Vivid Fotos -Travel photographs from Kerala

Here you can find certain information on digital photography which could be of use to you. Whatever I find useful from a serious hobbyist?s view, will be updated here. Hope you could get something out of it. Regards!

Choosing a digital camera is exciting because you get to explore and play with the latest gadgets loaded with cool features. Your main goal is to find a camera that lets you easily take and use pictures and that fits in your price range. You have to decide whether you can handle a totally cool, techno-loaded camera or would be better off with an easy-to-use one or something in-between.

Expense
The cost of snapshot digital cameras ranges from Rs. 3000 to Rs. 50,000. Those at the low end give low-resolution pictures suitable for e-mail and monitor viewing but not for prints. Those at the high end give exceptional quality pictures and often have advanced camera functionality.
You?ll have to find the right balance of cost and capability. Watch the prices. When new models come out, the prices of older models are often lowered, making them a good deal. And don?t forget to add in the cost ($50-$75) of a few accessories, such as extra batteries and memory cards.

Ease-of-use
Do you take family snapshots or do you photograph a variety of subjects, from race cars to school plays to wildlife?
As capability increases so do cost and complexity. With a complex camera, you?ll need to read the manual?maybe twice. You?ll have to practice with the camera to learn its many features. But once mastered, you can take incredible digital pictures.
With a simple snapshot camera, you?ll be taking good snapshots minutes after opening the box. And should your Aunt Em ask to borrow it, she?ll be able to take pictures, too. But neither of you will have quite the versatility and capability of a more advanced camera.

Size & styling
Do you covet a sleek, stylish camera that looks cool and slips into your pocket? Or do you want a practical camera with large, well-positioned controls? Find a camera that fits your style, but don?t ignore the trade-offs. The main trade-off of small, stylish cameras is that the controls are harder to find and can be difficult to manipulate.
The main trade-off of a bigger camera is its size. You?ll be less likely to take it with you. Whereas, you may carry a small pocket camera almost everywhere you go and get some unusual pictures.

Computer questions
If your computer is fairly new, the camera will almost certainly work with it. But don?t take a chance. Before you buy a camera, review the specs to find out what the computer requirements are. Nearly every camera requires a USB (universal serial bus) connection on the computer

You?ve heard this before: Digital cameras do all the work. You just push the button and great pictures magically appear. The better the camera, the better the photos. Isn?t that right? Heck no!
The truth is that you can make great photos with a simple consumer point-and-shoot camera, or take lousy shots with the most expensive Nikon. It?s not the camera that makes beautiful images; it?s the photographer. With a little knowledge and a willingness to make an adjustment here and there, you can squeeze big time photos out of the smallest digicam.
To help you down the road to great image making, here are ten tips that will enable you shoot like a pro (without maxing out your credit card on all that expensive equipment).

1. Warm up those tones
Have you ever noticed that your shots sometimes have a cool, clammy feel to them? If so, you?re not alone. The default white balance setting for digital cameras is auto, which is fine for most snapshots, but tends to be a bit on the 'cool' side.
When shooting outdoor portraits and sunny landscapes, try changing your white balance setting from auto to cloudy. That?s right, cloudy. Why? This adjustment is like putting a mild warming filter on your camera. It increases the reds and yellows resulting in richer, warmer pictures.
If you don?t believe me, then do a test. Take a few outdoor shots with the white balance on auto, then take the same picture again with the setting on cloudy. Upload the images to your computer and look at them side by side. My guess is that you?ll like the warmer image better.

2: Sunglasses polarizer
If you really want to add some punch to your images, then get your hands on a polarizing filter. A polarizer is the one filter every photographer should have handy for landscapes and general outdoor shooting. By reducing glare and unwanted reflections, polarized shots have richer, more saturated colors, especially in the sky.

What?s that you say? Your digital camera can?t accommodate filters. Don?t despair. I?ve been using this trick for years with my point-and-shoot cameras. If you have a pair of quality sunglasses, then simply take them off and use them as your polarizing filter. Place the glasses as close to the camera lens as possible, then check their position in the LCD viewfinder to make sure you don?t have the rims in the shot.
For the best effect, position yourself so the sun is over either your right or left shoulder. The polarizing effect is strongest when the light source is at a 90-degree angle from the subject.

3. Outdoor portraits that shine
One of the great hidden features on digital cameras is the fill flash or flash on mode. By taking control of the flash so it goes on when you want it to, not when the camera deems it appropriate, you?ve just taken an important step toward capturing great outdoor portraits.

In flash on mode, the camera exposes for the background first, then adds just enough flash to illuminate your portrait subject. The result is a professional looking picture where everything in the composition looks good. Wedding photographers have been using this technique for years.

After you get the hang of using the flash outdoors, try a couple variations on this theme by positioning the subject so the sun illuminates the hair from the side or the back, often referred to as rim lighting. Another good technique is to put the model in the shade under a tree, then use the flash to illuminate the subject. This keeps the model comfortable and cool with no squinty eyes from the harsh sun, and this often results in a more relaxed looking portrait.

Remember, though, that most built-in camera flashes only have a range of 10 feet (or even less!), so make sure you don?t stand too far away when using fill flash outdoors.

4. Macro mode madness
Remember as a kid discovering the whole new world beneath your feet while playing on the grass? When you got very close to the ground, you could see an entire community of creatures that you never knew existed.
These days, you might not want to lie on your belly in the backyard, but if you activate the close up mode on your digital camera and begin to explore your world in finer detail, you?ll be rewarded with fresh new images unlike anything you?ve ever shot before.
Even the simplest object takes on new fascination in macro mode. And the best part is that it?s so easy to do with digital cameras.
Just look for the close up or macro mode icon, which is usually a flower symbol, turn it on, and get as close to an object as your camera will allow. Once you?ve found something to your liking, hold the shutter button down halfway to allow the camera to focus. When the confirmation light gives you the go ahead, press the shutter down the rest of the way to record the image.
Keep in mind that you have very shallow depth of field when using the close up mode, so focus on the part of the subject that?s most important to you, and let the rest of the image go soft.

5. Horizon line mayhem
For some mysterious reason, most human beings have a hard time holding the camera level when using the LCD monitors on their digicams. The result can be cockeyed sunsets, lopsided landscapes, and tilted towers.

Part of the problem is that your camera?s optics introduce distortion when rendering broad panoramas on tiny, two-inch screens. Those trees may be standing straight when you look at them with the naked eye, but they seem to be bowing inward on your camera?s monitor. No wonder photographers become disoriented when lining up their shots.

What can you do? Well, there?s no silver bullet to solve all of your horizon line problems, but you can make improvements by keeping a few things in mind.
First of all, be aware that it?s important to capture your images as level as possible. If you?re having difficulty framing the scene to your liking, then take your best shot at a straight picture, reposition the camera slightly, take another picture, and then maybe one more with another adjustment. Chances are very good that one of the images will 'feel right' when you review them on the computer. Simply discard the others once you find the perfectly aligned image.

If you practice level framing of your shots, over time the process will become more natural, and your percentage of level horizon lines will increase dramatically.

6: Massive media card
When you?re figuring out the budget for your next digital camera, make sure you factor in the purchase of an additional memory card. Why? Because the cards included with your new high-tech wonder toy are about as satisfying as an airline bag of peanuts when you?re dying of hunger.
If you have a 3 megapixel camera, get at least a 256MB card, 512MBs for 4 megapixel models, and 1GB for for 6 megapixels and up.
That way you?ll never miss another shot because your memory card is full.

7: High-res all the way
One of the most important reasons for packing a massive memory card is to enable you to shoot at your camera?s highest resolution. If you paid a premium price for a 6 megapixel digicam, then get your money?s worth and shoot at 6 megapixels. And while you?re at it, shoot at your camera?s highest quality compression setting too.

Why not squeeze more images on your memory card by shooting a lower resolution and low quality compression settings? Because you never know when you?re going to capture the next great image of the 21st century. And if you take a beautiful picture at the low 640 x 480 resolution, that means you can only make a print about the size of a credit card, not exactly the right dimensions for hanging in the museum.

On the other hand, if you recorded the image at 2272 x 1704 (4 megapixels) or larger, then you can make a lovely 8- x 10-inch photo-quality print suitable for framing or even for gracing the cover of Time magazine. And just in case you were able to get as close to the action as you had liked, having those extra pixels enables you to crop your image and still have enough resolution to make a decent sized print.

The point is, if you have enough memory (and you know you should), then there?s no reason to shoot at lower resolution and risk missing the opportunity to show off your work in a big way.

8: Tolerable tripod
I once overheard someone say, 'He must be a real photographer because he?s using a tripod.' Well, whether or not you use a tripod has nothing to do with you being a true photographer. For certain types of shots though, these three-legged supports can be very useful.

The problem is tripods are a pain in the butt to carry around. They are bulky, unwieldily, and sometimes downright frustrating. Does the phrase 'necessary evil' come to mind?
For digital shooters there?s good news: the UltraPod II by Pedco. This compact, versatile, ingenious device fits in your back pocket and enables you to steady your camera in a variety of situations. You can open the legs and set it on any reasonable flat surface such as a tabletop or a boulder in the middle of nowhere. But you can also employ its Velcro strap and attach your camera to an available pole or tree limb.
You might not need a tripod that often, but when you do, nothing else will work. Save yourself the pain and money of a big heavy lug of a pod, and check out the svelte UltraPod. Yes, then you too can be a real photographer.

9: Self timer fun
Now that you have your UltraPod in hand, you can explore another under-used feature found on almost every digital camera: the self timer. This function delays the firing of the shutter (after the button has been pushed) for up to 10 seconds, fixing one of the age old problems in photography: the missing photographer.

Hey, just because you?ve been donned as the creative historian in your clan, that doesn?t mean that your shining face should be absent from every frame of the family?s pictorial accounting. You could hand your trusty digicam over to strangers while you jump in the shot, but then you take the chance of them dropping, or even worse, running off with your camera.

Instead, attach your UltraPod, line up the shot, activate the self timer, and get in the picture. This is usually a good time to turn on the flash to ensure even exposure of everyone in the composition (but remember that 10 foot flash range limit!). Also, make sure the focusing sensor is aimed at a person in the group and not the distant background, or you?ll get very sharp trees and fuzzy family members.

Self timers are good for other situations, too. Are you interested in making long exposures of cars driving over the Golden Gate Bridge at dusk? Once again, secure your camera on a tripod, then trip the shutter using the self timer. By doing so, you prevent accidental jarring of the camera as you initiate the exposure.

10. Slow motion water
I come from a family where it?s darn hard to impress them with my artsy pictures. One of the few exceptions happened recently when my sister commented that a series of water shots I had shown her looked like paintings. That was close enough to a compliment for me.

What she was responding to was one of my favorite types of photographs: slow motion water. These images are created by finding a nice composition with running water, then forcing the camera?s shutter to stay open for a second or two, creating a soft, flowing effect of the water while all the other elements in the scene stay nice and sharp.

You?ll need a tripod to steady the camera during the long exposure, and you probably should use the self timer to trip the shutter. If you camera has an aperture priority setting, use it and set the aperture to f-8, f-11, or f-16 if possible. This will give you greater depth of field and cause the shutter to slow down.

Ideally, you?ll want an exposure of one second or longer to create the flowing effect of the water. That means you probably will want to look for streams and waterfalls that are in the shade instead of the bright sunlight.

Another trick is to use your sunglasses over the lens to darken the scene and create even a longer exposure. Plus you get the added bonus of eliminating distracting reflections from your composition.

Final thoughts
Most digital cameras, even the consumer point-and-shoot models, have a tremendous amount of functionality built into them. By applying a little ingenuity and creativity, you can take shots that will make viewers ask, 'So what kind of camera do you have?'
You can tell them the answer, but inside, you?ll know it?s not the camera responsible for those great pictures. It?s the photographer.

Courtesy: Derrick Story
derrick@oreilly.com

Just as a composer uses all the instruments in a symphony to create a stirring piece of music, you should compose each picture so that its parts work together to create a work of beauty. Each item in a picture has an effect on the whole, so don?t just point and shoot. Take a little time to compose each picture into the masterpiece it could be.
Don?t forget that you can turn your camera sideways to take a vertical picture. Hold the camera vertically to take pictures of tall buildings, waterfalls, or a person; hold the camera horizontally for groups of people, cars, and dachshunds.
Switch it around

Try taking both horizontal and vertical pictures of the same subject to see the different effects. A subject that your might usually think of as horizontal can make a stunning vertical picture.

Although you know what your subject is, it can be hard for a viewer to determine your intent if too many elements in your picture make it confusing. Eliminate all unimportant elements by moving closer, zooming in, or choosing a different shooting angle.

Alter your position
Change your position to emphasize or exaggerate how big or small your subject is. Crouch down and shoot up at someone and that person towers over you. Shoot down on your pet and it seems so comically small. You can also move your camera right or left only a few feet to change the composition dramatically.

Placing the subject off-center
Putting the subject off-center often makes the composition more dynamic and interesting.

Even if your subject fills the frame, the most important part of the subject (for example, the eyes in a portrait) should not be dead center.

Follow the rule of thirds
An easy way to compose off-center pictures is to imagine a tick-tack-toe board over your viewfinder. Avoid placing your subject in that center square, and you have followed the rule of thirds. Try to place your subject along one of the imaginary lines that divides your frame.

Watch the horizon
Just as an off-center subject is usually best, so is an off-center?and straight?horizon line. Avoid cutting your picture in half by placing the horizon in the middle of the picture. To accent spaciousness, keep the horizon low in the picture. To suggest closeness, position the horizon high in your picture
Using leading lines

Select a camera angle where the natural lines of the scene lead the viewers? eyes into the picture and toward your main center of interest. You can find such a line in a road, a fence, even a shadow. Diagonal lines are dynamic; curved lines are flowing and graceful. You can often find the right line by moving around and choosing an appropriate angle.

Avoiding distracting backgrounds
Select an uncomplicated background that does not compete with your subject. Bright colors and text (for example, store signs) create the biggest problems. Be especially aware of what is behind your subject in a portrait so that branches don?t accidentally become antlers. Move your subject or change your camera angle to find a simple, uncluttered background. Taking this extra step before you press the shutter button makes a big difference in the end result.

Including objects in the foreground
When taking pictures of landscapes, include an object, such as a tree or boulder, in the foreground. Elements in the foreground add a sense of depth to the picture. A person in the foreground helps establish a sense of scale.
Sometimes you can use the foreground elements to 'frame' your subject. Overhanging tree branches, a doorway, or an arch can give a picture the depth it needs to make it more than just another snapshot.

The great thing about that new 6 or 8 megapixel camera you just picked up over holidays is its unparallel image sharpness and the ability to make poster-size prints. But honestly, how often do you get calls from concert promoters asking to turn your latest photos into promotional posters? It?s a lot more likely that you?ll want to share somewhat smaller versions of your photos. Don?t get me wrong; there?s nothing wrong with taking pictures with your camera set to its maximum resolution, and then simply sharing those images with friends and family. I do that pretty often. But there?s a downside. If you try to stuff a few 2MB images in an e-mail message, for instance, you might find yourself drumming your fingers waiting for it to upload, and although most e-mail services allow up to 10MB for attachments these days, you don?t know the attachment limitations of all your recipients.

Your recipient might also not want such a large file. A friend of mine complains frequently about how big images are from modern digital cameras. Since he never prints enlargements, he just wants enough resolution to look good on his computer screen, and nothing more.

Finally, you might not want to give away the full-size image. Sharing smaller files means that only you can make large prints, which is a way to keep control over your photos.
Virtually all image editors allow you to resize your image. Open a picture in Paint Shop Pro, for example, and choose Image, Resize from the menu. Here, you?ll find that there are several ways to resize: You can alter the image by pixel size, percentage of the original, or based on print size.

I?ll assume that you?ll usually want to resize to a specific pixel size. Make sure the menu is set to Pixels and then type in the size you?re interested in. Make sure the 'Lock aspect ratio' option at the bottom of the dialog box is checked. That?ll keep the image?s proportions correct as you enter a number in either width or height.

Sometimes you might want to resize a photo for a specific print size. In that case, ignore the Pixel Dimension section of the Resize dialog box and instead set the Print Size section to about 5 by 7 inches. Of course, unless your photo started out at an aspect ratio that was exactly 5 by 7, this resize won?t be exactly 5 by 7 either. No matter--just use common sense and choose a size that?s approximately the right dimensions. Set the resolution to somewhere between 200 and 300 pixels per inch .Click OK and use Save As in the File menu to make a copy for printing.
If you don?t want to open a photo editing program just to resize a few images, you?re in luck. Download the Image Resizer (ImageResizer.exe) from Microsoft?s PowerToys site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
It?s free, and it adds a convenient resize command to the context menu when you right-click on a photo icon. To install it, download the file to a convenient location, double-click on it, and follow the installation wizard prompts. Once it?s installed, just select one or more photos, right-click, and choose Resize Pictures. You can select from a list of common image sizes or type in custom dimensions, then make a smaller copy; you can also select Advanced and resize the original. If you do a lot of resizing--especially for Web sites or e-mail--this is probably an essential add-on for Windows.

Even without adding any new programs to your computer, there?s a simple resizing tool built into Windows that you can use in conjunction with Outlook. Select one or more photos, then right-click, choose Send To, and select Mail Recipient. You?ll see the Send Pictures via E-mail window, which lets you shrink the picture attachments before they?re added to your Outlook e-mail message. To choose from several sizes, click the 'Show more options' link at the bottom of the dialog box.

The Web is a great place to share photos, but I?m leery of posting the original full-size versions of my images. If I did this, anyone on the planet would has unfettered access to them. And I just don?t like the idea of the president of Finland downloading pictures of my cat. The solution? Resize your photos before you upload. This is easy to do at most online photo sharing services. I use Flickr, and I love the Flickr?s handy Uploadr tool, which you can download from the service:
http://flickr.com. You need to be a Flikr member to download and use the tool, by the way.

To resize your images on the fly, before you start using Uploadr, click the Settings button and specify that you want to resize all photos as they?re uploaded. I stick with the option to always resize the longest side to 800 pixels, which is perfectly adequate for viewing on screen.

Since the acceptance of the digital format of photography, the volume of post-picture work has increasingly fallen on the photographer instead of a dedicated darkroom technician. From a photojournalism perspective, this allows us to deliver images of time-sensitive events within moments of them occurring. I have colleagues who shoot an event, and are uploading via cellphone (or wireless phone PC card) within minutes. For those less frantic events, digital photographers develop a workflow that
suits their particular needs and circumstances. What does this mean?

When a camera stores an image on a memory card, it needs to be transferred to a computer so that several things can happen to it before it is filed with a photo agency or wire service. These include -
Renaming, Captioning, Tweaking of light settings, White balance adjustments, Cropping (if necessary/appropriate) and Editing

An image from a CF card will typically be given a generic name by the camera system which is pretty meaningless to the average human. The first thing I do when I have downloaded images to my laptop is rename them in a way that I can recognize and which makes sense to the agency I am filing to. A shot of an aid worker in the Sudan might change from DSC01196.jpg to OxfamSudan_010505_001.jpg. The file name breaks down to -
name of aid agency, location, date (mmddyy) and sequence number plus the file extension. Different agencies have different naming requirements but this is what I use to archive my own images and it has been accepted by most of the companies I work with.

With this done, I make a copy of all files and store them in a working folder, saving the originals in a master folder. I then use Canon software to batch process images as necessary, to convert from RAW to JPG (if I used RAW capture) or to adjust the image size to suit my client?s needs.

Next is editing and captioning in PhotoMechanic. There are programs similar to PhotoMechanic that can show you thumbnails of images and allow you to make some basic changes, add captions etc. But PhotoMechanic is the preference of myself and many colleagues and once you have become very familiar with a product, it is difficult to change. In PhotoMechanic, I first ensure that all vertical images are rotated to the right orientation, then I do a first pass edit. I keep in mind that I may have taken in the region of 500 images of an event, and need to file 30. So
the first edit is pretty hard on anything that is even remotely
substandard. This normally gets me down to 80 or so images which I will caption using PhotoMechanic?s batch captioning feature. I will then run through them again, piecing together an end-to-end story and dispensing with images that do not fit in. This will bring me down to about 40 images.

The final step is Photoshop/Bridge where I will inspect each of these images in detail, make any modifications to white balance, light levels and cropping that may be necessary, clear out the final 10 images, and then have a set that is good to go to the agency via FTP. I use Transmit for the Mac. Depending on the detail required for captioning, the whole process can be completed in 20 minutes. Thankfully I have a number
of actions setup in Photoshop, which take care of the most typical white balance issues and light level changes.

Ask five photographers what their workflow looks like, and you will likely get five different answers. This is mine and it works for me. Yours may be different because of what you photograph, or the software you use, or the clients you work for. Some photographers spend more time setting up a semi-automated workflow system for themselves than others who simply rely on the fundamental features of a number of applications. Workflow - it?s personal.'

When you are done taking photographs with your digital camera, immediately save those photographs to external media!

Listen. Stuff happens. Computer hard drives die. Digital media might get damaged. Computer viruses and spyware attack. The wrong pictures get deleted. Any of these things can occur, causing you to lose your precious photographs. Don?t let it happen to you.

As soon as you get back from a vacation or photo shoot, copy all of your digital camera photos to your computer, then immediately back them up to offline storage, such as ZIP disks, CD-ROMs, or DVD-ROMs. Make a second copy of your photos as well and keep them separate from your primary copies, and hopefully you won?t have to panic about your digital camera pictures when that - something - occurs to your primary storage.

Label your backups!
Ensure you can find your digital photographs in years to come

As soon as you are done backing up your digital camera images to ZIP, CD, or DVD, make sure to label the media! At a minimum, you should write down the date(s) the photos were taken and the main subjects of the photographs. You may also want to label the backups with the name of the camera used to take the photos, and possibly the resolution of the photos. Start a good labeling system now and you?ll make it easier on yourself when you want to go back and use or print a photograph taken several years ago.

ZIP files may not save space
ZIPping digital photos may not provide the extra space you expect

If you are archiving huge collections of digital camera photos onto CDs, DVDs, or external hard drive units, you may be considering placing your photos in ZIP archives to save space. Although this sounds like a good idea, if your digital camera photos are in JPG format, they are already compressed. Thus, placing them in ZIP files will not compress them much more, and in some instances, the ZIP files may be larger than your photos themselves! However, if you store your photos as TIF or RAW files, ZIP archives may save some space.

Stand-alone CD burners
Copy photos on digital media directly to a CD, bypassing your computer

Copy photos on digital media directly to a CD, bypassing your computer.

Are you looking for a way to store photograph backups on CDs when you are on vacation or on a photo shoot? Usually, this means bringing along a laptop with a CD burner, a bulky addition to any trip. Then you have to make sure the CD burner software is installed correctly. You must turn on the computer, copy the files from the compact flash to the computer, then burn them to the CD...

Instead of all this, you may want to consider purchasing a stand-alone photo CD burner that accepts digital camera media. These type of stand-alone CD burners have the ability for you to insert digital camera media and a blank CD, push a button, and wait a few minutes while photographs are burned straight to CD, without requiring the use of a computer.

Remove your backup devices when not in use
Keep your backup device unplugged to lessen its chance of getting hit with a computer virus

If you happen to purchase an external hard drive to backup your photos, there are two reasons why you should remove it from your computer when not in use (be sure to remove it correctly using your computer?s safe hardware remove feature).

1) According to many online discussion forums, some external hard drives have a fairly high rate of failure. Keeping a hard drive plugged in and turned on at all times may put extra wear and tear on the device.

2) Viruses are continuously propagating. Some viruses delete all files, while others actually target pictures for removal. The less often you keep your device plugged into your machine, the less of a chance it will get hit by a virus. This is another reason you should consider burning photos to CD as well as using a backup device - once a CD-R has been burned, it can?t get hit by a computer virus (it is conceivable that a CD-RW?s contents, however, can get modified by a virus).

Backup software
Software programs to aid you in backing up digital photos

There are many software programs available that claim to help with the backup process, either by automating it or by letting you more easily access photos from your backup files. Here is a sampling of such software programs, listed for informational purposes only:

BR?s PhotoArchiver - http://www.br-software.com/photoarchiver.html

Photo Backup - http://www.onthegosoft.com/

Photolightning - http://www.photolightning.com/

StudioLine Photo - http://www.studioline.biz/

WinBackup - http://www.liutilities.com/products/winbackup/

Use non-proprietary file formats
Use TIFF, BMP, JPG, or other industry-standard filetypes to store your pictures

When storing your digital photos on backup media, make sure not to use proprietary file formats such as an image editor?s default format. It is best to use industry standard formats to help ensure the image will be viewable by computers 10, 20, or 30 years down the road.

TIFF and BMP are good uncompressed formats that should stay around for a while (do NOT use 8-bit BMP as this is not a true-color format!) Archiving JPG files is ok only if the original photo came as a JPG. Do not convert non-JPG photos to JPG files and archive them that way. Although you will save space and be able to store many more photos per medium, the conversion to JPG will cause a loss of quality in your backup photos.

Add dates to folder names
Remember when photos were taken by adding dates to folder / directory names before backup

Before archiving your digital photos on backup media, you should add the date(s) photos were taken to the folder names, if not the filenames of the photos themselves. This can help you later when trying to find photos, especially if you knew around what time the pictures were taken.

Label your photos without renaming every file
Keep a text file log of your digital photos before you archive them

Obviously, if you label your digital photos before backing them up, you?ll have a much easier time finding photos you want later. Plus, you reduce the chance, six months from now, of sitting in front of your computer with a folder of hundreds of photos having no idea what each of them are.

Unfortunately, renaming each individual photo and providing a description can take a lot of time. One other option is to create a text file in the folder with your folders. You can do this with Notepad (if you use Windows) or your favorite text editor. In the file, provide the date the photo was taken, then each filename and a description of each photo.

For example, a file called !photolog.txt (prefaced with an exclamation point so the log file appears first or last in a folder when you sort files by date) could look like this:

Gatlinburg and Sevierville, TN: 3/28/2003
PICT0001.JPG - Gatlinburg aerial shot
PICT0002.JPG - Gatlinburg aerial shot
PICT0003.JPG - The ?Old Mill? churning away
PICT0004.JPG - Ducks on the Little Pigeon River
..etc. Got it?

Your camera, whether it?s an inexpensive point-and-shoot or a sophisticated single-lens-reflex, is an investment worth protecting. The following simple tips will help you do just that.

Protect your camera from dust, moisture, sudden impact, and excessive heat.

Keep your camera in a camera bag
An inexpensive camera bag is all you need to protect your camera from dirt, dust, and those unforeseen falls.

Keep it clean
Clean the outside of your camera by wiping it with a clean, dry cloth or soft camel?s hair brush. Never use harsh or abrasive cleaners or organic solvents on your camera or any of its parts. Avoid contact with oily substances such as suntan lotion. If your camera has a LCD (liquid crystal display), breath on it gently to create some moisture, then wipe it with a soft, lint-free cloth or untreated photographic lens tissue.

Keep it dry
Most cameras are not waterproof. If your camera has been subjected to bad weather or you suspect water has gotten inside it, turn off the camera and remove the batteries and memory card. Let the camera air dry for 24 hours. If it doesn?t work, contact your camera?s manufacturer or an authorized service center.

Long-term storage
If you?re not going to use your camera for a while, remove the batteries. You don?t want them to leak in the camera. Be sure to store your camera in its camera bag in a cool, dry place.

Keeping the lens clean
Keep the lens covered whenever possible You know the expression 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?' When not in use, keep the lens covered to protect it from scratches and fingerprints.

Remove dust from the lens
Lens surfaces are extremely delicate?clean them only when necessary. First, blow away any loose dirt or dust with a bulb brush (not the same one used to clean the camera body) or a can of compressed air. Then, use a lens tissue intended for photographic equipment and either breath lightly onto your lens to form a mist, or moisten the tissue with a photographic lens cleaner. (Never wipe a dry lens.)
Use a lens cleaner intended for cameras Those chemically treated eyeglass cleaners could scratch your camera lens. Use cleaners intended for photographic lenses, not alcohol or eyeglass solutions.

Battery guidelines
There are battery considerations other than getting the right size and inserting them in the right direction. Keep reading for some important tips.
Following are a few simple rules to avoid driving your batteries beyond their normal exhaust point, and worse yet, possibly leaking.

Replace all batteries at the same time

Do not mix new batteries with used ones

Do not mix rechargeable and non-chargeable batteries

Do not mix alkaline, nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH), or nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) types of batteries

Do not mix different grades or brands of batteries

Do not attempt to rejuvenate a battery by heating it

Do not recharge any battery that is not marked 'rechargeable'. ? In cold weather, keep your camera inside your jacket

Turn off your camera when not in use

Limit use of your LCD, which quickly drains batteries

Occasionally clean the battery compartment components with a clean pencil eraser

Store batteries in a cool, dry place out of the reach of children. ? If you won?t be using your camera for an extended time, remove the batteries

Avoid high temperature storage

Batteries can be stored at low temperatures (e.g. your refrigerator) to slow the discharge rate

Protect batteries from condensation by storing them in a zipped plastic bag

Allow batteries to reach room temperature before inserting them into your camera (cold temperatures impair their performance)

Battery choices
Not all batteries are created equal. Battery life depends significantly on age, usage conditions, type, brand, and camera. Digital cameras are very demanding?not all batteries perform well in digital cameras. In Kodak lab tests, nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) rechargeable batteries delivered the best results in a variety of conditions. Ni-MH batteries are designed for high-demand devices, like digital cameras, and do not exhibit the 'memory' effects seen with other rechargeable technologies. Among non-rechargeable batteries, look for batteries that are intended for use in cameras, which unlike radios or flashlights, require short bursts of high energy. Lithium batteries perform extremely well in cameras, as well as 'photo-flash grade' alkaline batteries, such as Kodak Photolife batteries.