PC Photo recently published an article outlining the positive aspects of digital camera anti-blur image stabilization. As Mike Stensvold puts it, “I admit it: I’m an addict; I’m hooked on image-stabilized shooting. Once you try it, you can’t go back.”

Blurry photos are the number one consumer comaplaint about digital cameras. Image stablization technology allows photographers to take pictures in low light conditions without a tripod.

Stabilization Cameras

Canon
PowerShot S1 IS
PowerShot S2 IS

Kodak
EasyShare P850
Konica Minolta
DiMAGE A200
DiMAGE Z6
DiMAGE X1
Maxxum 5D
Maxxum 7D
Nikon
Coolpix 8800

Panasonic
Lumix DMC-FZ30
Lumix DMC-FZ20
Lumix DMC-FZ5
Lumix DMC-FZ4
Lumix DMC-LX1
Lumix DMC-FX9
Lumix DMC-FX8
Lumix DMC-LZ5
Lumix DMC-LZ3
Lumix DMC-LS2

Pentax
Optio AIO
Optio S6

Sony
Cyber-shot DSC-H1

Peter Gregg has posted a wonderful technique for getting the perfect expressions in children photographs at The Online Photographer. Using this very effective technique Peter indicates it creates

A rich shutter-happy territory.

The trick is to place the candy someplace where the child will have to participate in holding it and hiding it from the camera. The lure is that the the candy can be eaten “as soon as we’re done.” It’s the anticipation that produces the excited expressions!

Give the child time to enjoy it, and this will let him rest, stay occupied, and get ready for the next bribe! Then do the candy thing all over again.

[Online Photographer Reveals Secret For Capturing Perfect Children Photographs]

Here’s How To Test Your New Digital Camera: One of the reasons you bought your new digital camera is to take great photos. In this article at DCMag.com.uk you’ll learn how to assess your camera’s image settings, white balance and sharpness. Camera makers are FAR from perfect and their engineers may have a completely different view about how a photo should look than you do.

The bad news is that your camera isn’t necessarily qualified to get any of these things right every single time. The good news is that once you’ve tested its responses with specific settings and situations, you’ll be able to adjust its settings to produce much better photos.

[via DCMag]

Once you learn these simple steps you’ll know how to tweak your camera so that it will deliver dependable results time after time.

Read full article

Digital Camera White Balance Secret Revealed: Leaving you digital camera white balance set to ‘auto’ can be a big mistake and may result in disappointing results according to editors at DCMag.

Digital cameras, though, can compensate for different-colored lighting by altering the ratios of red, green and blue as the image is processed and saved.

Digital cameras adjust the white balance automatically which does not always preserve the colors of a scene correctly.

[via www.dcmag.co.uk]

Auto vs Preset

You shouldn’t leave your camera set to auto white balance permanently because it won’t always get it right. The camera will attempt to analyse the colours in the scene and ‘normalise’ them, but it can often fail to differentiate between the colour of the light and the intrinsic colours in the subject itself. In addition to this, it may attempt to compensate for atmospheric lighting conditions early or late in the day that are actually part of what you’re trying to record. Finally, where you do want to ‘normalise’ the colours, you’ll find that auto white balance systems usually fail to compensate for extremes of lighting, like the excessive warmth of domestic tungsten lighting or the pronounced ‘coldness’ of the light in deep shade. Indeed, you may find it better to choose your white balance settings manually to suit the conditions, because at least then you’ll know how the camera is going to respond.

[Full DCMag Article]