White Trash at Flat Rock

It seems like everyone has a digital camera now. They are wonderful for taking huge numbers of pictures of other couples when you travel. For the freelancer, they offer the option of easily including photographs with your articles. Your editor will love you. Even if you are not an accomplished photographer, you should be able to get something useful simply through the number of pictures you can take. These inexpensive, lightweight cameras usually do just fine in as long as the lighting is good and the subjects are static. Taking pictures of moving scenes can be a challenge because sometimes there is quite a lag between when you press the shutter and when the camera takes the photo. Perhaps the camera is thinking. Ever so slowly.

1. Make sure the batteries are fully charged. Some don’t last very long, especially if it is cold.
2. Leave it on the automatic setting. If the picture requires anything but that, it is probably beyond the abilities of the $89.99 special you bought at the box store anyway.
3. Just accept that you will need to take your photos in well-lit areas. It can require thousands of dollars worth of equipment for lighting to take a good photo in less than ideal situations.
4. Download your photos to your computer frequently. Create carefully named folders for each date, topic or locale so you can find what you are looking for at a later time. The camera creates files with names like IMG102556 and IMG103554. Even if you figure out how to preview them, it can take forever to find that shot you were looking for without some clues.
5. Never ever send emails with huge picture files. You’ve received them; those emails that take 45 minutes to download on your expensive broadband and turn out to be 5 blurry photos of your aunt’s cat. Some email programs will reduce the file sizes for you.
6. Consider learning to use a photo editing program like Photoshop Elements. Graphic programs have a steep learning curve in general, but I’ve found the courses at ww.lvs.online to be helpful. They are also cheap.
7. Don’t drop the thing or let the dog get it.