Let's Say You Want to Take a Picture and E-Mail It to a Friend

The Digital Camera

Let's say you want to take a picture and e-mail it to a friend. The first step is to create a digital version of the image, so your computer can process it. There are two commonly available methods for creating a digital image:

Take a photograph using a film emulsion, process it chemically, print it onto photographic paper and then use a digital scanner to sample the print.

Use a device that will sample the original light that bounces off your subject to create a digital image. This device is called a digital camera. Sometimes, it is referred to as a filmless camera.

Firstly lets take a look at the features you are likely to find on a standard digital camera. You can then make sure that the camera you buy has all the features that are important to you.

The features used are:

Camera Modes 1

Flash 2

Standard Mode 3

Shutter Speed 4
Automatic Mode
When you first use your digital camera if you are relatively new to photography you are likely to use the camera in automatic mode. Most digital cameras have a dial on the back or the top of the camera and one of the settings will be automatic. In automatic mode the camera will make all the key decisions for you such as what to focus on, the shutter speed and aperture size. All you need to do is point the camera and click the shutter button to take a picture.
Flash
A standard digital camera is likely to offer you at least three flash settings. These are automatic where the camera decides if the flash is required. Flash off where you turn the flash off and it will not fire even in poor light and flash on where the flash will always fire. Almost all cameras will offer red eye reduction. This is useful when you are taking pictures of people in poor light.