Digital Cameras: A Great Marketing Tool
With the rapid advances in digital camera technology,
your camera and computer can provide a very efficient,
relatively inexpensive tool for advertising your
product. No longer do you have to wait for your 35mm
film to be developed, have it lost in the mail, or rely
on a professional photographer. You can take a series
of photos, delete the ones you do not want, edit the
ones you do want, then place them on your web site, Facebook page, or
use them for newsletters, posters, and brochures.
Many digital cameras are simple to operate—“point and shoot.” The downside is, if you are not comfortable with a computer, the learning curve for loading the photos into the computer, using photo-manipulation software, and printing or e-mailing the photos requires some practice. Results depend on what kind of a learning curve you willing to accept.
For those of you who are not yet familiar or comfortable with digital photography, here are a few basics.
Equipment
Many digital cameras are simple to operate—“point and shoot.” The downside is, if you are not comfortable with a computer, the learning curve for loading the photos into the computer, using photo-manipulation software, and printing or e-mailing the photos requires some practice. Results depend on what kind of a learning curve you willing to accept.
For those of you who are not yet familiar or comfortable with digital photography, here are a few basics.
Equipment
- What kind of camera
do I need?
Digital cameras are available from a few hundred dollars up to many thousands of dollars. Decide how much you can spend, then find the camera that will shoot the highest resolution possible. If you expect to view your photos on a large 21-inch computer monitor and your camera will capture only 640x480 pixel images, you will be disappointed. Many cell phone cameras today take very acceptable photos. - Camera resolution is measured in megapixels. A “megapixel” is one million pixels. Short for Picture Element, a pixel is a single point in a graphic image. The term refers to the resolution (sharpness and clarity) of an image reproduced on a device like your monitor or printer. For internet work, a 2-megapixel camera that captures images at 1024x768 pixels has enough resolution. People wanting to make large prints will need cameras with fine enough resolution for their advanced needs. Three megapixels 2048x1536 pixels allows you the quality to print your photos at full-page size.
- Buy a good quality camera from a reputable maker. A local camera store should have models on hand for you to try. Often you can get better deals on the internet or from a discount store, but remember, if you need help or customer support, a camera store may be your best bet. Beginners should look for a camera that is easy to use and easy to upload pictures from to their computer.
- Be sure your camera has good battery life, can run on rechargeable batteries, comes with a battery charger, and uses digital storage media (like compact flash cards) that are easily obtainable. Do not buy a camera that uses some type of nonrenewable battery or media that will be too expensive to replace repeatedly. Many cameras use rechargeable AA batteries. In an emergency, AA batteries are easily and cheaply available.
- Accessories
Light
Depending on whether you shoot inside or outside, you may need to be sure the camera has a good flash. Auxiliary flash attachments are also available.
If you shoot in low light, a tripod is useful.
For small items like jewelry, a light box is helpful. You can make your own light box from a cardboard box lined with white material and external lamps or spot lights so that reflected light hits all sides of the object to be photographed. There will be no shadows on your subject or “hot spots” caused by flash attachments.
Photo Printer
A good quality printer from a well-known company. Look for one that advertises photo-quality reproduction. Use only the factory made ink replacement cartridges specified for your printer from the printer manufacturer. You will get better results with high quality photo-reproduction paper.
Storage
Your camera will come equipped with digital storage media. You may need additional storage cards if you shoot many photos at one time. Also, remember to back up your important photos to an external hard drive, CD, or other media. - Computer programs
for photo enhancement
Most of the time, your new camera and computer will come with basic photo editing programs. As time progresses and your skill and need increases, you may find need for more advanced programs such as Adobe PhotoShop or Corel Paint Shop Pro. These same companies also market handy programs for cataloging and viewing your photos. A free program that I have personally found indispensable is Picasa 3, a free download from Google. With careful photo editing, even if your pictures aren't perfect, you have a lot of control to make them better. You can download, resize, watermark, sharpen, adjust color and contrast, lighten, darken, crop, and even erase or replace objects or scratches in the photo. It also gives you free online space for photo albums to share. - Resizing photos for
e-mail
Web reproduction only requires resolution of 72dpi (dots per inch) in many instances. The quality of most graphics devices is determined by their resolution—how many points per square inch they can represent. Newsprint reproduction requires 100 dpi, and magazine quality is 300 dpi. Depending upon your camera, the pictures (files) generated can be very large. A 2560x1920 pixel image at 300dpi is over one megabyte in size. In order for these files to be sent by email or placed on web pages, they must be resized (made smaller). The same file reduced to 640x480 pixels will be under 100 kilobytes and can be quickly sent by email. Those sizes are also appropriate for some web site work. One can have a small “thumbnail” sized photo that when clicked upon, will bring up an 800x600-pixel view to show detail. Most photo-manipulation programs have a resizing option. Once you have resized the photos you can e-mail them to clients or your web master or upload quickly to your Facebook page.