Basic Skills in Digital Photography

by Ryan Macalandag

So you’ve decided to drop your film camera and switch to digital photography? You must be daunted by the task and scared beyond your wits. Fear not, shooting digital is not as difficult as you think. In fact it is quite easy, on the contrary. It is the same light exposure, the same framing, the same perspective, the same camera angles as you do with your manual camera.

There are, however, a few different skills that you need hurdle first on the process of perfecting your digital photography craft. But, hurdles as they are, they are easy hurdles.


Back to (Computer) Basics

Low Jeremy states that operating the digital camera is like operating a small computer. There are functions that are actually similar to the computer like formatting and delete and a whole lot of other things. You need to be familiar with the functions in order to be able to maximize the digital camera.

Having a digital camera will more often that not mean that you will have to manage, process and archive your own picture files yourself. You will need a computer for this. If you know how to check your email or write a word document on your PC, your digital workflow should be easy peasy, too. Software programs like Picasa (free from Google) or Adobe Lightroom make things a lot easier.

The usual workflow is, first, upload your photos from your camera to your computer. Second, properly name your files and key-word each batch to make them easier to search for later. Lastly, create archival copies on another disk or to a DVD disk to ensure the safe storage of your photos.

Fixing Pixels

Digital photography would also mean having your own digital laboratory for you to edit pictures. You need a photo editing software for this. The most common would be Adobe Photoshop or Corel Photo Paint. For Linux users, the free alternative to expensive ones is GIMP.

All these software can do what the traditional film laboratories can do to process your photos. If your colors are not good, you can fix the color balance. If it is not bright enough you can adjust the brightness levels to your taste. If you want to crop and composite two or more photos together, you can do it easy.

You can dodge and burn your photos. Convert it to grayscale, sepia or dual tones. Colorize your black and white photos like they used to hand-color photos during the old days.

Aside from the basic lab effects and filters, you can layout your photos and make it into a posters, calendar, book marker or whatever. You can even optimize your photo for web or projector screen presentation use.

Fiddling with the Functions

Read the manual. That’s what I usually tell people. Sometimes, the features that fail you are on the manual.

Just like other techie devices, you have to be a bit savvy with fiddling with the camera features to maximize its potentials. There are a few buttons and functions that sure will make you photography life easier.

Be patient though. I’ve had a few acquaintances who almost give up on their cameras because “it doesn’t create nice photos”. Again as the saying goes, “it’s not the Indian, it’s the pana.” It is the Indian who aims the bow and shoots the arrow. After all, the camera is just another device you have to learn to use.


Happy shooting!

(For questions and comments regarding this column, please email me at ryanmacalandag@yahoo.com or look me up on Facebook. You may also catch me on these websites: ryanmacalandag.blogspot.com and www.flickr.com/ryanmacalandag.)