What is sharpening? It is simply enhancing the edges of an image. Look at the examples below.

Image that hasn't had any edited or sharpening.





An image that has had editing/sharpening.




Alot of people upload or print the pictures exactly how they were on their camera without editing or sharpening their images. Why look and display a dull, out of focus image when in just a few minutes you could sharpen the photo and make it 100 times better?

Most cameras (especially those in the more professional category) sharpen the image automatically. But for those smaller camera's and point and shoots, you'll have to manually sharpen the image. Some props for sharpening images are: 1. Photoshop Elements, 2. Lightroom, 3. Aperature, or you can use a FREE (not as high quality) photo editing site called 4. Picnik. (examples 1-3 are highlighted before and can be purchased on Amazon).

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We all (including me) have this very question. Which one is the best for the money? Do I go DSLR or Point-N-Shoot? There are so many out there, how does one decide? Here are some things to consider when buying a new camera...

Battery Life
There are people who want to get the best and latest digital camera, but forget to check out the battery life. Then, they feel frustrated when they spent all this money on a camera that has a tiny battery life. Do your research before and check out the battery life. If you want to take good pictures, you'll need a good battery that can operate for hours on end. Some lower end camera's have great battery life while upper end camera's dont, so make sure to check that out when buying a new camera.


Megapixels...what?




The number of megapixels tells you how much detail (fine detail) you can capture in your images. Most camera's megapixels range from 2 all the way through 8. So how many do you need? If you only want to take smaller pictures, quick and easy and you aren't into that much detail, you'll go towards the lower end...somewhere around 2. If you're someone who wants to get more of a detailed look with your photographs, then you'll want to go 4 and above with megapixels. 




Zoom & Lens


You'll want a camera with a decent zoom- even on your point and shoot. Optical zoom moves the camera lens to come in on the subject. I'd get 3X optical zoom in any camera you buy (point and shoot or DSLR)






User Controls




For those getting a point and shoot, make sure you find one that is easy for YOU to use. If you're a photographer or someone who is wanting to learn more about photography, you'll want to get more detailed with your user controls. Try out the camera in the store first and see how comfortable you are with it. There are some great clerks out there who are very "camera savvy" and can help you find just the perfect one. 


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I've been learning from some friends a little more about photography. I've done alot of internet searching and reading on photography forums about easy ways to make your photos just a little more great. I'm always wanting to add a little "Umph" to my photography instead of just the plain ole, head on shot.

So, let's begin...

1. Alter Your Prospective-Think Outside The Box: Most shots are taken (as I said above) with the camera lens "head on" or with the emphasis being on the eyes. While this is good, why not spice it up a little bit and try something new? Change the angle you shoot from and watch the "WOW" factor increase.


2. Eye Contact: Most photos have the subject looking into or down the lense. Try something new.

-Try looking off the camera: Have your subject focus on something unseen.

4. Experiment With Lighting: Play around, have fun with different settings on you camera, different flashes, and editing software.

5. Move Your Subject Out Of Their Comfort Zone: Be crazy, let loose, see what you come up with!


9. Obscure Part Of Your Subject: This is a variation on the technique above (zooming in on one body part). Leave a little the imagination of the viewer about the rest of the picture.

Thursdays are for tutorials. Tutorials on photography, crafts, saving money, photo editing, scrapbooking, and more!

So, today's is from my great friend Heather . Where's Your Focus?

focus: 5 a : a center of activity, attraction, or attention b : a point of concentration... Merriam Webster dictionary

Today I want to talk to you little about focus. When I'm taking a picture I ask this question often... where's your focus? Usually, I'm taking portraits of my kids and so I want my focus to be on their face and more specifically on their eyes. Since people are generally who we want to focus on in our photos that's usually where we want our focus to be but sometimes we want it elsewhere to draw our attention to the story behind the photo..

Every camera is different and therefore your settings are different but in general every camera has a focus point which is normally in the center for p&s cameras or you can have from 3 to several focus points in higher end p&s camears and dSLRs. Your goal is to use that point to get the most tack sharp focus exactly where you want your focus to be... Many cameras allow you to pinpoint your focus area, press the button down halfway and then you can move the camera around to get the composition you want before pressing all the way down to take the shot and your focus will stay on the object or person that you had locked in the focus on.

In my photos I want to bring your attention to something... so most of my photos will focus on a child's face and more specifically the face... but sometimes I want to tell a story with my photo so I'll focus on that storytelling part of the photo... take this photo for instance... I want people to see how messy my sweet boy is... I have the focus on his messy hands after eating but you can still see that it's him who is being the messy boy. So, I set my focus point to focus on his hand and I set my aperture pretty wide so that the rest of him is blurry but you can still tell it's him.

Normally, this is what my photos look like... a picture of my child with the focus on their face and more specifically on their eyes, although in this photo, I could have told the story by focusing on the ASL "I Love You" sign but chose to focus more on my sweet girl by focusing on her eyes showing how happy she is

and here is another one not focusing on the face but focusing on something on his face to show the story... my child has a snotty nose and he's reaching for kleenex... is that what you see with this photo? Is your attention drawn to the snotty nose?

OK, here's your assignment... take a picture that tells a story, drawing our attention to something or some place using the focus point(s) on your camera. Post the photo here in this thread for us all to see. Or you can put it on your blog and link us to it to check it out! Have fun!