Tech Directions - February 2009 - (Page 13) ish “red eye” problem in subjects. To try to prevent this, you can use your camera’s red-eye setting, if it has one. Another option is to tape a small piece of tracing paper over the flash to diffuse its light. Avoid positioning subjects so that objects like telephone poles are directly behind them, which can make it seem that they’re growing out of the subject’s head. Avoid backgrounds that are overly cluttered, over-designed desktop-publishing document or web site. Composition. Composition—how you position your subjects and yourself and what you choose to include in the photo—is another crucial aspect of good photography that’s often overlooked. A frequent mistake is to shoot too far away from your subject. It’s generally best to fill the camera’s LCD screen or viewfinder with your subject and minimize the foreground and background. You’ll get sharper results by moving in closer, if possible, rather than using your camera’s zoom mode or a telephoto lens. You can crop any given photo later using an image-editing program, but you risk losing sharpness here as well. A high-megapixel camera will lessen the chances of visibly losing sharpness when cropping. Pay attention to the background. What hasn’t changed in the transition from analog to digital are the photographic skills needed to start with a compelling image. which can distract attention from your subjects. You can correct many mistakes and impart amazing special effects using an image-editing program like Adobe Photoshop Elements or Paint Shop Pro. But avoid the temptation to do too much. An over-edited photo can look as amateurish as an Sizing. What size you make the final photos depends on whether you intend to print them out on your inkjet printer, send them via e-mail, post them to your web site, or make them available to whomever you choose through a photo-sharing site such as Shutterfly (www.shutterfly.com) or Snapfish (www.snapfish.com). Photos meant for viewing on a computer screen should be smaller than those that will be printed out, with one rule of thumb that the width should be no more than 800 pixels. The longevity of the ink used by ink jet printers is improving all the time. But to minimize the chances of fading, mount prints behind plastic or glass, or for optimal protection use special UV glass available from picture frame shops. Reid Goldsborough is a syndicated columnist and author of the book Straight Talk About the Information Superhighway. www.techdirections.com MASTERING COMPUTERS 13 http://www.shutterfly.com http://www.snapfish.com http://www.tormach.com http://www.techdirections.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.