Smile, you’re on handset camera

Like it or not, cameraphones are here to stay. Mobile phones are now capable of capturing several megapixels worth of detail, making them useful adjuncts to ‘proper’ digital cameras. Rather than your snaps being restricted to your handset, however, there are easy ways to get your cameraphone pictures on to your PC so you can give them a tweak before emailing them to your friends or even printing them for posterity.

Pixel perfect

Digital photos don’t have to remain just that: often, you’ll want to print out the best of your pictures. Conversely, at other times, you’ll have a stash of old photos taken with a traditional film camera that you’d like to digitise so you’ve got copies for when the originals begin to deteriorate.

A scanner or a multifunction device (see our round-up in the September 06 issue of PC Advisor) is ideal for the job of digitising existing pics, while a standalone photo printer is a great option for producing high-quality prints. We show you how to go about setting preferences for all three types of hardware so you end up with great-looking digital pictures.

Cosmetic Edit

Taking digital photos is all too easy. A snap, in fact. But making them look their best requires a moderate amount of time and effort. With the latest image editors, much of the hard work is done for you – so there’s really no excuse not to get them up to snuff.

Here, we show you how to add a bit of polish to your photos, assemble them into some sort of order so you can find them easily, as well as showing you an easy way to share your superior snaps with the rest of the world.

Snap decision

One of the joys of digital photography is that it’s already in a format that lends itself to copying and sharing with others. Unlike film, you don’t have to go through the rigmarole of printing out an entire roll just to see which photos are worth having and then decide on reprints of the best shots.

Here, PC Advisor looks at the best websites for sharing your photos – from sites that anyone can access and that are merely designed to show off your snapping skills to the world to ones that allow only invitees to have a gander. We’ve also got a rundown of online print services where you can simply upload your digital snaps and have them printed and delivered to your door in the size and format of your choice.

Perfect pictures every time

Want to know what to pack in your suitcase to complete your holiday photography kit? Confused about which digital camera to buy in the first place? Simply want advice on how to take better pictures, come rain or shine?

We’ve got 25 nuggets of wisdom explaining how to take brilliant holiday snaps and how to make forgettable images anything but – even if your summer break was nothing to write home about.

Quality Control

Even the best photographers take dodgy snaps now and again. As for the rest of us, all too often what looked like a fantastic scene when you peered through the LCD viewfinder seems rather less inspired on your PC screen.

Rather than hitting delete, you can salvage imperfect images with a bit of judicious editing. Here, we look at cropping, stitching, rotating and adjusting light levels. We also give the lowdown on some free image editors that will enable you to make all these changes without forking out.

Real photo Fun

Thankfully sharing photos is a lot more fun these days than it used to be, with those insomnia-curing marathon slide shows mercifully banished to the past. With more people than ever shuffling over from film, the success of the digital market seems to be never-ending, with more services and gadgets offering to help you get the most out of your camera.

We've compiled a handy guide, packed with more service and gadget ideas than you can shake a tripod at - so get snapping.

Picture perfect

Digital cameras are clever enough to take decent shots in favourable conditions, making decent photographers of even the least creative of us. Given low light, moving subjects or other conditions, however, the results can often be anything but impressive.

This is where your camera’s manual controls can make all the difference. In the following article, we provide a rundown of what exactly all those confusing icons mean and explain the settings you need to get the best shots in less-than-perfect conditions.

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