Getting Your Photos Ready for Sharing
Getting Your Photos Ready for Sharing
One of the main reasons people buy digital cameras is so they can share their photos with others. Even if you are just going to print your photos for yourself, you will want them to look their best. Here are some tips on getting your images ready for sharing or printing.
1. ORGANIZE YOUR PHOTOS
Delete the ones you don’t like or those that are near duplicates of others. No sense in clogging up your hard drive or CDs with junk. Use a good photo management software program like ACDSEE 7, Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 or Jasc Paint Shop Photo Album 5 to view, organize and name your images. These programs also let you batch rename so you can give more descriptive file names to a group of photos at the same time. You can add key words and tags to make finding your photos easier. Be detailed in your photo descriptions, not just “John and Laurie.” You’ll probably have hundreds of photos of your kids and it will be harder to find the one you’re looking for. Better to say “John and Laurie waterskiing on Lake Powell, May 2004.”
2. BACK UP YOUR ORIGINALS
Mistakes can happen. It is a good idea to back up all your images to a CD before you start editing or changing them. That way you always have the original to go back to if you accidentally save over an image or made changes to a photo that you later decide you don’t like. CDs hold lots of photos, making it cheap insurance.
3. ROTATE IMAGES
Trying to look at a sideways photo is annoying. Use your photo management or editing software to rotate photos as needed. And if you have any images that are a little crooked, you can fix that using your editing software. Most photo editors have an automatic “straighten” function, or you can manually rotate the image a few degrees to straighten the horizon line.
4. REMOVE RED-EYE
Even with your digital camera’s auto red-eye reduction function, your subject’s eyes may still have red-eye. Use your photo editing software to remove it. Zoom in on the eyes and it will be easier for you to correct the red-eye. I’ve tried a number of red-eye correction tools and find that the one that comes with ACDSEE 7’s photo editor is among the best. It zeros in just on the red eye and doesn’t darken the surrounding eye area like some other software does.
5. CROP YOUR PHOTOS
Crop out unnecessary or distracting backgrounds and focus in on your subject. Most photo editing programs will keep the aspect ratio, so when you draw a box around the area you want to focus on it will crop it as 4×6 or whatever you have specified. That way you won’t end up with an odd size photo. Kodak EasyShare Gallery also has a very good cropping tool for maintaining the proper print size. It comes with its free photo editor.
6. ADJUST LIGHTING AND CONTRAST
Some of your photos may have come out washed out or too dark. You can automatically adjust the color, brightness and contrast of your photos. The better programs like Photoshop Album 2.0, Jasc and ACDSEE also have tools for making manual adjustments for fine-tuning. Be careful not to overdo it, though, or your picture could come out grainy.
7. PREPARE TO SHARE
There are a number of ways to share your images. Several programs, like Roxio Photo Suite 7, ACDSEE7, Photoshop Album and Paint Shop Photo Album allow you to create digital photo albums or slide shows, complete with music, transitions and captions. You can burn them to CD or resize and optimize for emailing directly from the program.
Online photo services such as PhotoWorks, Shutterfly, Snapfish and Kodak EasyShare Gallery also let you share your photos on line, for free. You simply upload your images to their server into your own photo albums and add captions if you wish. Then email your friends with a link to your albums. With most of the online services your photos stay on their servers as long as you have an account with them, for free. Signing up for an account is free, you only pay for photos you choose to purchase.
For hardcore photo sharers, there are also dedicated photo sharing applications such as PiXPO v1.5.0, which lets you share photos right off your hard drive. This is a peer to peer software application that allows you to connect directly with your friends and family to share and view pictures online with no uploads. Unlike traditional photo sharing services, you have unlimited storage and you don’t have to upload your photos to a distant server or wait for friends to log onto some photo sharing site. The application is easy to install and use and it’s inexpensive, around $30. PC Magazine rated it an Editor’s Choice in their January 3, 2005 issue.
Valerie Goettsch publishes the digital photography website http://www.digitalphotos101.com featuring reviews of photo editing and album software and digital photo printing services.
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Sony DSCS800 Digital Camera (8.1MP, 6 x Optical Zoom) 2.5″ LCD 
Amazon Price: ?119.99
Used Price: ?101.99
Customer Review: Very good afforadable camera
This has been my first digital camera and I don’t know how easy other cameras are but this one is very simple. I quickly leared all the functions and how to operate the camera. I baught this camera depite the other reviews saying how bulky in size it was but when I got it it seeamed average size. Its only quite big while taking photos because the lens comes out. I found the 6 digital zoom quite handy. You can also video record with sound. not sure for how long. Its 8.1 mega pixels makes the photos look very high quality the only problem is they take so long to email because the photos are quite large in size but you can reduce the quality if you would like to. Its got other feautres such as if you take a photo of the sea to make the sea look a strong blue colour. Also to take photos in low light areas with out using a flash. The batteries last a very long time and it comes with a battery charger
Customer Review: Chunky, but easy to use, monkey camera
The camera is very good, easy to use and takes great pictures, but a bit chunky (more than the amazon picture leads you to believe) Do not buy the Sony LCS-CST Soft Carrying Case For Slim Cybershot with the camera, as recommended by Amazon, as it is too small for the camera.
Samsung Digimax i6 Black Digital Camera with PMP, MP3 & 2.4″ LCD (6MP, 3 x Optical Zoom) 
The Samsung Digimax i6 is the camera that fits with your lifestyle. Good camera capabilities, a unique wave shaped design & powerful media player capabilities mean a comprehensive all-round performance. The ASR technology employed by your Samsung Digital Camera prevents the degradation of image clarity and colour common to flash Photography. With ASR the effects of camera shake are reduced in lower light conditions. You can even take well exposed, sharper Pictures in low light without using a flash at all. It guarantees brighter and more natural pictures.
Amazon Price: ?89.99
Used Price: ?80.00
Customer Review: Great Camera
camera arrived with extremely quick postage i think it was two days since i ordered it! the camera runs on rechargeable batterys which last for ages. picture quality is excellent and photos are stored on a SD card very large screen great optical zoom can play mp3 music and video files aswell
Customer Review: Very happy!
I was very impressed with the camera. I take it just about everywhere! not only does it look smart it takes fantastic pictures too!! Well priced!
Canon PowerShot A570 IS Digital Camera With Image Stabilizer - Silver (7.1MP, 4x Optical Zoom) 2.5″ LCD 
Ideal for creative photographers the PowerShot A570 IS gives you complete control. Find the perfect shot with a 4x optical zoom with Image Stabilization and DIGIC III with Face Detection Technology. Image Resolution: 7.1 Megapixels Lens Construction: TBC Digital Zoom: 4x Digital zoom Optical Zoom: 4x Optical zoom Maximum f/number f/2.6 - f5.5 Movie Mode: Yes Internal Memory: N/A Memory Card Compatibility: SD / SDHC / MMC LCD Size: 2.5 TFT Screen Power Options: 2 z AA Alkaline or NIMH Batteries Interface: USB 2.0 Highspeed Pictbridge Enabled: Yes Box Contents: NB4300 Batteries USB Cable Warranty: 1 years warranty
List Price: ?183.13
Amazon Price: ?118.47
Customer Review: smart little camera!
I bought the canon A570 as an update from the sony w70. WOW! Its a lot better than any other camera i’ve ever had! (canon are one of the best)! There is quite a lot on the powershot range too. But the main thing about this smart little camera is the image quality which is high! You will capture those moments of high quality photographs. Reccomended!
Customer Review: Great Value
Bought this to replace an old Powershot A70. Much lighter and quite a bit smaller (uses only 2 AA cells instead of 4), with very good image quality. Fits nicely in the hand (I like the grip on this camera). Noise levels at ISO 100 are very good, although as expected noise gets quite noticeable at ISO 400 and above if looking at full magnification on a monitor, but overall excellent for the price. Lots of manual control if you need it. Goes snugly in a Lowepro Apex 20AW belt pouch (especially if the orange divider in the pouch is removed).
