TechnoBabble - 21st April 2006 (Digital Photography)

With the advent of Digital Photography (DP) along with what is now cheap and easy access to Digital Cameras and Photo editing software, there aren’t many of us who haven’t taken digital photos and played around with them on the PC. Let’s face it, almost every mobile phone you can buy now has a pretty reasonable digital camera built into it !!

Whether it’s a serious hobby, creating a family album, making great Aunt Mabel’s nose look bigger or putting Bob’s head on Jenny’s body, the opportunities for fun and games are endless.

Not only can you take photograph after photograph without ever having to visit the chemists or “Supasnaps” to get them developed, you can download them from your camera or phone to your PC and utilise a whole range of easy to use software to enhance and manipulate them.

My daughter Chloe has created a website for her and her friends where they all upload photos taken on their mobile phones, creating a fun and interesting record of their teenage adventures !!

I also have a friend who, after spending most of his life as an accountant, got into DP when he was made redundant. To see what he has done in terms of both the taking of the photos and the subsequent “manipulation” of them on his PC is amazing. It really is an art form and I am trying hard to persuade him to publish on-line.

Remember that old saying “The camera never lies” ? Well, it no longer holds true !!

Whilst many doctored photos are just funny, like the one of a man hoisting what appears to be a 90-pound cat (huge isn’t it !!). The bottom line is that sometimes faked or altered images are potentially dangerous because they reflect a certain reality, altering people’s opinions and sometimes their beliefs.

Such was the case with a manipulated photo that appeared on the Web in 2002 that showed President Bush holding a book upside down during a visit to a school in Houston. The image was clearly meant to be funny (I think it was !!). However, although it was quickly revealed to be a fake, the photo served to reinforce the often touted viewpoint that President Bush is a tad intellectually challenged !!

So, how do all you budding David Bailey’s out there get in on the act ?!?

Whilst it is possible to spend thousands on either a digital camera or Photo Editing software, it is also possible to get started very cheaply and easily.

When looking at Cameras, the choice is enormous, ranging from the cheapest basic cameras costing as little as €30.00, to the very latest professional quality Digital SLR’s costing thousands. Whatever you need, there is a camera out there for you. I suggest to kick off you look at our Gadget of the Week and also a number of the sites given in Surfers Corner that give excellent advice on choosing a Digicam and reviews of the best available.

As to Software, the “industry standards” in Photo Editing software such as Adobe Photoshop (www.adobe.com) are very expensive and not accessible to all as a result. There are some excellent budget priced packages out there and even some free ones. Of them all, Corel’s “Paint Shop Pro” (c€45.00 – www.corel.com) is very highly regards and easy to use. Of the free packages, Serif’s “PhotoPlus” is in my opinion about the best (www.freeserifsoftware.com).

When it comes to storing your photos, you can keep them on your PC, create CD or DVD “Albums” or even upload them to your own or one of the many “gallery” sites on the Web. In fact, there are a whole range of free software packages available on the web that will help you organise your electronic albums. One of the best, I think, is “Cheez” (www.cheez.gr).

For printing, there are w whole range of very affordable inkjet printers on the market, with Hewlett Packard (www.hp.com) and Epson (www.Epson.com) offering some of the best. When you use a good “photo quality” paper (freely available from good stationary stores, PC Stores etc.), the results are as good as anything you used to get from Boots !!

Happy Snapping !!
Peter Reed-Forrester
inspírese