Help with digital photography please

[Marthaclematis]

Hi all, I guess there's a few people here who can help - gardening and photography seem to go hand in hand I think....We've just bought a digital camera and don't know much about it but we're going through the instruction book page by page and trying things out. I would really like to take some b/w pictures (it does b/w) and have them blown up onto canvas. My understanding is that once I've got a good enough shot (using the highest resolution) I'll take the camera (or the card) down to SnappySnaps and they can download the image without losing any resolution. The reason I say this is because when I've emailed them pics before (taken with a non-digital SLR and copied onto disk at Jessops) they have come up 'too low' - I reckon this is because they get compressed by the photoshop software on my pc (this is what I'm guessing anyway).
So. My questions are, firstly, is what I've said above correct and secondly - where is a good place to store digital images where they won't be compressed, an external space - I might want to print them at a later date. It seems to me that always happens on my own hard drive - I don't know how to stop it. If there was a way that I could manipulate my photo's i]without losing resolution[/i]and store them on a separate hard drive then is this what I should do? (my photo's already take up a lot of space)[.

Thanks, I hope I've not been too long winded.

PS its a Panasonic Lumix FX35 10meg with Leica lens.

[Marthaclematis]

Didn't mean to be insensitive...(!)

Sorry, bad timing. Me posting my thread about help and then Jackie J having just lost hers. I do hope yours is found Jackie J and that relations in your household soon return to happy.

[danmon_81]

There should be a setting on the software for saving pic's as a larger file.
On photoshop once you've altered the pic your asked to save, then at which resolution and how big.

You may also want to change the settings on your actual camera....increase the resolution.

make sure your saving the pic's as a JPEG file (or raw JPEG if your camera will allow)

hope this makes sense

[SueA]

Hi Martha, I use Snapfish.co.uk to get prints etc. off the internet. When you join you can upload your photos to albums & then order prints, calendars, canvas prints etc. online. they upload at full resolution as far as I can tell from my computer & I've had some very good calendars. They do canvas prints (bit expensive!)
If you want to store your photos elsewhere also you can buy lots of external hard drives & transfer your photos over to them, I've got one which I put mine on every so often as back up. I think you can buy devices which will automatically pick up any photo images each time you put new ones on your computer too now.

[HeyWayne]

I think you can buy devices which will automatically pick up any photo images each time you put new ones on your computer too now.

Picasa does this - and it's free.

Make sure you save the original in hi-res and you should be fine Martha. My German colleagues seem to have a fscination with saving all their hi-res images as .tiff files - but they end up being massive in terms of memory. Saving them as hi-res .jpegs should see you right though.

As damnon said, check when you save the files to make sure you're saving it in as high a resolution as possible - a 10meg camera is way more than adequate.

Good luck

[smallblueplanet]

My limited understanding of jpegs is that they are a form of 'lossy compression' ie they lose data whilst compressing the shot.

Digital Photography: Photo File Formats

For lossless pictures you could look into shooting raw file types

Why use your camera's raw format?

Why are you sending them away to be 'saved' why not just download them to your hard-drive?

[Marthaclematis]

You are all so kind! and knowledgable! I knew you'd help. I must go now and look at that link Manda and find out what a 'raw file type is. I think you're right about storage - I think I'll buy an extra external drive for my pc (I have pics already taking up a lot of space) to save them to. I thought initially that storing them on my hard drive was compressing the files; but I am a clot......... as someone pointed out to me, the reason I lost resolution on my non-digital photos is because Jessops scan them AFTER printing (it never occurred to me that this was how my pics got onto disc, durrrrr). I have lots to learn, and I want to get some pics of my flowers before it all goes over (it more or less is apart from my gladioli). Thanks again. Oooooh.. sorry before I go. The instructions with the camera say to take the battery out after every use (?) and they provide a little holder for it. Does this mean take it out if its not going to be used for an hour, or a day, or a week? We're playing safe at the moment and took it out straight away last night.

Savvyx

[danmon_81]

i leave mine in my DSLR...maybe if its a prolonged period i.e. 2 weeks or so......But really i would never expect to take a battery out after every use!!!! I maybe corrected!

[Kristen]

Yup, as others have said.

If you know you want to blow a picture up then set the camera to "Super Fine" or whatever setting gives the highest resolution. Better still use "Raw mode" if you camera has such a thing (I think only the more expensive SLR type digital cameras have that). The files will be huge, so you will get fewer on your memory card than normal - maybe download and clear them all before you start your photo-shoot to make room?

Do NOT use Digital zoom (my camera stops zooming at the limit of optical zoom, and I have to press the zoom button again if I want to go beyond that [into Digital Zoom]).

Use a tripod to prevent camera shake - any fuzziness will be amplified when blown up big. If that's not an option then get a good solid stance, hold your breath, and squeeze [and not "press"] the shutter. Make sure the shutter speed is above 1/60th if you are zoomed right out, and 1/250th or even 1/100th if you are zoomed in. If its lower than that get more light if you can, which should increase it, or change the camera to "Sports mode" - the one that you use to photograph racing cars! (But note that this will effect the "depth of field" - only a smaller range of distance will all be in focus at once, which will be a problem if you have both foreground and background).

Personally I wouldn't do the Black & White thing on the camera, I would take a colour shot and have the printing guys do the monochrome, or do it using your PC software yourself.

If you edit the picture on your PC do NOT save as JPEG as you work (you lose some quality each time you save). Save using the editing software's native format (e.g. Photoshop .PSD) - which will be a huge file, but 100% of the original quality. (Note that you can lose quality rotating the image using standard picture viewing software if you are not careful; most of it tells you that "This will result in some loss", but I imagine that not all such software does. [The Windows viewing tool here gives me that warning for pictures from my old camera, but can do it without loss for pictures from my new camera]

When you have finished editing THEN save as JPEG (make sure it is set to 0% loss), or send to the printing bureau in Photoshop native format, or whatever, if they accept that.

[Capsid]

Your camera only has the compressed JPEG file format unfortunately, so don't bother looking for a RAW mode. However, it is a high resolution camera with 10megapixels, so these should enlarge well onto a canvas size.

[bluemoon]

What I did was sold the digital, dug the SLR back out of the wardrobe and swore never to touch another digi until they were at least approaching something as good as film, which means when they are at the 100 - 120 mega pixel point.

[zazen999]

Hi Martha.

If you can't use RAW data, as your camera doesn't support it - and you have to use jpeg then remember that every time you save it - it will lose data. For this reason, if you edit it then only save it the once, when you have finished editing it.

[Flump]

Again what Zazen says

Plus pop into Jessops if you have one in your area. Explain your problem and they will be able to show you on the comps to do it yourself. I used to work for them so they get asked all sorts all of the time. Admittedly I've just had a quick read through all the postings so if this has been said already ahem ....sorry

And without intentionally being big headed I am a pro photographer so...... if this hasn't answered your question by all means pm me anytime (anyone for that matter) and I'll see what I can do!!??

Off home now sorry for ramblin'

[Marthaclematis]

Blimey! I am overwhelmed by your generosity! I didn't know about losing data when saving, that is very valuable info to me coz I play around a lot with my photo's. What I'm going to do when I get the shot I want is to take it into SnappySnaps and get them to do everything on their equipment - I will take the shot in colour aswell - I would not have known that either so thanks. And thanks also for the advice about not ditching the SLR just yet... I was going to leave it at home when we go on holiday to the US in September but I won't now - it'll be packed with the digi and we'll contrast and compare when we get home. You have given me LOADS of advice, I am very thankfull !!XXX

[bubblewrap]

What editing program do you have on your computer?
I have Adobe Phohtshop elements 4.
I can alter my photos to B/W or sepia at the click of a button.
If I want any thing printing off I edit the shots & down load on to disc then I take them to Jessops & get printed to the size I require.
The camera I use is a Nikon D20 with a 18-55 zoom lens.