Every digital camera model uses batteries that must be recharged from time to time. Depending on your model, recharging is accomplished in one of several ways, including

Generally, it's fairly quick to recharge a camera or its batteries (no more than a hour or two at most). In addition, a single charge usually lasts a long time. Exactly how long the battery charge lasts depends on many factors, including

The main variables that impact a battery's charge life are common sense:

When all is said and done, you should be able to get between 400 and 1,000 images per battery charge, assuming the batteries are in good condition and charged up to start with. Your actual mileage may vary, as they say, and some photographers seem to be able to take more than the top end of this range on a single charge, but you shouldn't count on getting more photos than this per battery charge.

If you have access to normal electrical power for recharging if you are away from home, you shouldn't have any problems — provided you take care to fully charge your batteries before heading out on a shoot. But if you are in a location without electrical power for a substantial length of time — such as the wilderness or some exotic location — then you need to consider strategies for recharging in the field (figure 2.1).

The first, and easiest, line of defense is to take more than one set of batteries. If each battery pack is fully charged, simply load the next set when your first set of batteries runs low.

Figure 2.1. To effectively use a digital camera in remote locations like this one, you need to plan a strategy for recharging your batteries.

Planning is key. If there is a chance that multiple sets of batteries won't power you through your trip, prepare for that possibility in advance. You can

Before you head out on a field trip (whether that is a trek to the wilderness or a visit to a neighboring garden), you should define certain basic camera settings that are not likely to change. You should make these settings based on your personal situation and preferences. The specifics of the menus and menu items used for these configuration options will vary depending on your camera make and model. But no matter what camera you are using, you can (and for the most part should) set

With these basic options set, the camera will function in a predictable manner, so you know you will be able to shoot quickly when necessary. Even when you don't need to take a quick shot, having basic parameters set up will allow you to shoot more and adjust less.

If you've already used your camera, you've probably already set these things. But you should check them before you proceed to the field to make sure all is in order.

It's a great idea to take some practice pictures before starting out on a trip. Get the kinks out while you are still at home. After all, the best way to become a good photographer is to practice.

You may want to have the specific kind of photography you are going to be doing in mind. For example, if you plan to photograph a garden, you should be clear about how to set your camera to take close-ups. That way, if you see the flower shown in figure 2.2 briefly lit, you will be ready to take the picture.

Figure 2.2. If you've got your camera set the way you want, you can take advantage of the moment (the light on this poppy faded a moment after the picture was taken).

Setting LCD brightness

As part of the setup options in the main menu for most digital cameras, you can set the brightness level of the LCD screen. Generally, cameras have at least two settings: Normal and Bright. If you don't change the setting, the Normal setting is used as the default.

The Bright setting for an LCD, though certainly brighter, uses more power than the Normal setting; but you can see the LCD more easily in high light conditions, such as those one is likely to encounter outdoors. However, if the light will be very bright, such as in figure 2.3, you should use the optical viewfinder because the LCD may simply not be usable in high light conditions.

Tip

If you have a choice in your camera between an optical viewfinder and an LCD screen, and have gotten used to the LCD because of its accuracy, you should familiarize yourself with the optical finder (and understand how to compensate for its inaccuracies) before taking your camera into high light conditions.

Figure 2.3. Composing a picture using an LCD in conditions with a great deal of light, like this snow field, can be almost impossible.

Don't Forget the Date, Time, and Language!

You should have set date, time, and language options when you first took your camera out of its box. But, if you have removed the power source for any length of time, you may need to do it again.

Your digital camera provides timekeeping capabilities. This feature is used to date stamp your photographs. Date and time information is then transferred with the photos to your computer when the images are downloaded. This data — called EXIF information — which includes photo-specific information such as f-stop and shutter speed, can be read in image editing programs such as Photoshop. (This is different from the capability provided by some cameras of printing the date and time on actual photos that are taken.)

Also, don't forget to set the correct language for the menu on your LCD. There are few things more frustrating that being in the field, ready to take the perfect shot, and finding your camera speaks a language that you don't!

Setting autofocus options

Depending on the digital camera, you can either focus manually or choose between two autofocus modes. Different camera manufacturers use different terminology, but essentially the first method locks the focus when you depress the shutter release partway. In contrast, the second method continuously focuses as long as the shutter release is partially depressed. (This second method is sometimes called tracking.)

A single-lock mode when you partially depress the shutter release is the best setting for most situations (it also uses less battery power than continuously focusing).

Note

With some cameras, single-lock mode some cameras prevent you from taking a picture unless the camera can focus — which may prevent you from exposing when you want to.

Continuous autofocus makes sense only in situations in which you are photographing a rapidly moving subject, for example, young children at play (see figure 2.4) or a sporting event.

Note

There are some kinds of surfaces that fool autofocus devices (for example, highly reflective metal). If your camera cannot autofocus correctly because of the nature of the thing you are photographing, then you should manually focus.

Figure 2.4. If your subject is in constant motion, as young children tend to be, continuous mode autofocus makes sense.

Most digital cameras allow you to choose between JPEG and RAW formats for saving your photos. In addition, many cameras allow you to save images in both formats simultaneously.

RAW means that the bits of information in your photograph have not been compressed, adjusted, or enhanced. It's up to you to tweak the RAW negatives in a program such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group who devised the format. It is said to be a lossy format, meaning that as you add compression of the image, you lose information that can never be recovered.

The bottom line is that if you are just taking a snapshot to use with e-mail or on the Web, JPEG is the better choice. Because JPEG images are compressed, the file size for each image is smaller, so you can fit more of them on your camera's memory card.

However, if you are serious about the quality of your digital photographs, and want to use them in demanding applications, you should make sure to save images in RAW format. In particular, if a photo depends on precise delineation of textures to make a graphic impact, such as in figure 2.5, you will need the greater level of tonal detail that RAW provides.

Figure 2.5. Camera RAW provides a greater level of tonal detail that is needed for photos with subtle patterns.

Nothing in life is as simple as it ought to be, and there is a wrinkle involving the RAW format: Each camera manufacturer has created their own proprietary version of RAW (some of these variations are shown in Table 2.1).

If you save a photograph in one of the RAW formats, you will need to adjust it later in your computer using a program such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

Specifying image quality

With most digital cameras, you have a great deal of choice about the quality of image that the camera creates. In digital photography terms, when the image is encoded as a JPEG file, image quality refers to how compressed the image is; the less compressed the image — and the larger the resulting image file — the higher the quality is said to be.

Tip

Image quality is related to image format choice, which is discussed later in the chapter.

Table 2.1. Proprietary Versions of RAW

Manufacturer	RAW Name
Canon	CRW file, CR2 file
Minolta	MRW file
Nikon	NEF file
Olympus	ORW file

Memory Cards

Before you used your digital camera the first time, you should have inserted and formatted a memory card of some kind. The most common digital camera memory device is a card called CompactFlash (or CF for short), shown here.

You should follow the instructions in your camera manual for inserting a memory card. Once you insert the card, formatting may be necessary. Because formatting erases any photos that are on a memory card, most digital camera manufacturers provide a two-step confirmation process to prevent you from erasing important images.

Choosing a level of image quality is largely a matter of personal choice and depends on what you will use the photographs for. It might sound logical to take all your pictures with the highest possible image quality, but the downside to this choice is that the higher the quality of the image, the larger the file size of the saved image. Larger file sizes mean fewer images saved on a given memory card.

If all you want to do is post your images on the Web (perhaps you maintain a Web site or a photo blog), there is no reason to choose a very high level of image quality. On the other hand, if you think your photos may be used for a large, high-resolution print, then certainly you should go for the highest possible quality your camera supports.

Most digital cameras allow you to choose from three JPEG modes, with compression ratios ranging from 1:16 (this is sometimes called basic quality) to 1:4 (or high quality). Many cameras have two settings for images: The size of the file and the amount of compression. The highest quality JPEG images will have a large size and little compression. Basic quality is suitable for use on the Web, but not for more demanding applications such as the creation of large high-quality prints.

Even though your camera came with a memory card, you will, no doubt, want to get an additional card or larger capacity card at some point. So, this section covers some of the details you should know before choosing a new card.

The number of photos a memory card stores depends on three variables:

Table 2.2 shows fairly typical image capacity for a 512MB memory card.

Memory cards are the film of the digital age — the photos that you take are stored on a memory card just as they used to be stored on film. So it is important when planning your outings to make sure to have enough memory for your trip. There's nothing more disconcerting than running out of memory just before you see the photo opportunity of a lifetime.

An advantage of digital photography, of course, is that you can make room on your memory cards in the field by deleting rejects. (Be careful not to reject your photos unless you are sure the image is something you do not want to keep!) But still, there's no reason not to load up on plenty of memory — particularly as the price of memory cards keeps coming down.

If you stop to think about it, a digital camera is essentially a special-purpose electronic computer with a lens on its front. This means (among other things) that your digital camera is extraordinarily vulnerable to weather such as rain and snow, and other conditions such as dust and sandstorms.

You wouldn't think of taking a normal computer out into bad weather conditions; but if you don't take your digital camera into at least some challenging conditions, you will miss many good photo opportunities (figure 2.6).

There's a balancing act here: On the one hand you don't want to needlessly risk your expensive digital camera, but on the other hand too much caution may make your field photographs less exciting. Bad weather can be good weather for the digital field photographer because bad weather can make for exciting, moody, and expressive photos. For example, a photograph of an oncoming storm can convey a sense of nature's grandeur and power in the way that a blue sky cannot (see figure 2.7).

It's important to have a good, padded waterproof case or bag for your equipment if you are bringing your camera into challenging field conditions.

Figure 2.6. Weather conditions like this sandstorm can make for great photos but are tough on cameras.

Figure 2.7. Moments after this photo was taken, the oncoming storm engulfed my position.

A technique that professionals use in challenging weather conditions is to keep the camera covered until the instant before they are ready to take the picture. That way the camera is exposed to weather for the shortest possible time.

Another good idea is to buy—or improvise—a cover for your digital camera. This can be as simple as a plastic bag or a shower cap, or it can be bought specially for the purpose of providing water- and grit-protection for your camera. In any case, before you set off to take pictures outdoors, you should be sure that the camera cover is really weatherproof (water resistant). You need to also make sure that the cover is easy to get off and on in a hurry.

Companies including Lowepro, Tamrac, and Tenba make good camera bags that are effectively resistant to a variety of adverse weather conditions.

You shouldn't let nasty weather stop you from taking great pictures, but it is also reasonable to be concerned about your expensive digital photography gear. Think through the precautions you should take to deal with challenging weather before the difficult conditions are upon you.

Being legally and ethically able to take a picture is different from being able to use a photo. As a photographer, you should understand

Getting someone to sign a release

If you've read the sample bit of release text in the previous section, you may have wondered what "value received" meant. Because usually you are not paying someone to take his or her picture, the value received is your efforts in taking the picture. This text reflects the fact that most people like having their picture taken (see figure 2.8).

Note

Offering to send someone a copy of his or her photo is often an effective way to get them to sign a release.

If you approach your subjects with respect, 99 times out of 100 they will sign a release. So just ask!

Figure 2.8. Most people like having their picture taken and will sign a release if requested.