Episode 4 Podcast - Sunny 16 Rule and The Rule of Thirds

Enjoy. Please vist www.jebvision.com for more photo related stuff.

Episode 4 Podcast Notes

LINK TO NOTES AND EXAMPLES

Welcome to the fourth episode of JEBVision on Digital photography, I am your host Jacob Boenisch. We will be exploring some of the basic facits of digital photography to help arm the inspired amatuer with the tools and knowledge necessary to explore their passion of photography and in the end, create a beautiful image....

This time we will be talking about a couple of promised subjects that are important to think about:

First, we will discuss the sunny 16 rule

and Second, we will begin a discussion on composition by discussing the rules of thirds.


Now, Let's get started.....

LINK TO NOTES AND EXAMPLES

Intro to Digital Photography Episode 3 Podcast: Manual Mode

In this episode your host Jacob Boenisch teaches you how to shoot in the "scary" manual mode.

Intro to Digital Photography Ep. 3: Manual Mode Show Notes

Welcome to the third episode of JEBVision on Digital photography, I am your host Jacob Boenisch.  Every Episode we will be exploring some of the basic facets of digital photography to help arm the inspired amateur with the tools and knowledge necessary to explore their passion and in the end, create a beautiful image.

Last episode we discussed the exposure triangle and how you can capture unique and creative photos by better understanding Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

This weeks episode will hopefully be brief and help liberate you to enjoy your camera...

what we are going to do is liberate you to shoot in full manual mode.  By shooting in manual mode, you'll have ultimate control over your photo and its creative properties.  we will discuss setting the correct exposure and discuss a few tips to improve your photos.

And now.....

Lets get started 

(Music Break)

First, I want to thank all of those who have downloaded these podcast off of the hosting sight www.archive.org.  I hope you enjoy these podcasts.  Remember, not one podcast will answer everyone of your questions.  These podcast parallel the journey I took while learning about photography.....and trust me I'm still learning.  Remember, as always, you can follow along with the show by viewing the show notes at jebvisionpod.blogger.com.  

Ok...

Lets teach you how to shoot in Manual mode.

Ok, this is really simple.  Here is what I want you to do.  I am expecting that you have a DSLR camera.  If you have a point and shoot, most cameras will allow you to select f numbers and shutter speeds to a certain extent, and not in all cases.  Always check your manual for instructions. 

Now, what I want you to do is obviously select the "M" mode on your camera.  

Focus the camera on your subject. 

Now notice on the bottom of the viewfinder that you will see a -[[[[[[I]]]]]+ indicated with bars placed either on the negative or positive side.  Now the nikon's are considered backwards in that they go from + to -.   This is a carry over from the film nikons of old.  Canon on the other hand has changed their display to display more intuitively from - to +.  I think this change took place with the xti models

You can adjust these bars into a "correct" exposure by either adjusting the shutter speed or the aperture.  

You can also adjust it with ISO, but remember from last week the rules around ISO and how you set it.  For now, just adjust either the aperture or the shutter until you don't see the bar on wither the negative or positive side of the exposure indicator. 

What you want in a "correct" exposure is for the photo to show no loss of detail in the picture in that if you look at the dark and light areas of the photo, you will see detail in the image with no loss of information due to highlights.  Wikipedia explains highlights as:

Areas of a photo where information is lost due to extreme brightness are described as having "blown-out highlights" or "flared highlights". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_(photography)

of course I'm placing notes in the blog so you can look up and read more info when you get the chance.

Some cameras allow you to see your blown out or flared highlights.  When you are reviewing an image, you can select this view.  It is noticeable because you will see a flash of bright light in the area of the photograph where the sensor did not record any detailed image.  Just pure white.  This typically occurs when exposing a shot of someone in front of a window.  You will see that the daylight through the window will be blown-out.  

The goal of this lesson is to learn the basic techniques of trying to limit this issue and in doing so, you will find you can't do it 100% of the time.  Your camera will meet certain limits.  In the future we will talk about shooting in RAW to help alleviate this issue as well as using exposure compensation and HDR technology.  But for right now, lets focus on the basics.

Now remember, if the image is dark and you attempt to bring the exposure over using your shutter speed, you are allowing light to collect on the sensor for a longer period of time, that means any movements you make will be captured as well.  Sometimes this is a desired effect, but for right now, again, lets focus on "correct exposure".  

Now if you do decide to adjust shutter speed, remember that you have to some how stabilise your camera and reduce shake.  You can do this by placing the camera on a tripod.  

**Tip** Another tip for reducing shake during longer exposures is to use a remote shutter release that will eliminate the shake of the camera that occurs when you press your finger on the shutter release button.

You can also reduce over exposure (bright scenes), like when you shoot out a window during sunlight, be increasing your shutter speed.  

If you are hand holding the camera, a quick shutter speed is desirable.

**Tip** now for another tip, It is important that you follow this simple rule when hand holding your camera and taking pictures:

Try not to set your shutter speed for less than your current focal length of your lens. For instance, if your shooting a 50mm lens, try to make your shutter speed faster than 1/50s.  If you cant, get a tripod.

Keeping with this rule, and depending on your desired effect, you might be adjusting aperture a lot more.  At least I know I do.

One important concept as it regards aperture and exposure is reciprocity:

Wikipedia explains:

An important principle of exposure is reciprocity. If one exposes the film or sensor for a longer period, a reciprocally smaller aperture is required to reduce the amount of light hitting the film to obtain the same exposure. For example, the photographer may prefer to make his sunny-16 shot at an aperture of f/5.6 (to obtain a shallow depth of field). As f/5.6 is 3 stops "faster" than f/16, with each stop meaning double the amount of light, a new shutter speed of (1/125)/(2·2·2) = 1/1000 is needed. Once the photographer has determined the exposure, aperture stops can be traded for halving or doubling of speed, within limits. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_(photography)

Now if your picture is too dark, open your aperture by adjusting it to smaller f numbers like 5.6, 2.8, or even 1.4.  By opening up the aperture, your allowing more light to come through the lens, and remember,  you will also affect Depth of Field.  Depth of Field will be a completely separate podcast, but know that the larger the aperture, the shorter the Depth of Field.  This helps bring out your subject while creating Bokeh in the background.  Now if the image is to bright, reduce your aperture to larger f numbers.  This will sharpen the image and allow for more detail.

Now get out there and shoot in Manual mode for a while.  I believe getting used to your camera and how it functions in this way will help prepare you for future podcasts that start to explore the creative side of photography.  The fun side.  But you really can't get there without learning about your camera, exposure, and how to get "correct" exposure.  

What do I mean by quote-un-quote exposure, what I have taught you its technically the correct exposure, but it might not be the creatively correct exposure. That's really for you to decide, but we will discuss that in the future.  Next podcast, we will continue to dive into the capabilities of your camera by discussing A couple of photographic techniques that will help you capture pictures of your family in various situations successfully.  We will be spending a whole lot of time on one of the most important photographic techniques that you will ever know.  It is so important that some would say that this podcast should have addressed it first.  But I want you to be familiar with your camera first, because mastering "the rules of thirds" requires you know your camera first!

Remember you can find the show notes at the blog address site http://jebvisionpod.blogspot.com.

You can also find me on Flickr at Jebvision and on Twitter at Jebvision.

Thanks for listening.

Now get out there and shoot!

intro to Digital Photography Episode 2 "Exposure"

In this episode, host Jake Boenisch explores the inside and out of exposure by focusing in on aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

intro to Digital Photography Episode 2 "Exposure" Show Notes

1/25s 1/50s

f/22 f/10 f/1.8

Welcome to the Second episode of JEBVision on Digital photography, I am your host Jacob Boenisch. Every Episode we will be exploring some of the basic facets of digital photography to help arm the inspired amateur with the tools and knowledge necessary to explore their passion and in the end, create a beautiful image.

This Episode we will be discussing The Exposure "Triangle".

Bryan Peterson, Author and Photographer extraordinaire is typically credited with coming up with the term Exposure Triangle. In his acclaimed book "Understanding Exposure" Bryan explores the importance of Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO. We will also look at these three components and how explain how knowing them can help improve your pictures as well as your enjoyment of photography. (Understanding Exposure )

And now....Let's Get Started........





Ok to start off let me make a quick correction regarding the last episode. When I discussed Computer Programs I accidental mentioned Photoshop Express as an expensive program, what I meant was Photoshop CS4. Photoshop express is a flash based program, while CS4 and its iterations are pro level tools.

Sorry about that confusion.

Ok........

Lets get started talking about Exposure, by first discussing Aperture....


now I have included three separate images in the show notes to help guide us along in our discussion of Aperture.

You can access the show notes at http://jebvisionpod.blogspot.com /

Wikipedia states: In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture

Understanding this, we can see that the larger the hole, the more light goes through the lens to the sensor. Inversely, the smaller the whole the lower the amount of light gets captured.

Aperture size also has a artistic effect on your photos. The wider the aperture , the lower amount of detail you get in the background and the smaller the aperture, the crisper the background of the image. Some times it is a good idea to use a wide aperture (smaller f stop) to separate the subject from the distracting details in the background.

On the flipside, sometimes (like in landscape photography) it is wise to use a smaller aperture (Larger f stop) to bring the background detail into crisper view.

Now your like wait jake..........You said the wide aperture has a small f/stop and a small aperture has a larger f/stop number.

That's correct. I know it can be confusing but it is essential you get this correlation so you can call upon your aperture setting skills to get the effect you desire.

now I have included some info on this in the show notes, citing wikipedia as the source.

In optics, the f-number (sometimes called focal ratio, f-ratio, or relative aperture[1]) of an optical system expresses the diameter of the entrance pupil in terms of the focal length of the lens; in simpler terms, the f-number is the focal length divided by the "effective" aperture diameter. It is a dimensionless numberthat is a quantitative measure of lens speed, an important concept in photography. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-number )

You can quickly experiment with the concept of aperture without even using the camera.

Hold a pencil in front of your eyes and squint to focus on the pencil,(do you see how the background is blurry?) now move the pen back and open your eyes and focus on both the pencil and background. Things should be more clear. The act of squinting actually allow less light to hit your eye, blurring the background.

Here is another experiment. Take your camera and go to its aperture settings (on my camera I spin the dial until I select the "A" it's "AV" for Canon)

now set up an object close to your frame, and then stick something of interest in the back of the frame. Set your cameras aperture to its largest aperture and take a shot (small f/stop #). Now, set the aperture to the smallest aperture (large f/stop #) and take another shot. Try to use a tripod if you have one. Now on your viewfinder, compare the images. You should see that in the first photo the background is a little blurry and the object in front of the frame is crisp. In the second image, you should see that both subjects are clear and in frame.

I recommend that you walk around for the next couple of minutes with your camera set on Aperture Priority mode and take pictures of various subjects using the different settings. Now pause this podcast and get shooting.....

When you come back, we will discuss another cool feature of your camera, Shutter Speed.....



Welcome back.......

Ok.....

Now lets get into the second part of this three part podcast and discuss shutter speed...

Once again, if you have access to the show notes I have dropped a couple of pictures in there to demonstrate the affect of using different shutter speeds......


1/55s

1/25s

Shutter speed helps make your photographs creative in several different ways. It can either catch a moment in time like a kid playing soccer or it might help imply motion by creating a blurred effect of the subject in motion. Slower shutter speeds create for of a blur, sometimes this blur is distracting to the photo, but if you use it in a technique like panning, were you pan the camera with a moving subject to isolate its image and creating motion in the background. Another classic example of increasing the shutter speed is capturing a waterfall and giving the water a whispy charachteristic.

You can also set a fast shutter speed to isolate motion that would otherwise be a blur to people in real life. By setting a quick shutter speed you can pick out details that otherwise would be invisible to the naked eye. In the case of the waterfall, this would capture every drop as it existed within the frame.

Wikipedia describes shutter speed as:

In photography, shutter speed is a common term used to discuss exposure time, the effective length of time a shutter is open;[1] the total exposure is proportional to this exposure time, or duration of light reaching the film or image sensor.

Exposure time is an important concept to grasp because depending on the available light, increasing or decreasing shutter speed can lighten or darken the photo causing an incorrect exposure. however, in low light, placing the camera on a tripod and increasing the shutter speed can create a clear photo and give the picture a correct exposure.

Ok.....This is a simple concept, longer shutter speeds increase the amount of light collected by the lens and sent to the sensor and creates a blurred motion effect in the photo. A quicker shutter speed collects less light but captures the moment so to speak.

Now get out there right now and experiment with your shutter speed. Turn on the hose or have some one poor a glass of water outside and capture the moment the water leaves the hose or glass with a quick shutter speed. Now set up on a tripod or stabilize the camera on something and decrease the shutter speed. Notice the difference.

I recommend that you shoot for a few minutes or even a day on nothing but Shutter Priority mode. That is indicated by an "s" on my nikon or "Tv" on a canon.

Go do it now.

When you come back we will discuss the final part, ISO.



OK We're back......

Lets now discuss the last item on the exposure triangle, ISO, which is also called Film Speed:

Now Wikipedia defines Film speed as "the measure of a photographic film's sensitivity to light, determined by sensitometry and measured on various numerical scales, the most recent being the ISO system. Relatively insensitive film, with a correspondingly lower speed index requires more exposure to light to produce the same image density as a more sensitive film, and is thus commonly termed a slow film. Highly sensitive films are correspondingly termed fast films." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_speed )

Now ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which simply means an international standard for setting film speed.

What you really need to know is that you should select different ISO speeds depending on what situation you are in.

100-200: Outdoors Sunny Day

400-800: Indoors low light

Now shooting outdoors with a high speed of film or high ISO will cause your photos to be to bright and in the same respect, shooting indoors with a ISO 100-200 film might make your pictures to dark because that speed is just not sensitive enough to the light of an indoor situation. Now ISO directly effects what aperture and what shutter speed you can select. The higher the ISO, the faster you can get the shutter speed or the smaller you can get the aperture in order to capture more detail, as we discussed before. This is where you can use ISO to get the correct exposure and depth of field that you want.

Most cameras have an auto ISO mode but we don't want to use this. You get better control and better quality photos by adjusting the ISO yourself. As you experiment with your ISO settings, you will become accustomed to switching the ISO yourself and you will enjoy taking pictures even more.

Now some cameras have effective ISO ranges up 3200 and even above. By effective I mean that the picture maintains its relative sharpness at higher levels. Now the traditional trade off is that the higher the ISO you choose, the grainier the photo, and in most respects that is true. Now some of the newer DSLR's have improved low-light functionality that gives the user more lee-way, but in reality it makes since to try and not go over ISO 800 in order to guarantee a tack-sharp image. If you need to capture the image no matter what, like a scene of your friends in a low-lit restaurant, go ahead and crank up that ISO to get the shot.

Now it's your turn, experiment with your ISO. Find a subject and take a picture on ISO 100 or 200 then start increasing the film speed until you reach the maximum level. Notice how the pictures get brighter and how the picture gets fuzzier as you go along. the scale.

Well that wraps up this podcast.

We discussed Aperture/Shutter Speed and ISO. Go out and focus on each one of these items individually and give yourself time to become familiar with shooting in Aperture and Shutter priority mode.

Next week we are going to put it all together and have you shoot in full manual, giving you the ultimate control over your photos.

Thanks so much for listening.

Remember you can find the show notes at the blog address site http://jebvisionpod.blogspot.com.

You can also find me on Flickr at Jebvision and on Twitter at Jebvision.

Thanks for listening.

Now get out there and shoot!

Copyright JEBVision

Intro to Digital Photography Episode 1

Listen along as your Host Jacob Boenisch explores the digital camera, computer programs, and tips on how to share your photos on this the first episode of JEBVision Introduction to Digital Photography.

Episode 1 "The Camera" Show Notes

Welcome to the first episode of JEBVision on Digital photography, I am your host Jacob Boenisch.  Every Month we will be exploring some of the basic facits of digital photography to help arm the inspired amatuer with the tools and knowledge necessary to explore their passion of photography and in the end, create a beautiful image.  This week we will be be going over the ground rules of digital photography by exploring these basic yet important topics:

1.  The Camera

2.  Computer Programs

3.  Sharing your photos.

Now lets get started....

First let me preface something about this podcast.

One, I'm not a professional, I don't/  I dont have any predilections of being a professional and at this point photography is a passion.  However, I am a trained and experienced member of the curious crowd and have dove head first into photography.  There are a multitude of websites, books, and podcast that can help you understand digital photography I don't portend to be a better or more knowledgeable source of information than those who have discussed these topics before me.  I just hope to provide a podcast that people will be interested in, want to follow, and also share with there friends.  I hope to share with you what I have learned about digital photography and pass it on.  From time to time I will site various sources from which I received my info and I will blog these resources so you can enjoy them at my Flickr Blog, just type in JebVision into the Flickr search bar...but more on computer programs later....

First the camera....

Ok.....

First off there are a lot of cameras on the market today.

I primarily use a Nikon D90....Now in the world of digital photography there is a lot of hubub generated around what kind of camera you shoot.....the major brands play part in this chest thumping match like sony, olympus, panasonic, etc..... but primarily it focuses down to two brands, nikon or canon.....just by mentioning that i shoot nikon, some folks are probably going to turn this podcast off....but in reality, I don't care what you shoot and most importantly the Friends and family with whom you share your photos don't care what you shoot.  Those who do care about this topic are your fellow shooters, those Friends who share in your hobby.....if you haven't purchased a camera yet......I encourage you to talk to your Friends and ask them what camera to buy......if you are going to get a SLR or Single Lens Reflex camera like I shoot, I would choose the brand of the Friend who has the most lenses.........that way you can borrow them and not sink so much cash into these expensive pieces of "glass".

So.....

A digital camera is made up of a million different pieces but if I had to pick the two most important parts of a camera I would have to say that they are:

1.  The sensor

2. The Lens

Now why is the sensor important........well this is technically the film.....I know some might be confused by this statement and say now Jake, "Isn't the memory card technically the film.  That is the new medium for storing photos right......well, no.  The sensor within your camera is the film, Here is why:

Back in the day, and I mean a little over a decade ago, the most popular cameras were film cameras.  You remember, you would unbox a roll of film

pull it out.

wind the film into the camera, 

shut the door

and start shooting.  

Well what was happening is that your camera was letting light through its lens into a small opening into the dark box (now hang with me here) and projecting an image onto a light sensitive media which we called film.

nowadays, a camera work in much the same way except that the film has been replaced by a advanced piece of electronics called a sensor which converts the light and converts that information into ones and zeros.

This information then gets placed on to a disk, typically a SD card or a Compact Flash card, although I think sony and fuji have their own forms of memory.  

Now in digital photography there are many types of sensors and they are sometimes referred to as CCD processors.

Wikipedia refers to these as:

A CCD or Charge-Coupled Device is an analog electronic device that can be used as the image sensor in place of film in an electronic camera or optical devices like microscopes or telescopes. http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/CCD 

I've included the site in the show notes....

But the processor takes in light and processes it based on resolution, file type, ISO sensitivity, white balance, etc...

It's just important to know that larger and more expensive sensors are on your SLR's and this is not always the case of some mid range and pro point and shoots like the Canon G9 or G10, the cheaper point and shoots have smaller sensors.  Theoretically, the larger the sensor, the larger the frame of the photo and the more data you get.  These are good things accept the trade off is lugging around, well.....a bigger camera.  I have both, I use a sony point and shoot and a Fuji point and shoot for my basic shots and my SLR when I get more serious about shooting.

Now, you might be asking yourself, hey jake what about this mega pixel thing.  Well, when it comes to mega pixels, its an all out war......it seems they are cramming more and more mega pixels into these cameras all the time.  Anything above five mega pixels is good enough for a photo that you will print into an eight and a half by eleven.  The more mega pixels you have, two advantages become apparent:

1. you can create a larger print.

2.  Inversely you can crop and zoom further into your photo without loosing detail.

Now there are some detractors out there, of which I am a part, that say you can only cram so many pixels onto a sensor before you actually need to increase the size of the sensor.  Now imagine mega pixels as little dots that collect information or light, or whatever, you lay these dots over a square sensor.  the more you cram in the more light info you get right?  you would think so but by actually cramming so many mega pixels on a sensor without enlarging the processor, you are actually allowing less info to collect in each respective dot, making low-light pictures frustrating.  imagine it this way.  

You place coffee tens (like the Folgers type) that collect rain on a four by for four piece of cardboard, now you switch out the tins for small drinking glasses, you might actually collect more water in the glasses but each glass does not Carry as much water per volume as the bucket, the same can be said as it regards light and mega pixels in a camera.  Now what does this really mater?  It actually doesn't....just be aware, people are going to talk about this and its good that you read up on this topic.  I subscribe to podcasts like This Week in Photography that helps me keep up to date with all the geeked out technology talk some photographers like to discuss.  When your looking at a camera, don't worry so much about pixel count, be worried about how you shoot and creating an excellent image.  Most cameras are acceptable for taking high quality photos.  Heck even 50 dollar plastic cameras like the Holga (see my show notes) http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/CCD can take decent photos as long as the operator knows what he or she is doing.

Ok so were does this lead us, well, we need to talk about how we use our files and how we share our files with others and this leads us to discuss our next topic, computer programs and the basics of post processing software that is out there.  Then after that we will discuss the various formats available to you to share your photos......

Ok so lets talk about the computer....

In reality....the computer is the new darkroom for digital photography.  This is in reference to the process of projecting your film onto a piece of paper washing it through chemicals and creating your shot in a dark room typically lit by a red light.  Now a days we have our computers.  and no matter what brand of computer you have, i personally use a mac, the same basic programs are available to you to edit, view and share your photos.  I want to save sharing our photos for the last segment of this show because this is where you can get recognition for your hard work...

Now one of the first things you should invest in if your computer doesn't already have it, is a card reader fo your computer.  Now you can plug your camera into the computer but it is much better to just take your memory card out of your camera, replace it with a empty spare and just plug it in.  Now most computers, unless you have turned this feature off, will automatically recognize your memory card and ask you what to do with it.  Now I recommend that you use one of the multitude of programs that are available to transfer your files onto the computer.  Resist the urge to just drag and drop the files onto your hard drive.  I really don't think that would be many of you. 

However, the reason why you want to use a program is because you want to get this thing right from the start, and what i mean by that is you need to organize your photos so that it is easy to find them later.  Doing this will help with your "workflow" which we will get into in a future podcast.  By using a program like iphoto, picassa, lightroom 2, or the program that came with your camera, you will be able to asign the files a name, a date, and even leave comments on the photo including possibly the location were you shot the photo.  So for instance you wanted to look for pictures you took at Disneyland, you might be able to type "disneyland" or California into the search bar and the photos you took there will pop up.  Trust me, creating an organizational system is crucial, especially once you get thousands, if not tens of thousands of photos.

So here are three easy steps to organizing your photos:

1. Get familiar with your photo program.  For instance iphoto has a facial recognition feature that you can actually train to pick out people you have taken photos of.  For instance, it well start recognizing grandma connie's face and when you upload pictures in the future, it will automatically tag that photo with her name.

that brings up the second step:

2. Tag your photos.  As in the disneyland and grandma examples, it is extremely important that you tag your photos with location, person, or event (such as wedding) so you can easily find your photos in the future.  I personally use picassa and I sort my photos by date taken and then add tags to groups of photos (called batch processing) so I can easily find an event of subject.  I have also created folders for works in progress, which is the work i'm currently editing and one for edited work, this is my folder that I sooner or later publish to my blog JEBVision or Flicker.

3.  The third and most important step is Back your photos up!!!!

Trust me, I have hundreds of photos that are gone forever because I didn't back them up.  On my mac I use time machine, but you can get an external hard drive and save a copy of your photos there as a backup or you can burn them to disk.  one of the best ways to keep your photos around virtually forever is to upload them to either a site like flicker, photo bucket, or for the more serious photographer, smug mug.  Whats great about backing up your photos online is that you can access them anywhere you have a computer and an Internet connection.  That means Grandmas house.  

 For more tips, check out http://www.basic-digital-photography.com/organizing-photos.html

Ive included links to some sites to help you further in organizing your photos on my show notes.

Now lets talk about editing photos.  Photo editing programs range from free to a thousand dollars.  One such free basic photo editing program is picassa.  It doesn't give you much latitude but it does do some basic things like filter effects, contrast, lighting, and even touch up.  I've included a site for free editing software on the show notes. http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pixelbasedwin/tp/freephotoedw.htm

On the other end of the spectrum is Photoshop express which gives you a multitude of options in their famous layer editing format.  Now the more money the program costs, typically, the more it can do....however, the more it can do, the more complicated it is to learn and use.  Gauge what you are wanting to accomplish with your photos to make a good jugment on what will be good for you.  If you want to just correct the exposure, add a border to your photo, and mess around with some cool effects, use picassa.  If you want to create a magazine advertisment use photoshop CS4.  I use a middle of the road program called Photoshop Elements that gives me the ease of use of Picassa, but I can get more complex if I choose to.  (www.adobe.com).  A free middle of the road program would be Photoscape (www.photoscape.org) which gives you a bunch of cool tools.

Now I would be remissed if I didn't mention Aperture, apples own editing software.  Its only available for the mac, but its calling card is that it provides some powerful editing tools that you get out of the $1000 programs for a fraction of the cost and it also provides an extremely intelligent user interface for which apple is famous for.  In the photography war, a whole other bunch of people get fired up over which is better; Photoshop or Aperture, the truth is, it doesn't matter.  Want me to prove it?  Download either program free.....i'll include the address in the notes.....and see which one you like the best.  www.adobe.com  http://www.apple.com/aperture/

In fact, try out as many programs as you fell fit until you find one that works for you.  The truth is, many professionals use more than one editor and more than one photo site or backup method to get the job done.

Next up, we'll discuss sharing these great photos you took........

http://www.flickr.com

http://picasa.google.com/ 

http://twitter.com/ 

http://www.blogger.com/ 

Printers.

Buy the printer that fits the format you want to use.  for instance a 4x6 printer to a larger format printer.  Think about ink and paper cost.  whatever you choose, buy the branded paper that goes with the printer.  they are designed in the lab specifically for their ink.

<<<>>>

Intro-This is a Monthly Podcast not weekly.

I meant CS4 not Photoshop express which is a flash based editor that is free.