Love the $1 bin at Target. We picked up the pocket edition of Digital Photography for Dummies the other day, and thought we’d share some of the information treasures inside. When we create birth announcements, party invitations, save-the-date cards and photo holiday cards, we adjust photos to make sure they print the best they can. Here are some tips from the book to make sure we start with the best possible quality.
Avoiding Digital Measles
Are your images coming out of your camera looking a little blotchy or dotted with colored speckles? Or do some parts of the image have a jagged appearance? If your photos suffer from these defects, try these remedies:
Use a lower JPEG compression setting
Jagged or blotchy images are often the result of too much JPEG compression. Check your camera manual to find out how to choose a lower compression setting. My Canon PowerShot lists the JPEG compression at three levels, Superfine, Fine and Normal, and has icons showing a smooth and jagged arc.
Raise the resolution
Too few pixels can mean blocky-looking or pixelated images. The larger you print the photo, the worse the problem becomes. It’s okay to enlarge a photo beyond its captured size, but making it too big will result in quality loss. It’s like writing on a balloon and then blowing it up. When deflated, the writing looks good. After filling it with air, you can see the ink break apart. You can avoid this by always capturing at the camera’s highest resolution.
Increase the lighting
Photos shot in very low light often take on a grainy appearance. Adding a flash or other light source is a good idea, and make sure the light is at your back, not your subject’s. Backlit subjects can produce a silhouette, reducing the detail in your subject. When possible, natural, soft light is best.
Decrease the camera’s ISO setting
Some camera’s allow you to adjust the ISO setting. Typically, the higher the ISO, the grainier the image. Your camera may have nighttime settings or setting for sporting events. These settings give you a higher ISO but will push the camera to its limits producing grainier results. Double check your settings and only use the action and low light option when necessary.
When sending photos via e-mail, some software will give you the option to reduce the file size or quality so that the image transfers quickly. While this may be okay to share with family and friends, you’ll want to make sure you send us the original photo whenever possible. Opening and re-saving the photo on your computer will result in quality loss because you are re-compressing the image, often to your photo software’s default setting which may not be as good as straight off of the camera (SOC).