Benefits of Digital Photography as a Hobby

For a lover of photography the digital camera may be the best thing yet developed. Those of us who know that a picture is worth more than a thousand words, who search out the beautiful things in life and would record them at a given moment in time forever keeping the beauty of that moment. Digital photography is a very rewarding hobby, and today when a perfectly good Digital camera runs less than a mediocre film camera did ten years ago, it is also a very cost effective hobby. Spending a thousand dollars on a camera is no longer required for you too to enjoy creating your own art from what other's see as just "everyday" scenes.

Digital cameras have many advantages over older film cameras. With the ability to take literally hundreds of pictures on a single memory card, delete the one's you don't like, and then save them all onto your harddrive and reuse the same memory card again. Many pharmacies, and professional copy stores now offer very cheap prints to be made, and only of those pictures that you want, no more paying for pictures you don't. Many of these stores offer email orders or orders from their respective websites, negating even the need to drive to the store, and some offer, for a modest fee, to send the prints to anyone you wish.

Even more than this, there are now many "photo album" websites available, that range from free to nearly so. You can upload your pictures directly to the web and have your family members access them almost immediately. You can organize your album by category and customize it to fit your needs. All of these options are the future for an ever growing pool of photography enthusiasts.

All of this may seem complicated if you have never done any Digital photography before, but it truly is not. Today most Digital camera's come with a USB attachment (USB stands for Universal Serial Bus, a fancy way of saying a plug intended to be able to be used universally) which can be plugged directly into most computers. From their it is simply a matter of clicking onto the newly appeared icon (if an icon did not appear check your My Computer section on a Windows based computer, or you may need to push a button or open the shutter on your Camera, consult your user manual to see which) and double clicking on this new icon, inside are all your pictures which are then able to be selected and copied (the default Windows keys for copy is Ctrl+C) to any folder on your harddrive you wish. I recommend creating a new folder for your pictures if you do not already have a folder for them.

Your pictures may have strange names such as DSC1028 or OLM1927 or some such. This is just the default name given to the picture by your camera to keep them in some sory of order. To change the name of a picture simply right click and scroll down to select "Rename" and type a new name for the picture. The picture is now ready to be uploaded to a website, sent to a pharmacy, or just emailed to your friends and family.

In the case of a pharmacy or copy store, each store will have it's own way of recieving your digital photographs. It may be necessary to actually call the store to see whether they have a website to upload to or not, and how to use it. In the case of online photo albums, most are simply a matter of clicking the upload button, browsing to the folder where your pictures are and selecting them. Then clicking upload. The exact URL (Universal Resource Locator, or the information in the web browser that starts with http://) should be given to your family members so they can view your photos.

With a little practice, digital photography can be edited and special features used. On the camera itself you have zoom features, lighting features, often size features (these are measured in width and depth by pixel such as 1600x800), and on some camera's the ability to record short videos. Most camera's also come with software that further allows you to "play" with your pictures, removing redeyes or changing the background shading, allowing you to make your pictures more artistic if you wish.

This hobby is perfect for anyone who has wished to share with other's their own little delights in what is a beautiful world. It is both a source of fun and relaxation and simple once you learn the skills behind it. Whether you are a student or a retired person it is a constructive and thoroughly enjoyable release from stress, and a creative way to express yourself.