I've a kodak easy share what shutter settings should I be using readings on shutter are 1/100 0.0 iso64 and what about flash advice please and I'm going to football and I want to get action shots and blur the background what do I need to do to achieve this affect?, thanks all help greatly appreciated.

victor2

See what settings the camera uses in auto mode, then try program mode, where you can make changes, but the camera balances aperture and shutter speed to give you good exposure. You can probably adjust the ISO setting in Program mode, so set that to say 64 or 100 and let the camera do the shutter and aperture. Try the different scene modes to get different effects.
For sports action with a blurred background, a slower shutter speed of say 1/60 and tracking the action, or footballer in your case, as you take the picture will probably blur the background.
The flash has a very short range it is only effective over something like 5 metres maximum. Basically forget it for any distance over that, at best, you'll get very underexposed, dark pictures.
Take loads of pictures. The hardest thing I found with digital cameras, when I'd grown up with film based ones, was not trying to think that every shot had to count as I would have to pay money to get it developed! Now I've had to develop the art of deleting unwanted pictures efficiently and ruthlessly. I came back from a holiday with about 2,000 shots, but was quite quickly able to reduce it to 200!
If you haven't get a spare battery, consider getting one. Nothing worse than finding your battery's flat when a photo opportunity comes up.