xrae

One of my favorite tips for taking night photos of well-lit buildings: Either using a tripod or a stationary object, use the night photo setting on your camera, and then set the self-timer to take the photo instead of trying to push the button with your finger. Even the slightest shake or movement from your hand touching the camera will blur the shot since it requires a long exposure. If you use the self-timer, you push the button and then take your hand off the camera, and the camera snaps all by itself, with no blur! I used this method to take some cool photos of buildings and fireworks at Disney last year.

Andrew

mcnyc, I'd say you have a specific issue with your camera/computer and not a general reason for the rest of us to avoid using 2GB memory cards. I use them almost every day and have never had a problem communicating between my Canon 5D and my Dell laptop. (Do you format your card IN the camera before each new shoot, once you have copied all photos to your computer? You should.)

Another tip: get what's called a Card Reader to attach to your computer. It plugs into the USB port of your computer, and instead of connecting your camera to the computer, you simply remove the memory card from the camera and put it into the card reader and copy the picture files to your computer that way. One reason to do this is that you don't need to use your camera batteries (card reader needs no batteries). Another is that card readers are usually faster than cameras at transferring image files to your computer. I've gotten cheap, fast card readers at Fry's for $5. I have three of them - they are almost disposible at that price. My camera batteries can be charging while my pictures are downloading...

Some computers have built-in card readers now. My laptop has one for xD and sD cards but not for Compact Flash, unfortunately.

Miss_Maple

I am no expert but I recall a few tips from a photography book:

1. Carry a small comb for a quick hair fix. A great photo is often ruined by that strange strand of hair out of place.

2. The standard couple frontal shot gets a little repetative --- mix it up -- for instance, have your back to the camera and then look back at the camera. I have an expample of this -- it was one of my favorite shots -- a little unexpected.

http://www.camsoft.us/personal2/Alas...ages/s_034.htm

3. Take more than one camera. I usually will take the film 35mm SLR and a smaller digital. Taking a rafting trip? Get a disposable 800 film speed. They take remarkable good pictures and why you still can purchase the professional photo - you can focus yours shots on your group.

toedtoes

I agree with Rkkwan, if you're going to be shooting a dSLR, shoot RAW (some advanced point&shoots shoot RAW also).

It will give you more control over the outcome of your shot - not just correcting mistakes, but bringing out more contrast, saturation, etc. In addition, you can enlarge with greater detail with a RAW file than you can with JPG.

As an option to carrying lots of memory cards, you can look into a PSD (portable storage device). There are lots on the market now with 20gb to 200gb harddrives. For $260, I bought a 60gb PSD about 3 years ago. That's just over $4 per gb - still a lot cheaper than stocking up in memory cards. I just upgraded the harddrive to 120gb, so I have more memory than I'll ever need. It takes rechargeable AA batteries and in a fix I can use regular AA's. I can download one card while I'm shooting with the next and never miss a beat. And, when I'm on vacation, I never have to worry about running out of memory and having to delete my photos.

sdtravels

I think the whole discussion revolves around how serious you are about photography. I am photo crazy and want good photos with little effort. Like a point and shoot person with a snobbery for good equipment.

If you can handle the little inconvenience of carrying extra equipment, a digital SLR with at least two lenses is the way to go. The viewfinder and the zoom ranges are to me "can't live withouts".

I carry all the equipment floating around in a small messenger bag. True camera nuts would say this is crazy, you need to protect the equipment is a special bag, but I will only be inconvenienced so much!

I have gotten excellent results without spending a lot of time composing. There was a discussion I read a long time ago that basically was accusing photographers of seeing life through the lens rather than with the naked eye. Good point. I feel that with a good camera that can be used "like" a point and shoot, I can do both because there is plenty of time.

Also, I use a 1GB card with a 40g external hard drive. I have an extra 512 mb card as backup. Worked great for me on our last trip to Italy.

If you are interested in seeing some of my photos check out www.sdtravels.shutterfly.com

Good luck. You are traveling to a beautiful area.

rkkwan

There is no set answer for the flash memory vs harddrive debate. I think it just depends on personal preference - like how many photos one will take and how much stuff one want to carry around.

When I first bought my Canon XTi, I was planning to get a hard drive. But that's an extra piece of equipment I need to take, and at that time I haven't discovered the benefit of RAW. Anyways, I bought a 8GB card and 4GB card for about $200 total, which is less than buying a 1GB card and a portable hard drive. Shooting JPEG, I took about 2,000 photos for my 2-week trip to Hong Kong and China, with room to spare.

I basically shot whenever I felt like, with no regard to memory space. And in my experience I really can't shoot much more than 100 photos/day during traveling. And I don't go check the photos each night to delete the ones I don't need.

During my last trip to Italy, I shot RAW. Thinking that the 8GB and 4GB card will give me "only" 1,200 shots, I bought another 8GB card (an A-DATA, about $100). That gives me another 800 shots. I ended up shooting just over 900 during the 8-day trip.

So, this works fine for me, at the rate I shoot and the length of trip I make. If I need to shoot more, and/or if I'm taking longer trips, then I probably need to hard drive.

Another thing to keep in mind is that flash memory prices come down pretty quickly, with larger and larger capacity cards available. If you're "only" taking a few GB of pictures each trip, I think it's a waste to buy a 60-100GB hard drive now.

But for me, the main factor is that I travel light, and my camera and lenses are heavy enough. I really don't want to bring another piece of hardware. I would rather spend a little more money on CF cards.

So, really really think about your own needs and then decide.

suze

While I consider myself fairly serious about photography (hey don't laugh) lately I shoot travel only using disposable cameras. And I never edit with the computer afterwards. So what it is, it is...

For me the best tip (as already mentioned & discussed above!) is to take a few seconds and frame the photo up right before you shoot, check light and shadows, avoid small distractions to the edge of the composition, etc.

toedtoes

Earl - I just realized none of us responded to your question about the type of memory card affecting quality of the images.

The memory card won't affect the quality, but it will affect the speed that the image is processed in camera. An Ultra CF card will process noticeably faster than a regular CF card. This isn't as important for scenic shots, but it will come in handy for people, animal, sports, etc. In those cases, you may wish to take several photos one after the other and the Ultra card will allow you to take more photos before the camera "freezes" to catch up with processing the images.

What will affect your image quality will be the resolution and compression you set in the camera, your lenses, your technique, and your eye.

Rkkwan - I agree. Each person should examine their own needs, etc. to choose the best choice in cards vs. harddrive, etc. For me, the PSD was definitely the best way to go. I have used it so much that it has made the cost well worth it. I find it's weight isn't an issue for me. Even on all day hikes, I just attach it to my belt and I never feel weighed down by it. I find I'm much more willing to go out on a limb (figuratively and literally) if I'm not concerned about "what if something spectacular shows up tomorrow and I run out of memory".

But, it isn't necessarily the right choice for everyone.

rhrd

My hands tend to be shaky, so I try to hold my breath for a shot. It seems to help a lot, especially with the EOS Rebel we have where it adjusts the shutter speed automatically and in low light it is open for longer.

The most important thing I find is that the digital camera allows MANY many pictures, and previewing pictures. If you have a digital camera that doesn't have the preview capability, consider bringing your laptop and cable to review your pictures each day.

April

Many of my favourite people and flower shots are backlit. I think it gives a wonderful glow and more lively appearance than those taken with the sun behind me. Sometimes I'll use the flash for people shots. Equally important is knowing when to turn the flash off. Bright, overcast skies can be nice for people and some flower pictures. For scenery, I like blue or dramatic skies. I also look for colour contrasts, such as purple flowers bordered by yellow ones.

As people have mentioned, having something in the foreground can make a difference, as can high or low angles, framing the picture with a tree or archway, etc. An object that is huge or tiny may look ordinary without something recognizable to compare it to.

Like LarryT, I use Photo Elements. Lightening the shadows gives me less contrasty pictures than I could ever get with my old SLR.

Andrew

rhrd, if you are having trouble with camera shake, try using a higher ISO setting. On the Rebel, even ISO 400 is pretty low noise. ISO 800 is more noisy but requires less light/faster shutter speed. (You can shoot at ISO 1600 but that gets a bit noisy/grainy.) Try it and see. (By "noise" I mean the picture will look slightly grainy/speculed when printed.)

General rule of thumb for shutter speed is: 2X the inverse of the focal length. For example, if I have a 50mm lens, then I want at least 1/100 of a second doing a hand-held shot. You can set the Rebel to use shutter speed priority so you are guaranteed to be at least that fast - and if there isn't enough light, it will not take the picture (until you boost up the ISO or get better light).

As for RAW: I do shoot in RAW format, but I would not recommend it unless you are serious about photography. JPEG is just fine for the average person. I often shoot JPEG in situations with good light where I can tell the exposure is right on and when the photos aren't "keepers" that I expect to enlarge. RAW files take more disk space and often require conversion to JPEG (or PNG) on your computer, which can take time especially if you shot a lot of them. All those photos take a lot of disk space to store/backup/archive. I already have about 160GB worth of photos (many RAW files) and I don't want to bloat the size of my disk backups unnecessarily.

mcnyc

Thanks Andrew. I thought it was a problem with just my home computer, but I took it to work, and had the same problem. Will check into your recommendations.

Andrew

mcnyc, I suggest you get a card reader as mentioned above instead of using your camera to copy the photos to your computer. Also, you might see if there is an updated firmware available for your camera from Canon. That could fix things like problems saving to large memory cards. 2GB should certainly be no problem at all.

earlxx

Wow! I didn't expect this much help. Thank you very much to all of you who posted such helpful information. Now I need to review each suggestion.