It's that time again--the inbox is bristling with questions. If I don't answer a few, I'm worried some e-mails will start spilling out through the USB port and onto the floor. As always, please send me your questions. I can't get to all of them, but I do answer as many as I can--and the most interesting ones end up here.
Fading Image Files?
I have always backed up my digital pictures on CD, but recently heard that the pictures will fade with time if I don't use the highest-quality CD to burn them to. Is this true?
--Melissa Latour, Norfolk, Virginia
Actually, Melissa, digital photos are no different than Microsoft Excel spreadsheets or a copy of Windows: They are all just 1s and 0s. "Fading" is a very analog concept. Negatives, slides, and print do indeed fade--but a digital photo on CD? You wouldn't expect a Word document to fade, nor should you expect anything to happen to your digital photos.
That said, the media itself--the CD or DVD you're using--will stop working eventually, after air creeps into the sealed structure of the disc and corrodes the layer holding the data. How long do you have before that happens? Somewhere between 50 and 100 years, so your kids will need to make fresh copies of all your family photos--probably on holographic memory cubes in their floating houses on the moon.
Exposure Compensation
I get confused when I see the plus and minus settings on my camera. If I need more light (to illuminate shadows, for example), which way do I turn the dial?
--Michael Silberfein, Lapeer, Michigan
That's a great question, Michael. We haven't talked about exposure compensation in a while; it sounds like a great idea for an upcoming newsletter.
When you increase the exposure compensation (in the plus range), you're overexposing the photo, which would have the effect of brightening shadows and other dark regions in a photo. Underexposing--via the minus range--would darken the image. Remember that this is an overall effect, so while you're darkening bright parts of the photo, you're also going to affect the parts that are already dark.
Taking Close-Ups
We bought a camera so we could take really good, clear, close-up shots of pottery markings, antiques, jewelry markings, and so on to sell on the Internet. But when we try to shoot anything up close the shot turns out blurry. Can you offer any insight?
--Karen Parkhurst, Portland, Oregon
There are three things you should do to ensure sharp close-up (macro) photos.
First, make sure your camera is in macro mode when you take these kinds of photos. Most point-and-shoot digital cameras have a special mode, indicated by a tulip-shaped icon, that rearranges the camera's optics for close-ups.
Second, check your user manual to determine the focal range of your camera when it's in this mode. It might be something like 12 to 20 inches--be sure you're within this range or the camera won't be able to lock in on your subject.
Third, I highly recommend using a tripod. Good close-up photos are hard to get if you handhold the camera.
For more advice, read two of my earlier columns on the subject: "Taking Close-Up Photos" and "Shoot Products for EBay."
Printer Resolution
To the best of my recollection, there was a time when inkjet manufacturers would state a printer's native resolution. Today, all one sees is the maximum enhanced resolution. What gives?
--Ron Graziano, Tampa, Florida
Welcome to the world of inkjet printer advertising, Ron. Despite claims of 1440 and even 2880 dots-per-inch printing resolution, it's pretty much all hype. Those resolutions are not the true resolution of the printer, and experts generally say that printers that supposedly have such resolutions create photos that look pretty much the same as run-of-the-mill 300-dpi printers.
The bottom line? Pretty much every inkjet printer in the world has, at its heart, a print engine that pumps out between 280 and 300 dpi--period. Everything else is, as I say, just hype.
For more on what to look for in a printer, read "Key Specs Explained" in "How to Buy a Printer."
Beware of Online Storage
The unceremonious demise of ClubPhoto should serve as a warning to all those whose only backup is online. It sounds cool, but if the company dies, so do your pictures.
--Kim Koehlinger, Trenton, New Jersey
Thanks, Kim. That pretty much says it all. ClubPhoto was an online photo sharing and printing site, one of the first such sites to charge a fee for storing your photos online. Recently, its parent company pulled the plug and the site went offline without any warning or any way for users to get to their photos. If ClubPhoto was your only source for copies of your photos, well, game over--the URL would not even display a Web page.
More recently, the owners of ClubPhoto have agreed to try to help users salvage their photos (photo recovery not guaranteed). It's a cumbersome and time-consuming process, but it's something. For details, visit the defunct site, now maintained by Winkflash. And please remember not to trust a Web site to maintain the only copies of your precious photos.
Hot Pics
Get published, get famous! Each week, we select our favorite reader-submitted photo based on creativity, originality, and technique. Every month, the best of the weekly winners gets a prize valued at between $15 and $50.
Here's how to enter: Send us your photograph in JPEG format, at a resolution no higher than 640 by 480 pixels. Entries at higher resolutions will be immediately disqualified. If necessary, use an image editing program to reduce the file size of your image before e-mailing it to us. Include the title of your photo along with a short description and how you photographed it. Don't forget to send your name, e-mail address, and postal address. Before entering, please read the full description of the contest rules and regulations.
This Week's Hot Pic: "Summer Anticipation," by Johanna Blakley, Farmington, Missouri
Johanna says: "First I began by frightening my husband. He saw me carrying miscellaneous kitchen objects down into the basement. He probably thought I was involved in some strange voodoo project.
"By using a lemon balanced on the edge of a clear glass tumbler, I was able to get this wonderful photo. I used a bright orange tote bag as a background. I placed the tumbler with the lemon (held in place by a toothpick) on the table and poured in some clear-carbonated soda. Voila!" I used a simple point-and-shot digital camera set on macro."
Hot Pic of the Month: As I announced in the last Digital Focus, readers now choose the Hot Pic of the Month winner. We had five worthy contenders for May, as our slide show reveals. It was a close race, but in the end "Ice Kingdom," by Scott A. Walmsley of Canajoharie, New York, won with 208 votes as of Sunday, June 3.
Congratulations to Scott and to everyone else who won a Hot Pic of the Week last month. Keep those entries coming!
See all the Hot Pic of the Week photos online.
Have a digital photo question? Send me your comments, questions, and suggestions about the newsletter itself. And be sure to sign up to have the Digital Focus Newsletter e-mailed to you each week.
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