ISBN: 0-7356-1872-0 
Pages: 336 
Disk: N/A 
Stolin-Softwares Price: $17.99
Release: 11/13/2002 
Level: Beginner 

Now you can do everyday things—from snapping birthday photos to sharing an online album—faster, smarter, and better. Dive in! This friendly, high-energy guide makes it easy to teach yourself exactly what you need. You get expert guidance and examples to master the essentials—so you can move on to doing the cool things you want to do!

• Pick the right camera for you—and get creative!
• Compose better shots with tips from a professional photographer
• Learn smart ways to offload and store images
• Crop and resize photos, fix flaws, and add interesting effects
• E-mail your pictures or post them to a Web site 
• Create a slide show you run on a PC or a television
• Make the best prints at the right price

The part title says it all: the chapters in this part will tell you everything you need to know, whether it's what you need to know to pick the right camera, understand the features in the camera you picked, or take better pictures. They'll also cover such practical issues as how to take best advantage of your camera's memory and how to make your batteries last longer. Armed with the knowledge in these chapters, you'll be all set to take great pictures.   

CHAPTER 1:   Everything's Coming Up Digital 3 
    Digital Cameras: The Professional Photographer's Choice (at Least Sometimes) 4 
        You've Got to See Your Pictures After You Take Them 5 
        A Bit about the Digital World 7 
        About Color 13 
    How Digital Is Better Than Film and Film Is Better Than Digital 31 
        Why Film Wins on Quality 32 
        Why Digital Photography Wins on Convenience 36 
        Other Advantages: A Point-by-Point Comparison 37 
        Digital Photography Versus Film for What You Want to Do  39 
CHAPTER 2:   Knowing (and Choosing) Your Camera  41 
    Categories of Cameras 42 
    What Kind of Photographer Are You? 43 
    What Kind of Photographs Do You Want? 44 
        Medium-Range Snapshots 45 
        Close-Ups 45 
        Indoor Shot  46 
        Closing in from a Distance  48 
        Extreme Close-Ups  49 
        Photos That Need Special Lenses or Filters 49 
        Panoramas  51 
        Stitched Panoramas  52 
        Rapid-Fire Stills for Capturing Action  53 
        Full-Motion Video  54 
    How Easy Is the Camera to Carry?  55 
    Choose a Resolution: How Much Do You Need?  56 
        What the Minimum Resolutions Are Based On  57 
        If You're Picky, You Need More  60 
    Choosing a Lens System  60 
        Quality of the Optics 61 
        Changing the Lens 63 
        What Lenses Are Available?  66 
        How Easy Is It to Change the Lens?  67 
        Adding Filters 67 
        The Need for Zoom 68 
        Macro Mode: How Close Do You Want to Go? 70 
        What's SLR, and Why Does It Matter (But Maybe Not as Much as You Think)?  70 
    Choosing a Level of Control  73 
    Other Features to Consider 75 
CHAPTER 3:   Getting Started with Digital Photography 81 
    Common Features and How to Use Them 82 
        First Things First 82 
        A Step Beyond Basics 92 
        Flash 94 
        Getting into the Deep End 103 
    Choosing Resolution and Compression Settings 105 
        Compression: Lossless and Lossy  106 
        JPEG Format  107 
        About Resolution 110 
        Resolution and Compression Together 112 
    What to Do with Your Photos After You Take Them  115 
CHAPTER 4:   Is That a Snapshot in Your Camera, or Did You Take a Photograph? 119 
    Basic Rules of Thumb for Taking Better Pictures 120 
        Decide What You're Taking a Picture Of 122 
        Get in Close 125 
        Anticipate the Action  128 
        Anticipate the Shot  130 
        Quick Rules 132 
    Choosing a Composition 136 
        Rule of Thirds 137 
        Watch Out for Unwanted Elements  139 
    Black and White Versus Color 141 
    One Last Thing  143 
CHAPTER 5:   Special Issues for Digital Photography 145 
    Getting the Photos Out of Your Camera 146 
        The Connection Choices: Cable, Docking Station, or Moving a Storage Card  146 
        More Choices: Moving Photos Versus Moving Files 153 
    Storing Your Photos 155 
        The Hard Disk Option 156 
        The Removable Disk (or Disc) Option 157 
        The Third Way  158 
    There's Something about Printers  158 
        What Makes a Printer a Photo Printer 158 
        About General-Purpose Printers 161 
        Printer Limitations  161 
CHAPTER 6:   Keep Those Pictures Coming: Batteries and Digital Film 165 
    Batteries Included 166 
        Alkaline Batteries  168 
        Lithium Batteries  168 
        Nickel Cadmium (NiCad) Batteries  169 
        Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) Batteries  169 
        Lithium Ion Batteries  170 
        Lithium Polymer Batteries  170 
    Maximize Your Battery Life  170 
        Treat Your Batteries Well  171 
        Minimize the Drain on Your Batteries  172 
    Making the Most of Your Digital Film  174 
    Offloading Your Images on the Road  177 
        Burn a CD at a Public Kiosk  177 
        In Search of a Kiosk  178 
        Taking Advantage of Your Computer (or Sombody Else's) 180 

PART II:   GETTING CREATIVE AND CUTTING LOOSE
  
One of the advantages of taking pictures on a digital camera instead of using film is that they are so easy to edit, both to make them more interesting and to fix problems. The chapters in this part show how to crop and resize your photos, remove flaws, add artistic effects, adjust colors, use your photos as screen saver images, and more—including how to stitch photos together to create a panoramic image, and, more important, how to take the photos so you can stitch them together successfully.   

CHAPTER 7:   Getting Creative with Your Camera  187 
    Stitching a Panorama Together  188 
        Using Stitching Software 189 
    Storing and Using Clusters of Settings  192 
        The Logic of Clusters  192 
        Clusters of Settings as a Power User's Tool  194 
CHAPTER 8:   Fun with Pictures: Basic Editing 199 
    What's a Photo Editor and How to Get One  200 
        Types of Graphic Programs  200 
        Photo Editors  202 
    Photo Editing 204 
        Rotating an Image  205 
        Rotating to Reframe an Image 207 
        Cropping to Clean Up Clutter  208 
        Cropping Can Make a Boring Shot More Interesting  210 
        Flipping  211 
    Size and Resolution  212 
        Sorting Out Some Tangled Threads 212 
        Sampling, Resampling, and Resolution 213 
        Size and Resize Your Photos as Needed 214 
        Resizing for the Screen 216 
        About Cropping and Resampling 217 
CHAPTER 9:   Advanced Editing: Fixing Flawed Photos 219 
    Techniques for Fixing Common Flaws 220 
        Red Eye 220 
        Adjusting Color  221 
        Adjusting Brightness and Contrast 226 
        Fixing Specific Areas in a Photo 234 
    Removing Unwanted Objects 238 
        Cleaning Up Small Areas 238 
        Removing Large Objects and People  240 
CHAPTER 10:   More Fun with Pictures: Special-Purpose Editing 245 
    Special Effects 246 
    Adding Graphic Elements  247 
        Adding Frames and Cutouts  249 
        Postcards, Greeting Cards, and Calendars  251 
    From Photo to Screen Saver or Wallpaper  252 
    Special-Purpose Editors 254 

PART III:   SHARING YOUR PHOTOS  

With digital photography, you have a wide range of choices for how to share your photos. This section covers most of the possibilities, including printing your own photos, having the photos professionally printed, posting them on a Web site, and e-mailing them. It also covers such issues as inserting pictures into documents and creating a slide show to view your photos on your computer monitor or TV. It also discusses the best choices for transferring slides to videotape that you can play in your VCR, and to CD discs that you can play in your DVD player.   

CHAPTER 11:   Printing  259 
    Check Your Driver  259 
        Opening Your Printer Driver 260 
        What to Look for in Your Driver 261 
    Choosing the Right Paper (and Ink) 267 
        Paper and Ink Basics  267 
        Beyond Basics  269 
    No Computer? No Printer? No Problem 270 
    How to Print Your Photos in Wallet Size, Life-Size Blow Up, or Anything in Between  272 
        Where to Find a Big Enough Printer 273 
CHAPTER 12:   Viewing Photos on Screen  277 
    Creating a Slide Show to View on a Computer 278 
    Viewing Your Photos on a TV Screen 280 
        Connecting Your Camera to Your TV or VCR  280 
        Connecting Your Computer to Your TV or VCR 283 
        Recording Your Slide Show on an Optical Disc 286 
        Putting Slide Shows on CD  287 
    Putting Your Photos on Your PDA 289 
        Moving Photos from a Memory Card to Your PDA Memory 290 
    A Final Word on Viewing Photos on Screen  291 
CHAPTER 13:   Sharing Your Photos: E-mail, Letters, and Web Sites  293 
    E-mailing Photos  294 
        What's a Reasonable File Size?  294 
        Keeping Files to a Reasonable Size for E-mail  296 
        The Mechanics of E-mailing a Photo 297 
    Adding Photos to Documents 302 
    Sharing Photos on Photo Web Sites 306 
        How to Find More Sites for Sharing Photos  308 
        Other Web Sites of Interest  308 
INDEX  311