Our fascination with capturing images started thousands of years ago. Prior to the invention of the camera, early man tried to capture images through paintings and drawings. The images, of course, weren’t exact mirrors of the subjects; they were mostly a reflection of the skills of the painter and his interpretation of his subject. Minneapolis photographer Bob Dale says “With the introduction of the camera, though, we can now capture our subjects in their exact likeness through photographs.”

Photographs (or photo for short) are images that are created as a result of light falling on photographic film or electronic imager such as a CCD or CMOS chip. Photography is the term used to refer to the process of making photographs. Of course, a camera is needed to create a photo.

Photos are either non-digital or digital. Film cameras produce non-digital photos. Non-digital photos are printed by way of processing the film or negative in a dark room.

Digital cameras create digital photos, storing them in a memory card or another storage device. Digital photos are saved in different formats, like RAW, TIFF and JPEG. Because digital cameras don’t use film, photos don’t need to be processed; instead they can be printed right away on photo paper on laser, inkjet or thermal printer.

With the introduction of digital cameras, photography has become something that anyone and everyone can engage in since digital cameras have made it possible for people to take hundreds or thousands of pictures and store them electronically. In addition, people can print photos themselves using their printer, unlike before when negatives had to be taken to a photo processing shop.

It’s also very easy for anyone today to own a digital camera. For less than $100, you can have a digital camera that takes quality photos. With digital technology advancing at a rapid rate, companies are constantly introducing to the market digital cameras that have more features and are more powerful. “Our cell phones like the Apple Iphone will become our cameras and our viewing devices” says professional digital photographer Bob Dale.

A quality digital camera can enable you to take impressive photos. But even if you’re into photography as a hobby, it would be to your advantage if you try to learn a few basic photo composition principles and techniques. This way, you’ll be able to take more interesting photos.

Canon, Nikon and Fuji are three of the top names in the digital camera market. If you want to be able to take great photos, you can accomplish just that by using any of these digital cameras: Canon EOS series (e.g., Canon EOS 5D, Canon EOS 30D and Canon EOS 40D), Nikon D80 and Fuji S5.

Looking for a quality digital camera? Go with Canon, who is setting the standard for digital photography with its Canon EOS series of digital cameras. The Canon EOS series of digital cameras are considered among the best digital SLRs that’s ideal for both amateur photographer and professional photographers.

These Canon digital cameras are professional grade cameras that can produce high quality digital photos. They also use Canon’s 10.1 megapixel CMOS technology. If you’re in the market for a professional grade digital camera, check out the cameras in the Canon EOS series.

The Nikon D80 digital SLR camera is a highly-rated digital camera that is capable of taking photographs that are of professional quality. The Nikon D80 boasts of 10.2 megapixel CCD imaging sensor, a 2.5-inch LCD screen and several other features that will allow you to do a number of in-camera photo editing. The Nikon D80 costs between $700 and $900, which makes this digital camera the ideal choice for photography enthusiasts who either can’t afford the more expensive, professional grade cameras or are first-time users of SLR cameras.

Planning on taking your photography hobby to the next level? If you are, invest in the Nikon D300; you can’t go wrong with this top of the line digital SLR camera. Starting at $1,700, the Nikon D300 has a live viewing feature: you can preview your shots on the huge LCD screen.

The Fuji S5 is actually composed of several digital camera models. However, if you’re still lacking the photography skills, you’ll benefit from the Fuji S5 Pro digital camera because it comes with a number of auto-correcting features. Other features of this digital camera include: 12.3 megapixels CCD SR Pro technology, facial detection technology (for quick and easy zooming in on facial details), and 3 new film simulation modes for improved reproduction of natural skin tones. This feature-packed digital camera can be had for bout $1,500.

It’s now easy to share photos with family and friends. Transfer the photos from your digital camera to your computer, and from your computer, you can e-mail the pictures or upload photos on photo sharing sites like Yahoo, FaceBook, MySpace, Flickr and many other sites that let you create an online photo gallery.

You can take it a step further by using software to create slide shows from the digital photos you’ve taken and burning them in CDs that you can distribute to your loved ones and friends. And if you’re the creative type, you can use stock photography and use them with your photos. With a photo editing software, you can create unique and interesting photos.

With a digital camera, photo editing software, a few stock photos and a little bit of creativity, you’ll discover that you don’t have a limit for your photographic expressions. Some digital cameras allow for minor editing (e.g., correcting red eye, lighting and flesh tones), and there are small portable printers that allow for printing photos straight from the camera. Most of these photo printers have special photo effects like borders built in.

You won’t need to be in a dark room or know how to process photos yourself in a dark room. With digital photography, all you really need to do is point, click and print easily and quickly.

The market for the digital SLR camera is growing rapidly. The IDC report titled 2007 Worldwide Digital Camera Market Share Review pointed out that digital SLR cameras accounted for 7.5 million of the 131 million digital cameras sold. It is no surprise that such big brands as Canon, Nikon, Olympus, and Sony led the way in total digital SLR camera sales. Canon and Nikon alone account for about 80% of the digital SLR market. Sony and Olympus account for another 12% of the market.

The IDC report showed that Canon had been running alone atop the digital SLR camera market, but Nikon closed the gap, thanks to such popular models as the Nikon D300 and the Nikon D40x. In Japan, Nikon surpassed Canon in total digital SLR camera sales. “Nikon has always been the strong leader among professional photographers” says Minneapolis photographer Bob Dale.

Digital SLR, also known as dSLR, describes a camera with a digital single lens reflex. Single lens reflex describes the path light that travels through the lens to a mirror, which forwards the light to a viewfinder.

In other words, there is light coming in through the lens, which is then sent by a mirror placed at a 90 degree angle to the pentaprism. When you take a picture, it is as simple as the mirror being lifted to allow the shutter to open. The light then is captured by the image sensor behind the shutter instead of being reflected by the mirror.

If you’re looking to buy a digital SLR camera, you’ll have plenty of choices. The most popular brands today are Canon, Nikon, Panasonic and Pentax. It’s not a coincidence that these manufacturers are also the top manufacturers of 35mm film SLR cameras.

Canon has long been known for the quality of its cameras. Currently, the Canon EOS line of cameras is among the best lines of digital SLR cameras on the market. It consistently earns high praise from consumers for being simple, having plenty of options, and providing great pictures.

With the Canon EOS line of digital SLR cameras, you will typically get about 10.1 megapixels of resolution. This is true of the Canon Digital Rebel series as well.

You will generally find Canons at the top of digital SLR camera review lists. Whether these reviews are compiled by Canon owners or by product testers, the results tend to favor Canon digital SLR cameras.

Nikon is another respected manufacturer of digital SLR cameras. The recent Nikon D series of digital SLR cameras has carried on the strong reputation for Nikon cameras as being among the best in the world.

The Nikon D300 is the top of the Nikon D series line. With the Nikon D300 you get a large LCD screen to look at in place of the viewfinder. With a price at about $1,700, this is a good entry-level professional digital SLR camera. It is a good investment for those who need to take high quality digital photos.

If you’re a novice digital photographer or you want a less expensive Nikon digital camera, there’s the Nikon D40, which has a 6.1 megapixel that is just perfect for most users. It has a compact design too, making it ideal for those who don’t want to carry a clunky camera around. You can get this digital SLR anywhere from $450 to $650. “It’s a great choice for doing travel photography” says professional digital photographer Bob Dale.

Nikon also makes the Nikon Coolpix P5100 for those who are looking for an inexpensive digital SLR that can take good pictures. This camera can often be found at less than $300, which is simply astonishing for a digital SLR that takes good pictures. Its main features are those that make it simple to use, such as automatic zooming, automatic focusing, and automatic exposure adjustment. It has a big LCD screen for framing and reviewing pictures.

If you want an affordable digital zoom camera, go with any of the Panasonic Lumix DMC cameras. Panasonic introduced the first in its Lumix DMC series in 2001 and since then has come out with over 60 models with 1.9 to 10.1 megapixels and zoom capabilities between 10x to 12.5x.

Most experts agree that Panasonic digital cameras are easy to transport and take great digital photos. For the camera buff who doesn’t want to spend a lot of money on a good quality camera, set your sights on any of the Panasonic Lumix DMC cameras. These cameras cost $400 and below.

Pentax digital SLR cameras are well-regarded in the photography community. Pentax has been a respected name in SLR photography since the 35mm camera. Pentax continues its tradition of earning respect in the digital SLR community.

You can purchase Pentax digital SLR cameras for either casual photography or professional photography. The Pentax K lined of digital SLR cameras and the Pentax Optio line of digital SLR cameras both get good reviews. With these Pentax lines, you will get good digital photos and you can expect the standard sets of features found on modern digital SLR cameras.

As you can see, there are a lot of fine digital SLR cameras on the market. There are good digital SLR options for just about any serious amateur or professional photographer’s budget. Basically, it comes down to a trade off between what features you need and how much you want to pay.

A few of the other things you’ll want to keep in mind when comparing digital SLR options are battery life, battery cost, camera warranty, and storage media options. But mainly, you will want to get a memory card that can hold 1,000 or more high resolution photos. After you invest a great deal of money in a camera, you will want to be sure you won’t run out of storage space when you’re out shooting photos and you visualize that perfect picture.

Photography can be defined as the action of capturing photographs. In simple, yet technical terms, photography is the capturing of light and recording it onto another medium such as film or digital media.

People engage in photography either for business or pleasure. Hobby photographers take photos for personal enjoyment and fulfillment; professional photographers take photos for a living, whether it’s fashion, advertising, wedding, or fine art photography.

Photographic technology has been rapidly advancing in recent years. During the film camera era, advances were slow. But in the digital camera era, the advances in technology have been rapid.

The 35mm film SLR camera was a nice device to own in its day, but the digital SLR camera can help even the amateur photographer to get the results of a professional photographer.”Once the 35mm film SLR camera was the camera to own but now, there are digital SLR cameras like the Canon Rebel Xti that give the photographer great results with less frustration than their film counterparts” says Minneapolis photographer Bob Dale.

Digital photography, black and white photography, and color photography have all been popular photography forms for over a decade.

This is the most popular variation of monochrome photography. Early photography was done in black and white. Black and white photography continues to be very popular because the shadows and coloring displayed in black and white photography give it some artistic appeal. “Today Black-and-white photography is associated with “fine art” photography, as in the style of Ansel Adams landscape photos or the George Hurrell style of Hollywood portraits” says professional digital photographer Bob Dale.

It should be noted, however, that monochrome photos are not always strictly black and white; there are other hues as well based on the processed used. For instance, the Cyanotype process is used in monochrome photography that results in blue and white images, instead of black and white.

In the mid-1800s, experiments on color photography began. During this time, color couldn’t be fixed on the photographs and the color couldn’t be prevented from fading. In 1861, however, a physicist named James Clerk Maxwell took the first permanent color photograph. Back then, three cameras were used to take color photos, with the lens on each of the three cameras having a color filter in front of it.

Color photography became a lot more sustainable with the Autochrome in 1907. Color film didn’t enter the mix until Agfacolor film in 1932. It was 1935 when Kodak introduced the modern color film. Polaroid came out with an ‘instant’ color film in 1963.

Digital photography took things to all-new levels. Digital photography isn’t limited by the capabilities of film for its capture and storage of images. Images are translated from a sensor into a digital format that is immediately recorded to an electronic memory storage unit.

As you can imagine, photography that is done in digital form can be easily saved, manipulated, and shared with digital electronics. Instead of dealing with tedious chemical and image transfer processes, you can simply print your pictures straight from the digital media or from your computer.

Many portrait photographers and wedding photographers use digital SLR cameras to take digital photos. Portrait photographers choose to use a digital SLR because it enables them to provide digital proof sheets to customers instantly, making it easier and quicker to create the photos.

Most wedding photographers now use digital SLRs in their wedding photography business because these cameras enable them to take pictures of the wedding ceremony discretely, without using flash. At the wedding reception, they can take high quality photos of the bride’s wedding dress, the wedding cake, and wedding guests with a digital SLR that has a zoom lens.

A digital camera is a relatively affordable device. Digital cameras for novices can be purchased without much investment due to decreasing costs of electronic components and increasing market competition. In fact, a small, but very capable digital camera, can be purchased for less than $100 to meet most novice photography needs.

When you find that digital photography is fun, but your camera doesn’t do as much as you want to do, it is time for a digital SLR camera that can deliver professional quality photography. You may even find yourself a digital photography professional before long.