If you love using smileys, the built in library for most instant messengers/email programs might not be enough. Luckily, there are a few resources on the web which allow you to access, use and share thousands of smileys and emoticons.

One interesting tool even allows you to create your own smiley face clip art!

Just remember, 90% of human communication is non verbal! So it’s very natural for us to use images to convey emotions, feelings, and messages in general, especially on the internet where face to face communication is not possible.

Just something to think about next time you type LOL.

It is fun doing street photography. You can throw away all the rules into the bin and set off to take pictures. The best part is that while doing street photography, you don’t search for subjects. The picture just comes to mind when you see something random. All it requires is a timing sense that you have to hone to perfection to get some really good pictures. Keeping an open mind and positive approach would do well- you can get better ideas this way. You can experiment the most with angles and take some unusual and very interesting shots. These can look good even if the shots are taken upside down! So many out-of-focus shots have morphed into award winning pictures because the photographer had some presence of mind and envisioned a nice picture.

Different people can see the same picture with different perspective. Interpretation can be left to the viewers. This is what sets apart street photography from the others. Leave aside the perfect poses, imperfections make street photos stand out. Experiment with settings as well. Instead of staying safe with the normal digital camera settings, try different lighting and angles. Black and white pictures can get the best moods out of any subject out in the open. Try panorama and other options.

One more important thing- several subjects might not like you taking their picture. So be calm and relaxed and shoot from the hip, as if you are just carrying a camera and not actually shooting. And if they suspect you, just continue to shoot random pictures at that location even after they move from the spot. Go to fests and exhibitions where you have greater chances of finding some interesting possibilities for pictures. Do not ignore the street dwellers- they have the maximum potential for good pictures.

Now that you know how you can go about taking pictures on the streets, do not stop to think, go ahead and shoot!

Good quality pictures are in great demand everywhere. There are hundreds of web sites that need to feature pictures of products and events. Even such pictures are not as easy to shoot as you might assume. A lot of people spend mega bucks on exotic holidays and they need to get good pictures to cherish. The travel industry boom has brought with it demand for photographers with a fresh approach- no one wants the same old postcard-pictures anymore. You might also try ‘event photography’. This is relatively simpler if you are capable of getting the timing right. Several family functions and birthday parties and other celebrations need affordable but good photographers. Start with your locality and branch out.

Do your homework well. Study such options carefully to see which avenue you can choose. Get regular feedback from others about which are you are best at. Chalk out a clear business proposition. Indicate clearly the services you would be providing. This would help in funding if you want to set up a store. Make a list of your strengths that you could stick to, but also be aware of the weak points you still need to work on. Be clear as to what sets you apart from competitors. This particular marketing aspect could make or break your business.

Make note of the basic and extra equipment you might need. Check if it is feasible to open shop at your house or if you must start business under a separate roof. Your plan must be revised regularly and you must make clear-cut goals and short term objectives as well. Be smart while marketing. You might offer services at lower cost, but do not get to that extreme where your talent is not being valued. Let people know you are good! Word of mouth recommendation increases demand so make sure you begin well and impress the first set of customers so well that they get you more business.

• Flirt with flash: while taking pictures in bright sunlight, you may find it sometimes necessary to use flash to remove the shadows from your friend’s face. But if you want to create arty pictures like silhouettes, you could turn off the flash when there is a bright background, like the sunset. If you have a not-so-bright background, like cloudy grey sky, using flash can create some unusual and interesting shots. You can also fire the flash in shots. Just play around with different settings and you can get different shots with the same subject!
• Change the angle and the pose: for the same subject, toy around with different angles- at times, ordinary people look stunning from a certain angle. Shift from the normal smiling face to more natural poses- laughing and getting surprised… these are just a few ideas. At times, you could take the picture when the subject is unaware, this gives the most natural expression and sometimes, these turn out much better than the plastered smiles.
• Be careful with groups: has it ever happened that your entire gang of friends poses for a photograph and you look at the picture later to find that someone right in the middle has blinked when the picture was taken? This could spoil your photograph and make it embarrassing for the person who blinked as well. So take several shots so that such things are avoided. Even in this, you could always change the style and the angle of shot.
• Make note of how you took the picture: several times, we have experienced this. We manage to shoot the perfect picture and revel in that joy but forget all about what settings we used in that situation. Later, when encountered with a similar situation, we cannot recall the settings and hence, the picture may not turn out as good. You cannot just save the settings in your camera because settings might need to be changed for different cases. So when you do think you took a fabulous picture, just jot down the setting details so that you can use it next time and keep taking wonderful shots.

• White balance: you might want to take pictures of a beach vacation in the sun; you might also need to take pictures during a midnight party. Both these situations need different amount of lighting for clear pictures. With the white balance feature, your camera automatically figures out the amount of light needed and adjusts the flash options accordingly.

• To reduce the shadow on your subject, just shift the angle till you find the perfect lighting. Or keep the lighting at an angle to your subject for a good picture. Reflectors are good if you want to minimize shadows drastically. Normally, good quality digital cameras have preset options where the camera gets smart and adapts to changing light or to difficult shooting conditions.

• You have the portrait feature whereby you can focus more on the subject rather than the surrounding environment. Thus, you get a sharper shot of your subject. The regular night mode is suitable for shooting in insufficient light, like at night! Many higher end digital cameras also support the motion preset in which you can take a picture of a footballer running on the field without the picture getting blurred. Landscape setting allows for a good picture of the entire view and not just a single subject. This is very convenient if you are taking pictures of say, a hillside.

Use light to your advantage: several difficult lighting conditions actually improve your picture effect! You can take amazing silhouette pictures with a sunset background. You could also play around with shadows for a mysterious effect with your subject. Have a dusky background and use flash to get an interesting effect. Even a cloudy sky can give you a good shot if you handle the situation well. Instead of forcing flash and other settings, just change the angle and you might probably end up with a better picture! At times, black and white pictures look much more interesting than the brightly colored images. Keep your back to the sun and avoid glares.

But digital photography has made half the things easy: the equipment doesn’t seem to confuse us much!

Pictures can be viewed the instant they are taken; not only that, you could always refer to previous pictures if you are on a study tour and want to compare pictures of subjects that you took underwater. Later on, you can always upload your images on the internet for others to view. Sharing and retouching and editing pictures are made easy. With a good amount of memory, you can always take multiple pictures of the same subject and use which ever you like the best. Not only that, digital cameras meant for the underwater shoots also have a wide range of options you can choose from, for different scenarios.

There is no need to take a beginner’s photography course before you go on vacation to a beach to shoot underwater pictures! Your underwater digital cameras have features like white balance in order to get colorful pictures at greater depths. Else, you might end up with blue colored pictures everywhere. Use the external flash in order to get a clear picture and not a hazy shot, with light reflected off the subject. Of course, make sure you fit the camera into its waterproof case before you embark on your underwater photography adventure. For the same picture, you need to be located at a greater distance from your subject under water than you might on land. Zoom settings need to be altered because of effects like refraction at water and air interface.

Try using a wide converter lens while shooting pictures underwater. It happens that the normal camera angle seems slightly narrower compared to the same settings on land. Hence, it is advisable to have wider angles so that you can stay close to your subject and shoot if the water is not transparent enough. Macro lenses can allow you to take quality pictures of very tiny subjects as well. This takes some experimentation before you get the technique right. Once mastered, it comes in handy. So go on, use these tips and explore the water world!

• Zoom in zoom out: be careful when you use your zoom option. True, your 7 or 8 mega pixel digital camera might be excellent for zoom, but consider the situation before you use zoom. You can get maximum close-up shots at any zoom level you want when you have good natural light, mostly while shooting outdoors. At night, shooting with zoom can be tricky and you might end up with a hazy image because your small flash could not do the job for you. The picture might seem dark and not at all clear. So check before you zoom.

• Exposure bracketing: this is a very useful lesson if you are doing amateur photography with your digicam. The term sounds quite complicated but is a simple job in fact. All you need to do is take a number of pictures with the same subject one after the other at different levels of exposure. Find out from your dealer or look up your digicam manual to see if you have automatic settings for exposure or if you have to do the set up manually. Start with the lowest exposure and graduate to the highest level. Then look at your pictures and decide which option worked out best.

• Portrait:  use your subject to the fullest for good shots. Use different portrait format. Make your subject look into the camera and shoot. Or try making the subject look elsewhere into the distance. Make sure the picture you shoot gives the viewer a sense of where the subject is looking. Give room. Ensure that your picture gets the balance right. This kind of experimentation gives you some nice moods and poses of the subject you could choose from.

Digital photography is one of the best things for the world of photography. It allows for maximum flexibility while shooting your pictures, whether you are an amateur or a professional.

For challenging underwater pursuits, you need to have a very good camera.

1. Amphibious cameras: You might encounter the term amphibious camera-this is the name the dealers use for such cameras meant especially for underwater shoots. Normal underwater cameras are nothing but normal digital cameras secured in compact and tight waterproof housing. You can down to a hundred feet with your camera being perfectly waterproof. This is a very popular type of camera with amateurs worldwide. There are two main options for shooting pictures underwater with your amphibious camera. You could use cameras with a rangefinder which eliminates the need to view your target through the camera lens. This is often very comfortable for most photographers. Otherwise, you could stick to SLR variety of amphibious cameras-where you need to look at your target through the camera lens while shooting.

1. Disposable cameras: no, these are not use-and-throw cameras. But they are basic underwater cameras. These can be used if you merely want to try a hand at shooting a few pictures while you are at a beach on a vacation. They are handy cameras and come at low prices. Apart from being waterproof, they do not offer any significant feature for underwater photography. The focus is already set so you cannot experiment with shooting at closer range. There is no flash facility. Hence, you might not be able to take color pictures at greater depths.

1. Housed cameras: these cameras with high features are for professional underwater photographers. The most compact models in this category are the Nikonos cameras. These cameras are quite expensive. With such cameras, you can buy accessories like close-up kits and extension tubes as well. These cameras are totally waterproof and encased in special housing. But they can also be repaired even if they are slightly damaged due to water contact.

But there are so many things you need to decide before you get into a store and purchase some stylish looking camera. Most of us plan about the mega pixels and the optical zoom and the works. We also look through the photography basics before we shoot pictures. But we also have to do some homework about the right accessories, without which a camera seems incomplete.

• Camera memory card

If you are buying a digital camera for the first time, this is one important part you cannot overlook. Imagine yourself going on a vacation and trying to take pictures but finding that your camera does not have sufficient memory! True, you purchased a memory card because it can be reused. But until you clear the existing contents, you cannot go on shooting pictures. For cameras with higher mega pixels, it is always advisable to go for a high capacity memory card-say 1 GB at least. Cameras come with smaller capacity cards that will not help you much when you want to take a large number of pictures. Check out the camera websites to get a better idea about the number of pictures of various sizes you can take with different memory cards.

• Memory card reader

You are the proud owner of a nice digital camera and you also have a good capacity memory card. So what comes next? Equip your camera with a good memory card reader. Normally, USB 2.0 is much faster than any other. So your reader needs to be compatible with this version to transfer pictures quickly. But ask the dealer if it is backward compatible as well so that you can use the reader on low-speed ports too. Some readers need driver software before they can work. All you need to do is insert the memory card loaded with pictures on to the reader and fit the reader into your USB port. You can now transfer all your favorite pictures to your PC for viewing anytime. Take care not to accidentally corrupt your memory card by removing it while transfer is going on. You might also lose all your precious photos. It is better to go for multi-memory-card readers so that you can use them not only with your camera but also with others.

Now that you know the basic necessities for your digital cameras, get confident and click all the pictures you want.

SLR stands for single lens reflex. An SLR camera can be used for shooting pictures from a great distance; it can also be used to get close-up shots of your subject with good macro lens. Basically, your SLR camera requires two things to be efficient: the mirror and the camera lens. Interchangeable lens are often used with digital SLR cameras. The mirror directs the light to your camera viewfinder when you are shooting a picture. This mirror is positioned just behind the camera lens. This helps the photographer to know how the image will look.

Digital SLR or DSLR cameras are widely used these days. Pictures taken with these cameras are better than the normal shots, sharper and of better quality. That is why most professional photographers own good DSLRs. The ISO level is good and hence, lighting is not a problem. DSLR cameras have digital memory cards and light sensors-this distinguishes them from film SLRs. The only thing is that SLR cameras are slightly bulky and more expensive when compared to normal digital or film cameras with which you point and click. They also give you far better control and are more responsive than normal cameras.

Most of the good quality digital SLRs have white balance and auto focus mechanisms. With flash compensation, you can control the amount of exposure by overruling the camera’s automatic exposure setting. Your SLR camera will also have a good metering mechanism for partial, full or spot metering which measure the light to adjust aperture.

There are different SLR camera types available in the market today.

1. SLR style cameras: these ZSLRs cannot be exactly classified as a type of SLR cameras because they have no mirror like normal SLRs. But they have electronic viewfinder mechanism. The EVF gives you a quality almost equal to that of the SLR’s pentaprism.
2. Fixed lens DSLR: the stationery mirrors let some light into the viewfinder and guide the remaining into your camera lens. The lens cannot be changed, though.
3. Interchangeable lens DSLR: these are the most popular cameras. These help you to choose the focal length and the angle you want. So these are good for long and short distance shots.