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What's on your mind? If you have a question about digital photography, send it to me. I reply to as many questions as possible, and I round up the most interesting ones about once a month here in the newsletter.

Getting Close

My father's business manufactures microscopic electrodes. Do you have any suggestions for a camera with great macro capabilities that would suit his needs?
--Cheryl Bak, Gaithersburg, Maryland

If you're serious about macro photography for professional or business applications, I recommend getting a digital SLR. That way you can invest in a macro lens that will give you far better results than you can get with any point-and-shoot camera's macro mode.

I use the Nikon 105mm macro lens and have had great results with it. You can find relatively wide macro lenses (as low as 50mm) to somewhat telephoto versions (200mm). Keep in mind that the longer the lens, the greater your "working distance." In other words, a longer macro lens allows you to shoot from farther away and still get the same magnification as a shorter macro lens.

Here are some suggestions: 100mm is considered fairly normal for a macro lens, but if you have a hankering to photograph insects, a longer lens might work better for you, since you can set up farther away from your subjects. Shooting stamps, coins, or the inside of a wristwatch? Consider a 50mm or 60mm macro lens.

Finally, let me add that not only does a digital SLR allow you to choose the specific macro lens best suited to your kind of close-up photography, but it's also going to be compatible with other accessories, like ring lights that are designed to illuminate macro shots from the end of the lens.

Read my August 2003 Digital Focus for more macro photography tips.

Choosing a Monitor

I'm getting ready to go monitor shopping. Which type of flat-panel display is best to use with a photo editor: widescreen or 4:3? I want to use it with Photoshop Elements 4.
--Lin Miller, Denver

It's really a matter of personal taste, Lin. For many years I used a pair of 19-inch monitors, and I really liked the way I could work in an image editor on one screen while keeping my photo organizer software or Microsoft Outlook open on the other monitor. About 6 months ago I "downsized" to a single 24-inch widescreen monitor. While I miss the ability to comfortably position program windows side by side, I like the way I can make a single program go very wide and take advantage of 1900 spacious pixels across the screen.

These days, if I was buying a new display, I'd definitely lean toward a widescreen monitor. The real issue is not how wide the monitor is, but its color fidelity. Be sure to read monitor reviews and keep an eye out for observations about how well the displays handle color and photographs.

Low-Tech Geotagging

Your recent story about using a GPS to locate where pictures are taken was interesting. I have a less conventional way to know where my pictures were taken.

I snap at least one picture of an address, street sign, road intersection or city limit sign--any of that information can be entered in Google. After Google displays a map of the location, I capture an image of the screen and save the picture as a JPEG, which I store with the associated photos. My photos and the Google map can be shown in a slide show.
--Dennis, Sacramento

Thanks, Dennis. That's a great idea for folks who aren't ready to step up to GPS. Also, don't forget that if you upload your photos to a sharing site, you might be able to indicate where they were taken my clicking on an online map. As I wrote in the geotagging column, you can easily do that with Flickr, for example.

Protecting Your Camera's LCD

I will be getting a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ7 camera with a 2.5-inch LCD screen. Do I need to buy a screen protector? Any other suggestions on how to protect it?
--Jerry Arter, Oakdale, Illinois

Jerry, in general, I don't recommend applying any sort of protective cover onto your camera's LCD display.

Some cameras come with a plastic snap-on cover, and those can be handy for minimizing accidental scratches. But the kind of adhesive covers commonly applied to PDA and smart phone screens don't really help. If you are really nervous about dinging the screen, consider using a Delkin Pop-Up Shade, which keeps the sun off your screen and also prevents damage.

I wrote about a handful of ways to protect your camera in a recent PC World article.

Hot Pic of the Week

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: This week's Hot Pic: "Future Looks Bright," by Jeremy Reed, Ottawa, Illinois

Jeremy says that he took this photo of his son Rutger as he looked into the clouds. Then he selected portions of the image and converted it to black and white, leaving the glasses with the original color intact.

This Week's runner-up: "Venus in Transit," by Scott Ferguson, Bradenton, Florida

Scott writes, "On June 8, 2004, Venus passed in front of the Sun as viewed from the Earth for the first time since 1882. I used a white light filtered 8-inch LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and a Kodak DX4330 camera."

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.