Although there are video cameras that may record every scene and even every word that is spoken, there is still magic in photographs. This is especially true for people who have kept albums and scrapbooks through the years and would want to continue with the tradition.

But taking photos is not as simple as clicking the shutter. There are many things to consider when taking photographs. This is even more true if there are many people involved like the whole family, not to mention little children who are just so hard to capture on film. Below are some tips to help you produce great photos during your family sailing vacation.

1. Check the lighting

The light is very important in producing great photos. Too much light overhead or at the back can cast a shadow on your subject and make the photo too dark. Light can also result to overexposure where the colors appear white and washed out like when you have washed a favorite t-shirt over and over again and the colors faded.

Too little light can make the photos blurred or make it too dark that one cannot even see the subject, in this case, the people. This often happens when you are taking photographs of people at night. If this is the case, then you should try to get a location where there is some light overhead or on the side.

2. Check your battery and your memory

Nothing can be more frustrating than finding out that you don’t have any more battery or memory right in the middle of your trip. Although you may be able to buy one from the cruise ship store or at the malls at the shore, it would be pretty expensive and you would not even know if you can find one that is compatible with your camera.

So avoid the frustration and the stress of it all, bring with you enough batteries and memory sticks to last you a year! You’ll never know just how many photographs you will need to take. If you can bring a charger, all the more better. You can just plug it in your hotel room or in the cruise ship. You are also paying for the use of their electricity anyway so why scrimp?

3. Look for the unusual

One of the simple rules in photography is to find something unique in the environment or in the sight and take a photo of it. This will make the photo more interesting and will also be a conversation starter in reunions. Make sure though that you know what you are taking photographs of. Bring a notebook with you so that you can record everything that you have seen and took picture of. Photos do not just stop with clicking the camera, it also involves getting to know the story behind the place or the sight and knowing what it is called.

4. Take photos of people

Nothing makes a photo interesting than putting people alongside the sights. Besides this is your purpose when you brought your camera, record your family’s experience during a sailing vacation through a photo, so it is just right that you include them in every frame that you create.

Few people realize it but digital cameras are like a blessing in disguise for the environment. This is because as more and more people move away from conventional cameras they are unwittingly reducing the use of chemicals that were earlier being used to process the film. These chemicals, especially the developer and fixer solutions, were serious environment hazards.

That is why the US laws required that the spent chemicals should be made inert before they were disposed off in landfills. But more often than not, most film processing centers released the chemicals into the drain because of high expenditure involved in treating them before discharge. This was especially true of the smaller and locally owned companies not only in the US but across the world. Most photographers themselves have been guilty of this misconduct.

They are not the only ones who broke the law with abandon. The cruise ships in the international waters were even bigger culprits. As a routine, these ships first developed pictures shot by passengers and then dumped the film-processing chemicals into the open ocean. No one cared, since no restrictive laws apply to international waters. This is the reason why our oceans and green reefs are dying at a rate faster than the rain forests.

They can now thank the makers of digital cameras for saving them from some of the chemicals that earlier poured on them from ships. The same can be said of ponds and rivers that used to be polluted with chemicals flowing out of film processing labs, and which incidentally still flow out of such labs in the third world.

There are some green campaigners who point fingers at inkjet printers — used to take prints — and rechargeable batteries used in digital cameras. However, they must realize that very few people take prints of the photographs. Most transfer the images into computers electronically. Also, used cartridges are either recycled or dumped in landfills. Very rarely they find their way in water bodies.

Similarly, the scale of impact is very low when it comes to rechargeable batteries. This is because most of the batteries are rechargeable and no consumer disposes them till they are full exhausted. This means that an alkaline battery may continue to be used for weeks. Also, being a solid waste it is more likely to end up in landfills than in water bodies.

So, if you are a nature lover dump your conventional camera and get a digital camera.

It doesn’t matter if you are an amateur or a professional
because you will have to deal with them when taking
pictures and transferring them to your computer and
eventually editing them.

But which image format is best for you? It all depends on
the result that you want and how much control you want to
have over editing your images. Below are the most common
image formats used by digital cameras.

1. JPEG

- this is probably the most popular image format used not
only in digital photography but also in web design. It is a
good thing because you can be sure that you can open your
file using any computer and without the need of special
software.

There’s a downside, however, since JPEG is considered a
‘lossy’ format, which means that a lot of details are lost
due to the format’s compression.

2. TIFF

- the answer to JPEG’s lossy quality is the TIFF format. It
means that more details are saved which translates to a
better image quality.

But it comes at a price since TIFF files are notoriously
huge and could eat up storage media space in no time.

3. RAW

- among the three, RAW could be considered as the file that
shows images at its, well, rawest. RAW images are
unprocessed which gives photographers more control in
editing them later on.

But aside from that, there are differences on how they
approach the concept. We will discuss them in this article.

1. Size

- digital cameras are unlike film cameras which have to
take into account the large slot for the film into its
overall design.

Since there are already slim storage media for digital
cameras, they have become slimmer and smaller than the film
cameras of old.

2. Image storage

- film cameras store their captured images in, well, films.
But unlike its older counterpart, digital cameras store
images in media such as compact flash cards, memory sticks,
secure digital cards and the likes.

The good thing about them is that you don’t risk destroying
the images if you put them out in the sun unlike films
which are photosensitive which means that there will be a
chemical reaction when the film is exposed to light.

Also, digital storage media can store larger capacities of
images unlike the typical 35mm roll of film which can hold
only around 36 pictures.

3. Time to see the image

- when using film in shooting pictures, one has to wait a
long time before seeing the images since they still have to
be processed.

However, with digital cameras, one can see the captured
image immediately after it has been taken. It helps
photographers a lot in weeding out bad shots from good ones
in no time at all.

While image editors that are built-in to the computer’s OS
(take Microsoft Paint, for example) can do very basic
editing, power users such as professionals and web
designers need more powerful programs.

There are a number of good image editors out there that are
popular among photographers and web designers alike. For
one there’s Adobe Photoshop.

Ever since it was released in 1990, its use has become an
industry standard in the image editing industry. Then
there’s Corel PHOTO-PAINT of the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite.

This program specifically targets photographers who wish to
edit their images using the computer.

Another photo editing software is GIMP which stands for GNU
Image Manipulation. The good thing about this photo editor
is that you can use it in a variety of operating systems
such as Windows, Mac and Linux/Unix.

For those who are used to the Photoshop interface, there’s
the GIMPshop developed by Scott Moschella.

Google has also developed Picasa which is a basic photo
editing and organizing software which can be useful to
photographers who only need to crop, fix red eye, and
adjust the hues on their photos.

We therefore came up with several tips to help you maintain
your camera so that you can use it for a much longer time.

1. Keep your camera from getting wet unless it is indicated
that it is waterproof. Otherwise, moisture will build up
inside it which will destroy your camera’s internal
components.

2. If you are using a rechargeable battery for your camera,
the time will come when it no longer works as well as it
used to.

Typical Lithium Ion batteries last up to 500 cycles after
which a decline in its performance can be noticed. Dispose
of your batteries properly and replace them with new ones.

3. Always keep your lens clean. This is especially the case
if you have a digital SLR as its lens is more complex and
need better maintenance. Read your user’s manual on how to
maintain your camera’s lens.

4. Avoid dropping your camera. As mentioned earlier, your
camera contains sensitive equipment which may be destroyed
due to excessive shaking or impact.

5. When shooting pictures in the sea, make sure to protect
your gear by waterproofing it well. Salt water can corrode
your camera.

Therefore, you should gently wipe its surface with a cloth
dipped in fresh water to rinse off remnants of salt water
on your camera. Wipe it dry after.

Don’t fret, though. We have provided you with a list of
some things you have to look out for when buying a digital
camera. Read them below.

1. How many megapixels do you really need?

More advanced cameras come packed with more pixels. But
before shelling out tons of money for that gazillion
megapixel camera, keep in mind that there are other factors
that have to be considered when buying a camera.

Besides, a study showed that people, even experts, cannot
see the difference between the prints of pictures taken by
5 and 10-megapixel cameras.

2. How much memory do you need?

Are you the type of person who prefers to store your images
on your camera instead of your computer? If that’s the
case, then you need to buy a memory with a larger capacity
for your camera.

It’s also the case if you’re a professional photographer
using a digital SLR since cameras of this type use up more
memory to store high-quality pictures.

3. Batteries are the lifeline of your camera.

Therefore, when you buy a digital camera, you should make
sure that a back up battery can be found easily just in
case you run out of juice (which always happens when you
least expect it).

You should consider buying rechargeable batteries since
they save a lot of money than buying the single-use
variety.