The Digital Photography Tutorial

You've taken great photos... Now What?
Follow the Digital Photography Tutorial

Got pictures? Yes, but how do I get them out of the camera? It’s time for the Digital Photography Tutorial!

Why, you ask? Although you put a lot of new things into practice, and should be feeling pretty good about yourself, we're not quite done yet.

There are still a few steps between having filled memory cards and organizing, viewing, and sharing your photographs.

Don't worry though, our Digital Photography Workflow will walk you through all the necessary steps.

Note: Feel free to skip around; each step does not necessarily have to be followed in order, although it is a logical sequence from which to start.

Step #1 of the Digital Photography Tutorial...
Handling the Overflow

You are in the midst of a photographic paradise, with your entire extended family by your side. One photo opportunity after another fills the day.

Around 2 P.M., you see a "Memory Full" warning on your camera, so you calmly reach for an extra SD or CF card. The only problem is - you used them all up already.

Time for step #1 of the Digital Photography Tutorial (in truth, the best time for going over the Digital Photography Tutorial would have been about 3 weeks earlier).

You will run into this digital photography tutorial situation whenever the number of photographs taken at a given file size exceeds the capacity of the memory cards available.

Step #1 of the Digital Photography Tutorial addresses this situation by offering three options:

1. Reduce the image quality (size) so that each image results in a smaller file and therefore allows more files on the memory card.

2. Delete unwanted images, thus freeing up some memory.

3. If the above stop-gap measures are not practical, you will need a temporary storage device to hold your images before you can download them onto your computer at home.

It therefore costs you nothing to use. The software that originally came with your digital camera can most likely be loaded on your laptop. The viewing screen is more than sufficient to review your photo images. And, hopefully you have at least a few GBs of available file space left for images.

On the downside, the laptop is bulky and heavy. It's battery is limited, and it takes a minute (although it seems like an hour) to boot up. Before imagining having to lug this anchor around, let's look at other more lightweight solutions to this digital photography tutorial dilemma.



Portable Digital Storage Devices

With the popularity of digital cameras and the cost of memory, several types of portable storage devices have burst onto the electronics scene over the last few years.

As a personal note, in early 2003 I purchased my first portable digital storage device. I was going on a one week vacation and was positive my picture taking would exceed the memory cards I had. The most cost-effective solution was NOT to buy more memory cards.

There are currently two types of popular storage devices available (with several manufacturers for each type). The first is represented by the image on the left. You remove the memory card from your camera, insert it into a slot in the storage device, and download your images. Once downloaded, the images are then viewable on the storage unit's screen.

Some units will also erase your memory card, making room for new images. If not, your camera can erase your card.

The second type of storage device is a CD burner. This device will download as many files as will fit on a blank CD (approximate CD capacity is 650 MB).

If you need more, you simply burn another CD. This type of storage device is generally less expensive than the first type, but it also usually lacks a reasonably sized viewing screen.

As far as pros and cons on the portable storage devices, the main pro is convenience and the main con is cost. Remember, however, that you need to evaluate the cost of the portable storage device against that of an equivalent number of SD or CF memory cards.

Costs on portable storage devices have dropped over the last 2 years, as have costs for memory cards. Recently, the speed of memory cards has increased substantially. This is especially important if you take photos at a "burst rate," which is keeping the shutter button depressed while photo after photo is captured.

The other main factor in memory card size and speed is the image file size. If you shoot images in RAW file size, they will be large. If your camera has 6 - 12 mega pixels, the files will be huge (especially in RAW).

As far as whether your laptop, portable digital storage device, or memory cards is best for you... that is a personal decision beyond the scope of this digital photography tutorial.

Cost and convenience are the two biggest issues when making this decision. However, once you do decide, the best prices are on the net...

On the other hand, the easiest decision you could possibly make is to accept 2GB of Totally Free Online Storage, compliments of Mozy, a reputable company with cheap, easy ways to protect your data.

Step #1	Step #2	Step #3	Step #4	Step #5
Handling Overflow	Organizing Photos	Viewing Photos	Photo Prints	Online Printing
Step #6	Step #7	Step #8	Step #9	Step #10
Printing at Home	Preserving Your Prints	Storage	Sharing Photos	Additional Uses

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