So, I got me a digital camera

The other day I sent out for a camera. I had owned a Pentax film camera --which took really nice pictures, but which was taken into protective custody by my Art-major daughter-- and I had high expectations from a camera. Around 1999, I think, I bought a Sony digital, the least expensive camera you could buy at that time, and though it took decent pictures in good light, in poor light it struggled. It took a long time between shots, and made noisy pictures (that is, when it took "available light" pictures, the dark areas were filled with colored spangles). Unfortunately, I love taking pictures without flash. A colleague whose desk is just around the corner from mine has been a photography enthusiast for decades, and one thing I have learned about such people is that if they can't afford to buy Yet Another New Camera (yanc), they try to persuade a friend to buy it instead; and then you have to bring it in, and listen patiently while you're shown exactly why it is the most brilliant purchase you've ever made. Well, I did as I was expected, and, you know, it really was a good camera. It is a middle-of-the-road Canon, and its basic features are easy to find and use.

• There's a big dial that you get to turn, which has little icons or words. "Auto" means this is where you set it to take automatic pictures. (Or pictures of automobiles, possibly.) There's an icon of the head of a very elegant lady: that's for Portraits. An icon of a movie projector: that's for taking videos! It really is. There's a picture of an ice cream cone, which I have not figured out yet.
• There's a button labeled On/Off.
• There's a big silver button without a label. This is the one you press to take a picture. I have found that this label-free button is a favorite of camera makers. It must be an inside joke, or simply a cultural thing.
• There is a big screen, which lights up when the camera is turned On. It usually shows where the camera is looking, unless you have moved the
• Slider switch. In one position, the camera takes pictures, in the other position, it shows you the pictures you've already taken! Finally, the last of the really important controls,
• The Menu. This is context-sensitive, and is for experts. You can delete pictures, change settings, all sorts of things that would give you heartburn unless you knew what you were doing.

I really didn't need much more, except to know how to get at the photos. You of course have to put in batteries, which any child could show you how to do, and you have to replace the little memory thing* that has a capacity of, like 5 ounces, or whatever they call themselves, with a reasonable-capacity thing with a capacity of 100 tons, and you're ready to go. The trick is to find a way of reading that 100-ton capacity memory gadget into your computer. I searched the world over until I found true love, but then I found that my laptop had a tiny slot in it into which you could slide the little memory gadget directly!!!! Check your laptop. If you've got a little slot, just about large enough to accept a thin quarter, and which doesn't seem to serve any recognizable purpose, you might just be needing yourself a digital camera! My advice probably coincides with the advice of any camera enthusiast, especially since digital cameras have been invented.
 

Take Lots of Pictures.
 

If you like one of your pictures, try to remember the settings you used, and how they related to the conditions under which you took the shot. If you don't like a picture, try to think how you could have done it differently. Don't kill yourself; just keep tweaking your technique. Of course, if you have the time and the inclination, it would make sense to read a book about the technical aspects of it. If you don't have the time for that, take the pictures anyway. Delete the ones you don't like. Once you've figured out how to get them onto your computer, put them in a folder. Let's call this your MyPhotos folder. (You can call it Geoffrey if you want.) If you're into folders, you can make little folders inside your main MyPhotos folder whose names are "July2008" or "Mandy'sPlay", or something that will help you find a photo quickly, and drag the images into the folder in which they belong. The Memory Gadget may open up as a folder on your computer. (This folder lives on the memory gadget; your computer is displaying it just as a courtesy.) You then re-size the folder window and move it carefully to a side, open up the MyPhotos folder on your computer so that both folder windows are visible, and drag photos from the memory gadget folder into the computer MyPhotos folder. This will COPY the photos across. Important note: if you do the same thing with two different folders that both live on your computer, instead of COPYING, the computer will MOVE the items. Copying is standard from one drive to another. Moving is standard from one place in a drive to another place on the same drive, at least with Windows, and I'm almost sure with Mac. One of these days, I'll talk about using photo editing software.  

Archimedes
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*SD card