You're Never Too Old To Learn Digital Photography

Steps to overcome to learn digital photography

Perhaps the biggest thing you'll struggle to overcome is thinking in film format. Pretty much everything else works the same. Both cameras take light readings and translate that information to film or digital disc.

The difference is how much light negative film requires compared to that required for digital. As you learn digital photography, you'll likely wonder if you've lost some of your skills. Your pictures will come out overexposed or underexposed, even though you're using the same light metering methods you used with film.

For digital photographs, you'll have to modify your light settings to adapt to the discrepancies in light requirements. It just takes a bit of experimentation to figure out how much to modify.

Learn digital photography's new measurements

Image size and measurements are other things you'll have to learn about digital photography.

With film, you know that you'll come out with pictures that are a combination of 4x5 equations, i.e.: 4x5, 8x10, and 16x20. If you shot the photograph at the absolute best exposure, you could get a relatively crisp image at the larger size.

Digital images are measured in pixels. Since your computer monitor is also measured in pixels, your camera and computer make the absolute best match for viewing your photographs. Photographs viewed on the computer can be deceiving, however. You'll soon understand this as you learn digital photography.

Rediscover light and picture quality

Your computer monitor casts your photographs in a different light. In fact, the first time you download your images from your camera to your computer you'll likely be delighted. They'll look fantastic. Beware of this false pride that your monitor instills in you. When you print the photos on photograph paper, you might be disappointed.

There are several reasons.

1. Your monitor can display a false image. It depends on your monitor's colors and your computer's video card. A printed photo probably won't have the exact colors or vibrancy that you saw on screen. (Macs tend to avoid this problem if you have an Apple monitor.)

2. When you print your photos, you are moving between formats. It's difficult to duplicate on a print the quality, clarity and color that you see on screen.

Learn through experimentation

Remember your first 35mm film camera? You struggled to figure out all those complicated settings and features. You worked relentlessly to discover how your camera responded. Then one day, you found the magic key. You began to capture the most astounding photographs you could muster.

Now that you're moving into the new digital age, you'll get to go through the same process again. The good thing is that you succeeded before. It's never too late and you're never too old to learn digital photography.