Troubleshooting Photos –
About... Photo Tools & Technologies
This is the background information portion of Troubleshooting Photos. In this section, you'll find pages on:
- Autofix tools – One-click fix-it tools in your photo program, and how you can trick them into yielding real solutions.
- Color management – The good-print-every-time technology that no one bothers to explain.
- Depth of field – How to get the foreground and background in focus (plus, how getting one out of focus can make a better picture).
- Photo programs – Ready for a change? How to choose.
- JPEG files – How to look after the pictures that matter to you.
- Other photo formats – Why use something else? A few quick reasons.
- Photo equipment – Thoughts on buying cameras and related gear.
- Photo programs – Ready for a change? How to choose.
- Print sizes – What size photo (in pixels) is needed for a given size of print.
- Print sources – You can save money on prints – but not the way you'd think.
- Prints on this site – Why some of them look the way they do.
- Re-sizing photos – How – A straightforward recipe for best results when enlarging and down-sizing your photos.
- Re-sizing photos – Why – A look at what happens when you follow the recipe for enlarging and reducing photos.
- Screen color vs. print color – If you're wondering why your prints don't look like the pictures on screen, this may help.
Whenever you talk to photographers, whether they're drop-dead experts or enthusiastic snapshooters, one message comes through – digital photography is just so much more accessible than film-&-chemical photography. And while the cameras are more expensive, you can snap away to your heart's content with no concern for the cost of film, which gives you a better chance of getting a photo you like.
With a little application, you can take good photos (and you should always try to take the best you can, rather than relying on fixes on the computer) – then make them better, in ways that previously were only available to those few willing to invest the significant time and money needed to build a darkroom and the complex skills required (color photography in the darkroom is an art so difficult that even pros relied on dedicated processing services).
While beginning digital photography is more accessible, the knowledge required to expand your skills, particularly in photo-editing, can be another matter. You can get by knowing little, but when things go awry, the illusion of seamless ease can becomes a barrier to finding your way out of a predicament. Shooting and printing good digital photos, after all, involves a great range of technologies, including computers, photography and printing. Some of the information on the Web is excellent – the tutorials listed in Links, for instance – but all expect a fair level of prior knowledge.
With this site, we try to presume minimal prior knowledge, and help you sort out your immediate issues.
And that may be all you want.
Alternatively, you may wonder why? Why do the autofix controls in my photo-editing work on some pictures and not others? What's the difference between printing my own pictures and having someone else do it? Why don't some of my prints look as good, no matter who does the printing, as they do on my computer?
And so on.
With a bit more luck, these pages in the About... section should answer your questions. If they don't, .
