Point and Click Photography

Digital Imaging

My first portable, digital image device plugged into a handheld, then called “PDA,” device. The image itself was 240 X 320 pixels, or half the size of the most common computer screen, at the time.

On a road trip, while in Eastern New Mexico, I stopped and captured a few images. One was of a sunflower, against a Southern New Mexico sky. That was around ten years ago.

In the past decade, the digital image revolution has changed photography. Regular film is almost non-existent.

I was hunting for a date in the archives, think this pegs it.

I bought a cheap camera because it allowed me to catch pictures of fish. As a fisherman, the biggest records need to be recorded properly. Digital archives work fine for me.

I’ve been playing with, toying with, and otherwise working with portable — cheap — digital image recording devices for over ten years.

I have two sites that are exclusively the domain of digital images, as mental bookmarks and reminders of what and where I’ve been.

BexarCountyLine.com

astrofish.co.uk

Couple of quick and easy pointers I’ve learned about how to take great pictures. The former territory of higher-quality pictures is no longer the province of expensive and exclusive camera owners.

Whether it’s a cell phone, a digital phone, or just a sub-$100 “point and click” camera, the basic guidelines remain the same.

The camera really doesn’t have a focal length. Unlike the real and expensive cameras, there’s no focus button on the cheap camera and camera phones. Sometimes, there’s a software that will help focus, but that’s marginal at best.

With that in mind, I’ve caught some fairly stunning examples of macro photography with a simple cell phone as well as the less expensive “point and click” cameras. As I am notoriously hard on hardware, I’ve been through a half dozen of the cheap cameras. They just don’t last, not in my pocket.

5 steps to better digital images:

The real title should read, “Five Steps to better digital images with cell phones, cheap point and click cameras, and other, low-end digital photo devices.”

There’s a been an explosion of inexpensive digital cameras, and what used to cost hundreds of dollars, can be done with a free cell phone’s camera these days or even a digital camera that doesn’t cost very much.

The limits of the hardware dictate a slightly different process than what photography schools and workshops traditionally teach.

1. Hold Still
2. Light
3. Focal Length
4. Shoot plenty
5. No Composition (include everything)

1. Hold Still: sure, this is obvious, but a number of excellent shots are ruined by the slightest blur. A tripod, a mono-pod, or even something against which the shooter can rest? Sure helps.

I caught several stunning examples of London’s Tower Bridge with a cheap camera, then once with a cell phone, by resting the camera on the railing of the bridge I was standing on. Simple, easy, effective. The results speak for themselves. In the hurry to get a picture, taking a moment to rest the camera against a steady object helps.

From a different vantage point, sometimes, even the simplest of images can come alive with clarity and detail, if the camera, the shooter, is resting on a fixed object.

2. Light: lighting is important, as the less expensive digital image devices have no real adjustment for light and shutter speed, it needs to be bright and similar. Sunlight, daylight, is preferred, but some light source is generally required.

I’ve been most successful with direct sunlight, or, at the very least, out-of-doors, even on a cloudy day, as there’s enough ambient light to adequately light almost any subject, no matter how small and detailed. A single 60-watt bulb can light an indoor subject.

Having adequate light is important. Perhaps this is the simplest, yet most effective way to improve the inexpensive camera.

A favorite image of mine, a yellow rose, with exquisite detail and texture on the petals, the secret of the capture? Turned on the overhead lights in the kitchen. The flower was in stem vase on the kitchen table. Merely turning on the overhead room light provided needed light, simple and very effective.

3. Focal Length: here’s where we have trouble, I am unsure of exactly what a “focal length” is, much less, how it is measured, and for what purpose. However, with a cell phone camera or cheap point-and-click, there is no adjustment for “range.” That’s the focal length of the shot. Can’t adjust it. Some of the more modern point-and-click cameras, and this would include phone cameras, too, have rudimentary focus adjustments, which is usually a software trick.

Still, even with limited resources of the less expensive hardware, being aware of the lack of focal length, that helps make a better picture. There are not many adjustments here. To best compensate? Hold the camera still. Vary the position in your hand, find the steadiest way to hold the camera.

Use the view screen and adjust as need be, keeping in mind, distance from the subject is the biggest factor in how clear an image can be.

I’ve managed to capture, spectacular, award-winning images, from close-ups to scenic panoramas, with inexpensive hardware. Hold it still and see if the auto focus helps any.

4. As a holdover from expensive camera and even more expensive film era, back when a single shot was far more precious, lining up a single image, then taking one picture, that made sense. Conservation of resources. With digital, it’s a totally different story. Memory chips — camera digital memory — are sold in bulk at the warehouse store. Superstores carry the chips, in bulk, and there’s no reason why a single photograph needs to be limited to just one shot.

As a rule, I’ll shoot the same shot three time, all in rapid fire succession, “Click-click-click.” In review, downloading, post-processing, whatever the correct term is? In review, I’ll select which image is best, but it does require at least three shots to pick the best. Frequently, in my experience, it’s the first shot that is the best, what the artist’s mind’s eye sees first. That’s how it works, but, as a good guideline, make sure that the image is repeated in triplicate. It’s much easier to erase images than try to recover an image that never got taken.

Shoot many, don’t be afraid, it’s easy to erase the bad ones, later.

5. Composition is tricky, as there’s the mind of the artist and what the mind sees whereas what shows up as a captured image. The composition of the image, the dappled sunlight, the crisp texture of a scene, the composition is seemingly important. When working with simple image devices, cell phone or cheap camera, the trick is to get the whole image. Include some of the spurious background, visual noise.

With limited hardware resources, the point is to grab as much of the scenario as possible, not concentrating on a single point. Step back, then step back one more step. Make sure the whole scene is included in the “composition.” There’s no need to make an attempt, what with the tiny view screen or the phone’s miniscule “viewfinder” and attempt to compose the entire image at one time.

The term “point and click,” while derivative of original film cameras, the consider the term. Point, aim, or, in some situations, just aim in the approximate direction and hope; click and see what happens.

Instead of attempting to burrow down on important detail, try and gather as much foreground and background as imaginable.

As a quick summary, point and click digital cameras as well as many phone cameras are versatile as long as some simple guideline are followed. Hold it still, make sure there’s plenty of light, check the focus point, click several images, and worry about composition later.