There are three main settings which combine to give you the exposure, these are aperture, shutter speed and ISO sensitivity.

Aperture is best explained as the diaphragm opening inside a lens. This setting in short determines the depth of field, the portion of a scene that appears sharp in the image.

Shutter speed and exposure time are the same thing but different terms used to discuss the length of time the shutter is open. This setting may be used to blur or freeze motion.

ISO sensitivity is just that. What ISO denotes is how sensitive the image sensor is to the amount of light present. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the image sensor and therefore the possibility to take pictures in low-light situations.

If you are using a point and shoot most cameras take care of these settings for you.  However if you are using an advanced point and shoot or a digital slr you should have the option to set the time the shutter is open and the aperture setting or f-stop. Many cameras also give you the option of aperture priority or shutter priority as well as manually selecting both.

Shutter speed is a very interesting option that along with the aperture setting will control how your picture looks as an end result. One is dependent on the other.

If you set the shutter speed for too long, for example 1/4 second in a well lit situation with a large aperture setting such as f-18 it will be over exposed and can even have a black and white effect or possibly totally white.  On the other hand if you set the shutter speed for too short of a time for example 1/1000 second and a small aperture setting such as f-4 in a low light situation it will be underexposed and be very dark possibly even completely black. These are exaggerated examples.

In the previous examples if you can change the ISO setting it is possible to obtain different results. If there is not enough light to get the correct exposure you could select a higher ISO setting however this may result in “noise”.

You may want to start by using your camera in automatic mode and see what the settings are and then tweak them to get the results that you want. This can be a lot of fun. I especially like to experiment with these settings when taking pictures of waterfalls and pictures at night of moving lights.

This article is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to learning about the aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings. I hope you will experiment and have lots of fun!

The simple answer is absolutely not. Surprised? Just because you buy a digital camera with 12 megapixels or more does not mean your pictures will turn out fantastic. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that megapixels are one of the most important things to consider when purchasing a digital camera.

Most people that will just be taking snapshots and printing them at 4 x 6 will be just fine with 3 to 5 MP. If you even think you may want to enlarge your pictures to 8 x 10 then you should consider at least 5 to 8 MP. On the other hand if you want even larger prints you will want around 12 MP. Finally I would suggest going with the most megapixels you can afford.

Camera manufacturers or at least some of them tend to exaggerate on the megapixels their cameras produce. My suggestion is to buy a camera brand that is well known and will help eliminate this problem. You may not have the budget to purchase such a camera and that is fine. Some of the brands I recommend are Canon, Fujifilm, Kodak, Leica, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Samsung and Sony, but not neccessarily in that order.

Optical quality is just as important if not more so than megapixels. A higher quality lens at a lower megapixel rating is much better than a low quality lens at the same megapixel rating. That is why you get a higher quality picture with a digital SLR than with a less expensive point and shoot

Another thing that affects the quality of your pictures in connection with megapixels and lenses is the image sensor in the camera. There are basically 2 types of sensors, the CCD (charge coupled device) and CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor). These sensors are what captures the digital image on your camera. The research that I have done leads me to believe that neither is actually superior to the other, however the quality of the image sensor will affect your pictures.

To sum all this up it is mainly a combination of megapixels, optical quality and sensor quality that will affect your picture quality. Of course there are other factors that will also affect picture quality. I’ll write more on those factors soon.

Nikon Coolpix P90 12.1MP Digital Camera with 24x Wide Angle Optical Vibration Reduction (VR) Zoom and 3 inch Tilt LCD

Are you looking for a fantastic point and shoot digital camera? You will look long and hard to find a point and shoot with all the features that this one has to offer.

I have been doing lots of research for an article that I am writing when I ran across this amazing digital camera. I was so impressed by all that it has to offer that I just had to share it with you.

Here is a list of most of its features:

• 12.1-megapixel effective recording
• 24X optical zoom (4X digital/96X total zoom)
• Optical image stabilization with vibration reduction
• 3″ LCD screen with anti-reflective coating and 5-level brightness adjustment
• Real-image electronic viewfinder
• Wide-angle lens for shooting landscapes and large groups
• 35mm equivalent focal length: 26-624mm
• Top JPEG resolution: 4000 x 3000
• Continuous sports mode for shooting up to 45 frames at 15 frames per second
• Variable ISO (film speed equivalent) settings including a high sensitivity mode (ISO 6400) for low-light and flash-free shooting
• Face priority autofocus for better portraits
• Smile shutter and blink alert for capturing ideal expressions
• In-camera automatic red-eye correction
• D-Lighting mode brightens dark areas of recorded images

Although I haven’t had the chance to use this particular camera myself yet, I have read numerous positive reviews. Get yours today!

Nikon Coolpix P90 12.1MP Digital Camera with 24x Wide Angle Optical Vibration Reduction (VR) Zoom and 3 inch Tilt LCD

Will you miss the picture of a lifetime because you are unprepared? I know I have missed a lot of awesome photographs simply because I was not ready or didn’t have a camera
with me. I have learned from this and always carry a small digital camera
with me.

I remember one day when I was traveling and was so excited by the appearance of a bighorn sheep less than 10 yards away I missed a great opportunity for an awesome picture even though I had a camera hanging from my neck. (LOL)

Another time I was fortunate enough to capture some amazing photos of a weasel that had killed a rabbit. The little fellow even got up on a rock right in front of me and posed! Those pictures were published along with my story.

There are countless opportunities for you to get great photographs every single day. They may not seem like much at first but you would be surprised at how many pictures you are missing just by not being prepared or not thinking creatively about what you are seeing.

Great pictures can be taken every day. It doesn’t really matter what time of day it is or what the weather is. A creative mind is the key.

Carry a camera with you wherever you go and think creativity!!!

Photography Books — Digital Cameras — Digital Picture Frames