Here's what happens: You're working on a really great image you shot with your high resolution digital camera. It looks great. It's so sharp, you could cut yourself on it. Then, someone asks you to e-mail it to them so they can see it too.

Since it's a high resolution shot, you decide that you should probably resize it first. You go into your imaging program, click the Image Size menu option and shrink it down. (For more on making your pictures the right size, check out this link).

Okay, so you've resized your image and now you're looking at it. Somehow, it seems to have lost a bit of its sharpness in the process. Now, you could run your sharpening tool again. That's certainly an option, but we've found another way that really works well. That is, if you have a Sharpen Edges filter.

So, open your imaging software and check under your filters. Look for a Sharpen Edges filter and if you're lucky enough to have one, give it a click. Usually, that's all it takes to make your image nice and crisp again. We found this out while resizing images for our monthly wallpaper and it worked out great. Give it a try next time you need to resize a large image.

Before:

After:

Yeah, that's better (note the ears and face area!)

Happy generic cialis 10mg shooting!

Picking and choosing the photography gear you take with you on a trip is entirely dependent on what you want to get out of the trip and where you're going. However, here's a rough guide you can follow to pack exactly what you need for hassle free travel photography. daily dose cialis This list will cover you through rain, dark interiors and sandy beaches!

Bag It

Travel involves a lot more external factors than staying at home and venturing out without the basic infrastructure. Therefore, it's imperative to carry a proper bag that will protect your photographic gear. That basically translates to a backpack that's durable and water-resistant. One example of a bag like that is the Kata Rucksack. The main compartment has enough space for your camera, three to four lenses, speed lights and an external hard drive. Also, in the zippered top, you could keep lens cloths and cleaner, not to mention, a card reader, extra cards, a USB hub and any other small items you may want. The two zipper pockets on the outside could hold your cell phone and an iPod. Plus, the back has a secret zipper compartment that can hold your laptop, charger and a book for the road.

However, if you want to travel light and don’t need a laptop and several speed lights, you could opt for the Crumpler 7 Million Dollar Home. It holds your camera, all your lenses and its zipper top can hold all your little accessories, such as lens cloths, card reader and extra cards. Its front pouch can also hold your wallet, passport, phone and maps.

If you want to keep a lot of your photographic gear in your hotel room and only carry what you want, it's best to go with a shooter bag. Since your camera is on your shoulder, a shooter bag is good enough to hold essentials, such as an extra lens, memory cards, wallet, passport and a map.

Protective Gear

Since you're on the move all the time, it's possible you could lose small items like your memory cards. Therefore, it's important to keep all of your 1GB, 2GB and 4GB cards in one bunch in a little protective case that can be thrown into a larger bag.

Cleaning Cloth

Cleaning cloths are critical, but largely ignored by amateurs. Lens cloths are important to keep dust, sand and dirt away from your lenses. Similarly, a "puffer" will keep your mirrors and sensor spotless.

External Hard Drive

If you want to go to the next level of photography and really have enough time to take thousands of pictures, it's advisable to get an external hard drive to securely store your images.

Rain-proof Gear

You never know when it will rain and dampen your photo walks. Therefore, it's best to keep a couple of spare gallon-sized zip lock plastic bags to hold your camera and lenses. They work beautifully when you intend to keep shooting despite the inclement weather.

LED

Carrying too many flashes might not be such a good idea when you're traveling. Therefore, one weight-reducing measure would be to go for an LED (light emitting diode) to be used in low-light conditions.

Gorilla Pod

If a tripod is too cumbersome for you, try a Gorilla pod. They're easy to use when you're on the move and they don’t take up very much space.

Backups

If you're on a photo assignment, this is one extra rule you should abide by: have extra battery chargers, storage cards and two cameras. Also, it's important to buy two 4 GB memory cards instead of buying one 8 GB memory card, because the cards might crash, get stolen or go missing. Also, bring as many batteries as you can, especially if you're going to be in cold weather, because batteries tend to drain faster in the cold. Backup your photos as often as you can as well.

Card Reader/Data Cable

If you hate bringing backups, one work around is to simply shoot in RAW + JPEG and upload the JPEGs to Flickr or burn a DVD at an Internet cafe. To do that, you're going to need card readers or data cables. If you’re on a long enough trip, a card reader/data cable will help you backup all your pictures onto a DVD or upload them straight to Flickr or Gmail. So, if anything bad happens, you'll at least have a backup.

Shower Caps

If you're staying in a hotel, take the free shower cap when you travel. They're best used to cover your camera if it starts raining.

Knee Pads

This could be a rarity, but it's important nonetheless. If you happen to be doing a lot of photography from the ground upwards, you'll need some trusty knee pads. I suggest getting two of them: one for your elbows and one for your knees.

Camera to TV Cable

Of course, a camera to TV cable is important. It's useful to see the pictures you've taken without a laptop. Most hotels have a TV with an A/V input.

Battery Charger

Don’t forget to carry a battery charger so that you can charge your batteries every night.

iPod

Not only can you listen to music while you're on the move, but you can also dump the photos you’ve taken onto it, making it a spare memory card.

Conclusion

While all of the suggestions above are fairly comprehensive, it's best if you hand pick from them to go with your time, money and convenience. Happy traveling!

When it comes to an easy way to share, edit and organize your photos, Picasa is the only way to go! We have written about Picasa here at WorldStart before, because it's a great free program made by Google that packs in a lot of power.

And not too long ago, Google announced the arrival of Picasa 3. The new version offers even more features than the previous one, so there's plenty of new stuff to try out. Or, if you've never used Picasa before, you surely don't cialis mg dosage want to miss out on the new version 3!

Here are some of the great things you can do with Picasa 3:

Retouch Images: In Picasa 3, you can fix little problems with your pictures using the Retouch tool. Simply click on the problem area and the program will handle it from there.

Share Images with Web Albums: Picasa 3 offers a new feature that allows you to automatically upload your images to the Web so that others can see them. You can even choose the option of Sync Pictures so that any changes made on the album will automatically update to the Web.

Make Movies: With Picasa 3, you can take your pictures and turn them into movies. It's a great feature and it's one I use with my own photos all the time.

Watermarks: You can add a custom watermark to your pictures to mark them as your own. If you have images that are unique, that's a great feature for you.

The above list is short in comparison to the full list of capabilities Picasa 3 has. So, if you want to learn more about Picasa 3 and get it for yourself, you can download it right here. Enjoy!

It’s not the number of megapixels that matter, but it's the size of your camera’s sensor that counts. Believe it or not, but megapixels don't really matter anymore. That might sound strange at first since most people regard the megapixel count as the main indicator of their camera’s picture taking quality. In reality, megapixels are a measure of how many pixels you can "stuff" into a camera’s sensor: the digital equivalent of film. One megapixel means one million pixels. You need just three megapixels to print a standard 4R picture and eight megapixels are more than enough for an 8R (8X10) inch print.

If you don't have enough megapixels and you're trying to print a large picture, the print won't turn out very sharp. All diagonals will become jagged instead of being smooth. However, as all new compact cameras now have at least eight megapixels and some have hit 14, you don't have to worry about having insufficient megapixels anymore. So, when you're deciding which compact to buy, the number of megapixels doesn't really matter.

What's more important for good picture quality in a compact camera is the size of the sensor. The bigger the sensor, the better the photo will be. Bigger sensors capture more light and more light captured means better colors and contrast. With bigger sensors, photos taken indoors without flash or when the light is failing, have less picture noise. Sadly, compact cameras cannot have huge sensors, because they need to stay, well, compact. The sensor in a compact camera can be as small as the nail on your pinky finger. That's why compacts are poor in shooting in low light conditions without a flash.

Here's an extra tip: check the sensor size! It could be listed under CCD, CMOS, imagine element or image sensor, but the dimensions will always read something like "1/2.3 inch," which is the size of the sensor. The smaller the denominator, the bigger the sensor. In comparison, the sensor of cialis for sale online a professional DSLR is 30 times that of a compact, which explains why DSLRs are so much bigger.

Ironically, the solution to improving photo quality in a compact camera is to reduce the megapixel count. All things being equal, having less megapixels means that each pixel in the sensor can now have more light, which in turn, improves picture quality. And now you know what lies behind the megapixel myth!

Photographing homes and buildings takes a special craft, but it’s something that can be easily acquired. Here are a few simple ways you can make your architectural photos stand out from the crowd!

1.) The structure should tell a story without any artificial lighting, etc. Try to photograph it just the way it is. If the house is a little on the dark side, don’t use too much light to show how bright it is. Similarly, if it’s too bright, don’t shut out the windows and portray something it's not.

2.) Wait for the right time of day. Avoid rainy or cloudy days when there isn’t enough natural light to boost your picture. Sun rays coming from the windows and doors are something you cannot do without in inclement weather. Much of the home’s character is lost without the sun.

3.) Shoot, shoot and shoot some more! Don’t worry about the number of pictures you take. Try to play around with different exposures, shutter speeds and angles. The more you shoot, the more cialis buying chances you'll have for better quality photos.

4.) Use 12-24mm ultra wide angle lenses for maximum effect. Using wide apertures and long shutter speeds will provide warmth and give your shots some character. Add a touch of flash (1/64th) to combat color shift and to add highlights to the scene. Try to keep your ISO at 400 or 640, because anything faster will be too grainy and anything slower will shift the colors a little too much.

5.) Stand back. Hold the camera to your eye and back up until you have the widest shot you can get. You can then set up your tripod and compose your shot.

6.) Always shoot below eye-level to give the building an imposing persona and an overwhelming presence.

7.) Always keep your sensor clean!

8.) When you do your light measurements, metering the dark part of the scene and exposing it will overexpose the remainder of the scene, but not underexpose it.

9.) Be passionate. Only then will you gain enough experience to define your style of architectural photography.

10.) With RAW images, you can nicely pull back detail from an overexposed image within a stop or two, but in an underexposed image, you cannot increase the exposure without introducing noise. It's better to overexpose with digital than underexpose.

11.) Lastly, while some photographers advocate the expensive Expo Disc for maintaining white balance, there’s a cheaper alternative: a white coffee filter. It does the same thing, but it doesn’t cost nearly as much. Just place it over the lens and take your pictures. Your camera needs to be set on manual and you can then adjust your white balance settings. Have fun and good luck!