Improving my photo quality

[PC person]

Here are some pictures, some good, some not so good, I have an Olympus C765UZ digital camera

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_archived_product_details.asp?fl=2&id=959

The first digital camera I had (and still have, though it says there's something wrong with the memory card, so I can't use it) was an HP C200

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/m...eg_R1002_USEN#

It was pretty much a point and shoot camera, so when I got this one, I had to learn more about cameras. The two most important things to me are focus and the right amount of light. I wondered if it's possible to have a camera which would give me some pictures like the good ones I'm posting here. I'd rather not have to take several pictures, readjusting the aperture and shutter before I get a picture I like. Is there any specific rule of thumb you can use, based on the light that's coming in, on what settings you should use, perhaps some cameras could even tell you which you should use.

Someone mentioned on epinions.com that my camera lacks image stabilization, which could be a reason why it doesn't focus so well. Also, the Camedia software that came with the camera gives the specifics of how each photo was taken, that is- what every setting was, so I can also give you that information, though I'm not sure how much of that information is universal (it applies to all cameras, like shutter and aperture speed) and which is specific to my camera (what the camera calls each mode, like maybe night mode might be called something else on another camera.)

So, here they are starting with the good ones



Picture I took of our new dog today. Came out ok.



Here's one I took of my world map on my wall. This is one of my best, as you can see the text is perfectly clear and readable, and it's perfectly focused, also printed out very good on an 8.5 inch by 11 inch piece of paper, cause I took it at a high resolution. I find that it's hard to have a picture for both printing on that size paper and that you would post online, because it would be too big of a file size to post online, and not good enough quality to print on that size paper. I usually re-save them as a zero quality JPEG in photoshop to resize them.



Another one that came out real good, pretty much the same, perfectly focused where I wanted it to be.



The best one I think I've taken, absolutely flawless focus.

The Bad ones



I was taking a picture of my computer monitor as you can see. I know maybe the camera isn't designed for this sort of thing, but maybe there is a way I could have made it better or perfect focus. I remember once my friend took a picture of something on his monitor, it came out reasonably well.



Another one of our new dog today, this one didn't come out as good as the other one did, lots of blur.

[gistek]

Check the focus length on your camera. There may be portrait and landscape settings. Use the portrait setting for pics of the computer and anything within arm's reach of the camera. Use the landscape setting for anything further than your arm. If there's a group setting, use that for things in the same "bedroom-size" room.

Also, keep the camera very still when you press the button until you hear the "click". Sometimes, especially when the light is low, this can take a moment.

Unless you need to show the monitor, use <alt-prt scrn> to capture images from your computer. Some monitors have a flicker effect that our eyes can't see, but is hard to focus on if the camera and monitor are not synchronized. This is the same thing that makes videotaping from a TV screen so difficult. (The videotaping is easy, but eliminating the strobe effect is very difficult.)

Finally, for great action shots, consider getting a camcorder and extracting stills from the video. You don't have to worry about as much when you are shooting and have thousands of frames to choose from to get just the right one.

[PC person]

Check the focus length on your camera. There may be portrait and landscape settings. Use the portrait setting for pics of the computer and anything within arm's reach of the camera. Use the landscape setting for anything further than your arm. If there's a group setting, use that for things in the same "bedroom-size" room.

I joined a meetup group online, I want to take my pictures to them to have look at them, perhaps they can tell me why some came out very good and some not so good.

Unless you need to show the monitor, use <alt-prt scrn> to capture images from your computer.

For me, in windows it's just print screen, then I paste it to paint, or whatever else (eg photoshop) not alt-print screen.

Some monitors have a flicker effect that our eyes can't see, but is hard to focus on if the camera and monitor are not synchronized.

Speaking of that, do you know what it is about our eyes that makes for perfect shots, they always focus, never shake (I know why that is) , and I'm perfectly satisfied with mine, but not my camera. :)

I may just sell this one and get a point and shoot, as much as a I paid for it. Is that all you really need unless you want to have special effects, that focus and the right exposure is what they are built for. The auto setting doesn't focus correctly. I have a pic I'm sure I took with that setting, but it's of a person and I don't have his permission to post it online.

[gistek]

Print screen will copy the entire screen to the clipboard, alt-print screen copies only the active window.

Our eyes can constantly refocus, while a camera has to take some time to adjust focus. An automatic focus can also be fooled if there is something closer than the target or if the target is moving toward or away from the camera.