The Internet is now the most popular way of displaying images for both amateur and professional photographers. However it is also the easiest way of photographic theivery or misuse of copyright.
A few simple steps can reduce the chance of your images being used by others without permission.
1. Keep images small.
The bigger the image, the more versatile its uses. For most Internet uses, there is no need to make an image bigger then the size of the average computer screen, but it should be big enough to appreciate. A good size for most display purposes is a maximum of 600 pixels on the longest side of the image. Smaller if it displays well at a smaller size. This will prevent your images from being altered, for example removal of watermark or copyright mark.
2. Disable “Save Picture As”
Right clicking on an image in most web pages allows a person to save an image to their computer. This can be disabled on the webpage your image is displayed and in most cases will issue a copyright notice. However it is easily bypassed by experienced web users so it is only a preventative measure.
3. Double Layering
When dealing with your own website, a transparent box can be placed over your images. Then if someone attempts to save your image by right clicking, they will only save the transparent box.
4. Use the image Metadata to store your ownership information.
In an images Metadata file information can be added such as your name and details about the image including your claim to copyright. This will make the image even more identifiable as your own if it is found on someone elses website. However be sure not to include personal information that you do not want others to see.
5. Put your name visibly on the image (Copyright Mark)
Simply type your name on the image either across one corner. Alternatively it can be put across the whole image partially transparent so it doesn’t take too much from the image. Not the prettiest result but it will deter those who might want to use the image for their own purposes.
None of these options will keep your images 100% secure. Remember once your image is displayed on a public website, it is prone to being copied and used for other purposes. However using at least one of these options will deter unscrupulous web users.

Light, Camera and Action
The very name "still" photography suggests images without movement. But yet that is what a photograph is; a moment frozen in time. However images do not have to appear still to be a proper photographic image, they can depict movement and relay that sense of movement. Here are a few ways to go about it.

fig 1: Freezing Movement

Frozen Movement - When we see a photo of a moving subject that successfully depicts movement, we do sense it is moving even though the subject is perfectly still in the image. What we normally strive to do is to get the subject sharp, but in doing this any sign of motion such as blur is removed from the image. Therefore the subject is static and some element in the image must convey that the subject is actually moving.
For example if the image is of a person jumping, once they are photographed in mid air, we immediately relate to the movement or action. We recognise that a person cannot naturally suspend themselves in mid air.
Some subjects we automatically recognise as moving even though there is no blur or defiance of gravity shown like the photo in fig 1 of a roller coaster. This image was taken using a shutter speed of 1/1000 sec in order to keep the moving subjects sharp.
Other elements within an image can be used as well to depict motion or action. Water is a good example of an element that enhances the sense of action. When splashing water is captured it displays this action. However there is a few ways to emphasise movement in water. One way is to totally freeze every droplet of water seen in the image by using an extremely fast shutter speed. The opposite way is to show water in a total blur by using an extremely slow shutter speed. However both options, when executed properly, will depict motion in the image.

fig 2: Using Blur

Using Blur - In photography we generally strive to get our photos as sharp as possible. However there are times when the use of controlled blur can enhance an image and depict that sense of action.
A fast moving subject in dull lighting conditions will easily blur using automatic camera settings. Because the lighting is dull, an automatic camera will set the shutter speed to a slowish level and the subject will then blur. This can be further enhanced if the photographer knows how to set the exposure themselves.
Blur can easily be created by holding the camera steady, preferably on a tripod, and use a slow shutter speed. What happens here is any moving elements in the image will blur and any stationary elements will become sharp. In fig 2 the petrol pump is the stationary subject while passing traffic blurred.
Another technique is to move the camera and follow the subject in the same direction it is moving while taking the photo, this is called "Panning". In this instance the successful image will show the subject sharply, or even relatively sharply while the background is blurred. This blur is known as "motion blur".

Use a natural frame within the image frame to compose your subject.

The Algarve, Portugal

Whenever a subject is composed it is “framed” by the photographer within the frame of the image itself. We see the four sides of the image area and try to fill that area as best we can with the subject. At least this is what most of us try to achieve.

Another form of framing is to use your locality or a prop to isolate your subject better and create a natural frame within the image itself. By “natural” it means using a subject to frame another that would compliment or naturally interact with the scene. For example if you shoot a room interior from another room, you may use a doorway to frame the scene; a natural way of viewing the scene.

In our example we have a scene taken in The Algarve, Portugal. Some of the beaches along this coastline have large cliffs that have been eroded over time, leaving lone pillars and caverns through rocks. In this image a cavern was used to frame the rock pillar. This frame has enhanced the image by giving it depth and hiding any unwanted elements to either side of the rock pillar. Also the deeply shaded rock in the foreground and the brightly lit pillar in the background have added contrast to the image.

This example shows that when you are creating a frame for your image, it doesn’t necessarily have to be square, it just has to help isolate your subject better.

Fig 1

It seems most of us take the bulk of our photos during the summer. The weather is pleasant and we generally have more time due to holidays/vacations. This is also true for the landscape enthusiast. Even though most scenic locations may look better in autumn or spring, summer may be the only time for most to enjoy taking landscape images.

fig 2: Replace Color Options

Year round, there is ample opportunity to take good landscape images, however Autumn is argueably the best time. The colours in the foliage are at their most varied and vibrant.
The image in fig 1 was taken at the beginning of August. The colours in the foliage are dull and there is very little variation in the shade of green. This is typical of most locations at this point in summer. However here is a way of transforming that dull summer snap to a colourful autumnal image without leaving your seat.
In Photoshop Elements this can be easily achieved. Go to Enhance>Adjust Color>Replace Color. The dialog box in default shows a type of negative lith image of the photo. Using the Color Picker, select the shade of colour you want to alter. The lith type image will alter showing how much of that shade is in the image and effected by any changes made. Fuzziness can increase or decrease the shades within that general colour.

fig 3: Finished Autunmal Image

Once the shades are selected the colour can be altered dramatically. In fig 2 you can see a colour box called "Reset" (circled in yellow. Double clicking on this opens another dialog box indicated as "Select Target Color". Here the colour can be changed using any one or more of the features in this box. Our colours for fig 3 were chosen by moving the slider down to an orangy/red colour and then fine tuning this in the larger Color window.
This dramtic but simple adjustment only takes about 10 minutes to perform. Naturally some experimentation is needed to get the effect just right.

How accurately you focus an image can make or break the image, sometimes the moment is over as soon as it has begun thus preventing a second, more precise, shot. Today’s auto focus cameras are quite quick and accurate but the photographer must know how to use the cameras focusing system correctly.
Most auto focus cameras use the central point of the viewfinder as the point of focus. Everything else in the image is ignored. Modern advanced cameras often have multi-zone focusing. Even with these extra focusing areas, unless you change the focusing area the central area of the viewfinder would still be the default area set the cameras. Single point systems are always read from the center of the viewfinder
There are various methods to focusing depending on the type of subject being photographed. With portrait and animal photography, whether it is man or beast, the most important part of the image to capture sharply is the eyes.
If the subject’s eyes aren’t sharp, it is a serious detriment to the image. With most portrait images the viewer will be directed straight to the eyes of the subject, this is a natural occurrence. Therefore the sharper and clearer the subjects eyes, the better the impact of the image.
With single zone cameras for portrait photos you aim the center of the viewfinder at the subject’s eyes when you activate the focusing system. Usually this is performed by half depressing the shutter button. If there is a need to compose the image with the eyes in another part of the frame, the focusing can be locked by holding the shutter button in the halfway position and recomposing before fully depressing the shutter button.
For multi-zone focusing cameras you can select the focus point area nearest the area to be focused upon. For portrait photos for example, you would normally turn the camera vertically, placing the subject’s eyes about a third of the way down the frame. Select the focus zone closest to the eyes, and focus, use the focus lock described earlier then recompose and fire.
Multi-zone focusing is very useful if your subject is not dead center. Simply because you can get the composition correct first, and then select the focusing zone you require for your off-center subject without having to move the camera again.

There are several image editing software packages available, and some cameras come with them. You can use these programs to manipulate, crop, combine and print your digital photos. There are no limits to what you can accomplish with this software, from a subtle contrast adjustment to elaborate works of art incorporating multiple images, textures and treatments. A few basic procedures will enhance digital photos and help fix problem areas:

• Once you start editing a digital photo, save the result as a separate file. You always want to have your original image available in an unedited form.
• Adjust contrast and color levels. Giving the contrast setting a nudge can really enhance a photograph and create a more dramatic look. If a photo looks washed out, increasing saturation levels can make the colors more vibrant. In cases where an incorrect white balance on the camera has given the image a colored tint, adjusting the color levels can bring the photo back to a realistic, untinted state.
• Rotate, crop and matte photos. Photo editing software makes it simple to rotate a photo (90 degrees if you took the picture with the camera turned to the side, or smaller amounts if the horizon is just slightly out of line). You can also easily crop off unwanted portions of a photo, making it possible to recompose a shot long after you took it. Most programs allow you to add a frame around the picture, making a built-in matte.
  
• Get rid of red-eye. Some programs have a "red-eye removal" function built in. You can also do it manually by selecting the subject's eyes and altering the color balance to reduce redness. More advanced users can change the entire color palette of an image, create a sepia or monochrome image, or make an image black and white.
  
• Remove unwanted objects. You can use certain tools in a photo-editing program to remove parts of a photo, leaving what appears to be the plain background in its place. Say you've taken a photo of a centuries-old castle, but someone had parked a mini-van in front of it, ruining the mood of the scene. Though it will take some practice, you don't have to be a photo-editing expert to completely remove the van and leave just the castle behind it.
• Create works of art. Filters and plug-ins included with many programs allow you to change photos into artistic pieces with a few mouse clicks. Change can be drastic or subtle, such as making a photo of your back yard look like a watercolor painted by an Impressionist master, or changing a photo of your motorcycle into a charcoal sketch.

By now you should have a good idea of what to look for in a digital camera and how to use it to get the images that you want. Above all, digital photography should be a fun experience. Feel free to experiment with settings and editing software to create your own works of art.

Another problem with digital cameras is that they tend to need more light than a film camera to create a comparable exposure. As a result, slower shutter speeds are often used to get enough light. This can make it very difficult to take a photo without some blurring. The solution is simple: use a tripod. They're not very expensive, and you can mount almost all cameras to one. This step will result in a huge improvement in photo quality. If you have to take a photo with a slow shutter speed and you don't have your tripod handy, try using burst mode. It will take practice to hold the camera steady (hold it against your face and exhale as you press the button), but the burst will give you a better chance at getting one unblurred picture out of the bunch. When all else fails, a sturdy shelf or stack of books can help.

When in doubt, go for a greater depth of field. With digital images, it is always possible to use software to take certain areas of a photo out of focus, but you can never "fix" anything that's out of focus to begin with.

If your camera has a viewfinder in the upper left corner, you may have problems with parallax, especially for close-up shots. This means that the viewfinder is looking at a slightly different area than what the lens is seeing. Cameras with a through-the-lens viewfinder don't have this problem. Using the LCD screen to line up your shot can help, but the screens still don't usually show all of what the lens is seeing, and they can make it difficult to focus properly. ­

Taking photos with a digital camera follows many of the same techniques that make for successful film photographs. However, digital cameras differ in a few important ways.

There's usually a lag between the moment you press the shutter release button and when the camera takes the picture (except for the most expensive models). A longer lag time means that it's more difficult to capture a moment. Here are a few ways to minimize this problem:

• Set your focus ahead of time. When using auto focus, pressing the shutter release halfway tells the camera to focus in on your target. You might have to wait for a few seconds with that button halfway down, but when you finally take the picture, the camera won't have to waste time focusing.
• Use manual exposure settings. It takes time for the camera to calculate exposure settings in full automatic mode, so set them manually whenever you can.
• Don't use flash unless it's absolutely necessary. The time it takes to charge the flash can create additional lag. If you need a flash, consider using an external flash unit.
• Use the viewfinder instead of the LCD screen. This will save your batteries and reduce the amount of work the camera has to do.
• Reduce image quality. Digital cameras allow you to adjust the size and resolution of the photos you are taking. Huge, uncompressed tiff files will look great, but they might create lag. If you are trying to capture action shots, try a lower quality setting with smaller images. Obviously you're sacrificing large, high-resolution images, but it will increase your chance of getting the shot you wanted. Experiment with your camera's settings to find the right balance between image quality and shutter lag.
• Use burst mode. If your camera offers it, burst mode is a great way to get the precise moment you're shooting for by taking a series of quick photos over the course of a few seconds. Depending on the camera, burst mode (or continuous mode) may require a compromise in image quality.

Shutter speed is the amount of time the shutter remains open to allow light through it. An extremely fast shutter speed is 1/2000 of a second, while camera settings usually allow up to about one second, which is very slow. One-sixtieth of a second is about as slow a shutter speed as you can use when taking a hand-held shot, and not get any blur. Some photographers force their camera shutters to stay open for much longer to create various special effects. Leaving a camera pointed at the night sky with the shutter open for several hours results in a photo of the paths the stars seem to take across the sky as the Earth rotates.

Practice and experience are the best ways to figure out which combinations of aperture and shutter speed are best for different kinds of photos. While a slow shutter speed lets in more light, it also makes it very difficult to get a crisp picture. Any movement at all (of either the subject or the camera) will result in blurring. Sometimes you might want this effect, but for a clear photo of a moving object, you need a fast shutter speed.

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Many cameras have a semi-automatic mode that can be set to either aperture priority or shutter priority. You can either set the aperture or shutter speed (depending on which priority mode is enabled) to the desired setting, and the camera calculates the right settings to accommodate the lighting conditions. The camera might also have a variety of modes to choose from, such as sports mode or outdoor mode. These are aperture/shutter speed presets. Again, experience will let you know what conditions are right for each mode.

With a decent digital camera and a bit of practice, anyone can take acceptable quality photos with the camera set on full automatic. You can even take a bunch of so-so pictures and make them look acceptable later with image editing. But to really wring every ounce of ability out of your camera and produce truly beautiful photographs, you'll need to learn a few things about the manual settings. Keep in mind that lower-end cameras might not have manually adjustable settings.

When you're changing the settings on a camera, you're trying to find the proper exposure for the subject and lighting conditions. Exposure is the amount of light hitting the camera's sensor when you take a photo. Generally, you will want the exposure set so that the image captured by the camera's sensor closely matches what you see with your eyes. The camera tries to accomplish this when it's on full automatic mode, but the camera is easily fooled and a little slow, which is why manual settings usually produce better pictures.

As you get more familiar with your camera, you can play with different exposures for different effects. There are times when auto is better - something happens suddenly and you only have a few seconds to get your photo. Just flip to auto and take a picture. Getting the shot with a slightly incorrect white balance and poor field depth is better than standing there fiddling with f-stop settings while Bigfoot strolls back into the forest.

To adjust exposure, you can tweak two different settings: aperture and shutter speed. Aperture is the diameter of the lens opening - a wider aperture means more light gets through. Aperture is measured in f-stops. Higher f-stop numbers mean a smaller aperture. The aperture setting also affects depth of field, the amount of the photograph that is in focus. Smaller apertures (higher f-stops) give longer depth of field. A person in the foreground and the cars 20 feet behind her could all be in focus with a small enough aperture. A larger aperture results in a shallow depth of field, which you normally use for close-up shots and portraits. On the next page, we'll take a closer look at shutter speed.

The basic attribute of a digital camera that determines image quality is its megapixel rating. This number refers to the amount of information that the camera sensor can capture in a single photograph. Cameras with high megapixel ratings take larger pictures with more detail. Those photos will also look better when printed, especially in bigger sizes.

At five megapixels, image quality gets in the neighborhood of film. If you're willing to spend about $100 on a digital camera, then it's difficult to find a model that doesn't have five megapixels. These cameras are fine for most people who just want to take a few family snapshots or capture vacation memories. The more you spend, the more megapixels you get. In the $400 to $600 range, you can expect to find cameras with anywhere from eight to 12 megapixels. If you plan to take serious artistic photos, sell prints of your photos, or post large, high-resolution photos on the Internet, this is the range for you. If you think you need a more powerful camera than that, you probably don't need to be reading this article.

Next, learn about digital camera settings.

Digital photography has many advantages over traditional film photography. Digital photos are convenient, allow you to see the results instantly, don't require the costs of film and developing, and are suitable for software editing and uploading to the Internet.

While shooting on film will always have a place in the world of photography, digital models have taken over the consumer camera market almost completely. Just five years ago, buying a digital camera that could take photos of the same visual quality as a film camera could cost more than $1,000. But prices have dropped tremendously, and camera quality has increased. Today cameras in the $500 range are near-professional quality, and all but the cheapest digital cameras produce decent looking images.

There are also many additional features available on digital cameras, including image stabilization, on-board image editing, color correction functions, auto-bracketing and burst modes. A lot of these can be handled by image editing software, and so they can be unnecessary (and often inferior) when built into a camera. Burst mode, macro mode and image stabilization are probably the most useful extra features, but the best way to find out which camera is best for you is to explore any of the numerous digital photography magazines and Web sites that offer comparisons and user reviews of hundreds of different cameras.

If you own or are planning to buy a digital camera, this article will take you beyond point-and-shoot and help you get more out of it. See the next page to get started.

Photography is a completely new, yet interesting and funny field to me. I am not a professional in photography. However I am trying to learn as many techniques as I could to make my photos similar to those captured by the professionals. In my course of photography, I like to thank all the people who helped me in teaching the very dynamic filed of photography.