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Photography

What do you want to take from your holiday?

Good photos or anger!

By Rob Clement

The majority of us mainly use our cameras on holiday and for family occasions. The rest of the year we put them away and do not give them a thought. At least a month before your next holiday dust the camera down, and look at the pictures you took of the last holiday. Are you happy with the quality? Is it time to put new batteries in your camera? Should you be putting a new camera on your list of wants for Christmas or birthday? You may have already decided to go the whole hog and buy a new camera. Many of our articles concentrate on digital cameras which are now available, but if you do not own or have access to a computer, leave the digitals alone and stick to the film camera. As one of the articles will tell you – you cannot justify a digital camera by savings on film. There are many good film cameras on the market and film is still widely available.

PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!

Do not buy a new camera and assume it is like the one with the same name that you bought 20 years ago. Any new piece of equipment can be faulty. So try out your new camera before you set out on your holiday. If you are going to a warm climate from a cold one you may need to think about a UV filter to get the best color from your prints. Take at least one roll of film or about 30 shots from a digital camera or about 10x3 minute clips from a video camera (please remember that most video cameras have the option of taking stills as well). If you are not happy then at least you can go somewhere and ask for advice rather than miss the memories from a holiday of a lifetime.

Photography is all about memories and it is always good to be able to remember people, especially children, as they were. Take lots of photographs and keep them. Time will tell if they are the best ones. There will be photos covering all of the emotions from good times to disasters. Do not be tempted to throw away a photo or a digital image until you have looked at it carefully. Many images can be cut and resized to bring out what you want to see.

We also have some articles about video cameras and they will give you a lot of the basics but please remember that there are video cameras that will put the scenes directly to DVD discs (some are mini discs but that are still readable) and I have not found any articles about them yet.

When you have finished your holiday, remember that it is possible to put your 35mm film onto CD when your films are being processed. You can create from both 35mm and digital cameras a CD showing the highlights of your holiday that can be shown on your TV using a DVD player as well as on your computer. It will save your photos getting little finger marks on them while you are showing them around.

Have fun and make memories for those winter nights.

To recap Rob’s checklist

Check your camera

• Dust it down
• Replace batteries

New Camera

• Take about 30 shots
• Does it need a UV filter
• Does it need a tripod

Buy yourself plenty of film or flash memory cards

Author

© Rob Clement is the web master at www.silkroadconsultants.com. A web site full of interesting and helpful travel tips.