Keeping Your Keepsakes

Say, “I Do” to Digital Wedding Photography

No waiting for Wedding Pics

No matter where you get married (a church, a wedding hall, a mountain top) they all have one thing in common—the wait for the wedding pictures. When a photographer uses film, processing needs to be done in order to produce the pictures and this means you need to wait. Usually, this wait is long since wedding studios often have a back log of wedding photos that need to be processed. *Since digital wedding photography needs no processing, that process is eliminated from the equation—dramatically reducing the time it takes to get the initial proofs and your final wedding album.

The ABCs of a Wedding CD

Shooting in a Crowd

Unless you're a six-footer, shooting in a crowd - at concerts, state fairs, movie premiers, etc. - can be a real challenge. Photojournalists, however, have gotten around this problem for ages using a simple trick.

Set your lens to wide angle, hold your camera up high, and point it in the general direction of your intended subject. Then just snap away. With practice, you can get pretty good at catching scenes that would otherwise have gotten away.

Some digital cameras - notably several "superzoom" models - have an even more elegant solution. They feature an LCD screen that swivels. You can turn the screen and angle it downwards so you can view your subject clearly - even with your camera held high over your head. This way, you can even use your digital camera's telephoto settings, so you can zoom right in on your subject.

Although I'm 6' tall, I frequently use this trick with my Panasonic FZ-50 superzoom. It comes in handy at zoos (shooting over barriers), Disney World (shooting over crowds) and anywhere else I may not have a clear view of something interesting.

If you'd prefer a digital SLR, but think this handy feature would be important to you, both Nikon and Olympus currently offer models with a swiveling LCD screen.

Get Lots of Wedding Candids

Putting a one-time-use camera on each table at your wedding reception is a nice idea, but there are two drawbacks. First, it's expensive - by the time you pay for the cameras and the film processing, you'll have blown half your honeymoon savings. And, second, you'll only get candids from the reception.

But thanks to digital photography, you can get plenty of candids of your wedding, too - and you can have all the pictures for free. Here's how:

Invite your guests to snap away with their digital cameras at both the wedding and the reception. (No flashes during the ceremony itself!) Let them know you'd like to "borrow" their memory cards before they leave. Then post a friend at the exit with a laptop computer and a multi-card reader at the door.

As guests are leaving, they can stop briefly so your friend can download the images from their digital camera's memory card onto the laptop. (Create a new folder for each guest's photos. Name the folder after that person to keep things organized.) Now you'll have tons of candid shots of your wedding and reception - at no extra cost!

Post the best shots on a photo-sharing site like Kodak Gallery (www.KodakGallery.com) so all your guests can see them. Plus, they can order copies of the pictures they like right from the site. To let everyone know how to find the photos, print up instructions and insert them in your thank-you cards.

Voila! You get more great candids of your wedding - and you save a bundle in the process!

Make a Birthday Photo "Memory Book"

Here's a way to create a nice little photogrphic record of your child's birthday party:

Take a separate shot of your child with each guest - and have your child hold that guest's gift in the picture. Not only will these photos provide pleasant memories of each gues's thoughtfulness, they'll make writing thank-you notes much easier. (You'll know who brought each present.)

And as long as you're sending thank-you notes, why not enclose a copy of their picture in each child's note? Their parents will especially appreciate it.

Make A Day at the Zoo Look Like a Family Safari

A trip to the zoo can be a lot of fun - and a great chance to get some terrific animal shots. Here are a few tips to make your zoo photos stand out from the crowd:

* Bring a rubber lens hood. It's handy for keeping direct sun off your lens. But there's an even better reason to use it. If you're shooting an animal behind glass, extend the hood and put it directly on the glass surface. This will eliminate reflections and prevent your flash - if you need it - from reflecting off the glass and into the lens.

* Watch your backgrounds. Try to shoot from an angle that avoids fences, bars and other man-made objects. This makes settings appear more natural.

* Use your zoom.If your camera has manual focus, don't try to get all your shots of animals up close. Instead, zoom out when they're away from fences and mesh. The farther out you zoom, the narrower your depth of field (the area in front of the camera that's in focus). Fencing or mesh that's narrow enough will "disappear"  from your pictures if the animal is far enough away from the fence.