Shoot panoramas One of the real limitations of traditional film photography (and of most cameras and lenses) is that it does not represent life as we see it. We have peripheral vision of nearly 180 degrees, which can make our surroundings incredibly beautiful. How many times have you just sat on the beach with your toes in the sand and looked out over the sea at the spectacular view? Maybe you've looked at a snow-capped mountain range in amazement at the beauty of the wide expanse of mountains along the horizon. To record those views, you shoot a few photographs that represent a very narrow slice of the world that you see with your eyes. When you get the photographs back showing only the partial scene you wonder why you wasted the film. I have surely done that more times than I'd like to admit.

Now, you can capture those wonderful panoramas just by shooting a series of overlapping photographs and digitally "stitching" them together to create a panorama all the way up to a full 360 degrees! You can learn more about creating panoramas in Chapter 10, "Doing Extraordinary Things with Images." To see how they look, you can view several QuickTime Virtual Reality movies at www.reallyusefulpage.com/dcs/02-02.htm

Shoot images for a photomontage A photomontage is a composite picture made by combining more than one separate image. This technique can result in wonderful images—but it is a complex technique that requires one of the more advanced digital editing applications, such as Adobe's Photoshop, and sufficient memory and processing speed to manage multiple files. If you are willing to invest in a product such as Photoshop and want to create photomontages, consider buying a book written by Gregory Cosmo Haun titled Photoshop Collage Techniques: Visual Guide to Creating Collages and Montages with Photoshop 4 (Hayden Books, ISBN: 1-56830-349-1). Gregory discusses in detail each of eight elements of composition that you need to learn to control to create a successful photomontage. These eight elements are size, shape, form, texture, space, value, color, and line. Figure 2.19 is a photomontage showing that a good soccer goalie can be in more than one place at the same time. A true "no-goal" goalie!

Shoot for specific filters Most of the time, we do all that we can do simply to shoot pictures that are in focus and as sharp as possible. However, a sharply focused image that has edges is not necessarily a good image for a soft, no-edge watercolor image that will be printed on fine-art watercolor paper. You can digitally edit the image to blur it, but an image intentionally taken out of focus (see Figure 2.20) can produce a very nice effect, as shown in Figure 2.21

Figure 2.20	Figure 2.21

Shoot personality Not too long ago, school children were required to have a stern look on their faces when they had their school pictures taken. Sadly, right about the time they were allowed to smile and look normal, portrait galleries popped up all over the country and began shooting "canned" portraits. Sure, they allowed their subjects to smile, but they all looked the same and showed no character. When you shoot pictures of people, shoot them in a natural environment and let their personalities and characters show through. Capturing character will make you a favorite photographer to all of your subjects.

Shoot to create Web page images Keep your eyes open for interesting things that can be used as images on a Web page. Web pages need backgrounds, buttons, images, and textures. It is surprisingly easy to take pictures that can be turned into fast-loading artwork for Web pages—especially if you use a digital camera. Figure 2.23 shows a photograph taken of a real art gallery door in Charleston, South Carolina (on left.)

Figure 2.23

 That same door was slightly modified and turned into the door for the digital art gallery at www.reallyusefulpage.com, as shown on the right.

Shoot knowing that you can fix it Often, a shot that you want to take might be obstructed by a telephone pole and lines, a billboard, or some other object that ruins the scene. Or maybe the picture is perfect, except that you are there at the wrong time of day and the lighting is bad. You cannot fix everything that is bad, but good digital editing software, knowledge of what can be done, and some skill can fix quite a lot. 

Shoot for varying length-to-width ratios Have you found that the 8x10-inch ratio of width to height sometimes just doesn't suit a particular image? Once again, the magic of working with digital images and the fact that you have control over the printing process enables you to print the image as you choose. A single 4x6-inch photograph taken with a normal lens can be cropped, enlarged, and enhanced to create a panoramic view. Likewise, you can create an equally tall and narrow image of a few white-barked birch trees basking in bright sunlight. Have it your way—you now have a choice.

Shoot for intrigue, conflict, mystery, action, or... What makes a novel or movie good? You're right. It is intrigue or conflict. The same concept can apply to your images if you want. Figure 2.28 shows an ordinary hole in the base of a tree trunk. When I first saw the black hole, I was intrigued as to what might be in it. As you look at it, what is looking at you? Can you tell? Besides adding intrigue, you can add conflict, mystery, action, or all kinds of other feelings by using a variety of digital imaging tools and techniques.

Shoot to maximize black for a dramatic effect I have always liked high-contrast images. Yet getting good images with that classic black background can be hard. Figure 2.29 shows a cat face with a black background that helps to make this cat look unusually fierce.

You are now familiar with a "starter set" of 15 digital imaging techniques. This set is by no means exhaustive. It is not unique to me or to you. It is just a starter set to help you begin to think differently about how you take pictures so that you can ultimately create wonderful digital images that you will be pleased with. Practice using these techniques and even create your own techniques, and you'll be destined to have success!

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About the author, Gregory Georges: Using medium format, 35 mm, and digital cameras, Gregory has amassed a personal collection of more that 12,000 pictures -- all taken purely for the fun of it. He has, in one way or another, used computers extensively for work and at home since taking his first computer class in 1969. As an experienced photographer and avid user of computer technologies, Gregory has the perfect background and passion to write about digital cameras and how to get the most from digital images. You can visit him at his website: www.reallyusefulpage.com .

Digital Camera Solutions is published by Muska & Lipman Publishing of Cincinnati, Ohio. You can visit them at www.mlstore.com/camera.html to find out more about this book.

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