It is possible for nineteen dollars and ninety five cents plus the cost of the paper and framing to create a work of art worthy of hanging on your wall. All it takes is a little planning, a five to eight megapixel camera and a good printer . Today there are digital cameras that will equal the quality of film cameras, but they are quite expensive. I know you advanced photographers who swear by large format will be the first to state that large format contains more detail and less grain that 35mm and you are right. But we SLR photographers have to go with the camera that we have and work within that format. Professional photographers these days enlarge their photo image files to wall size and get beautiful results.

A five to eight mega pixel digital camera set on 50 or 100 ISO can be enlarged to 18 x 24 without showing pixels or losing sharpness. Save the image in a RAW or TIFF file. If a JPEG file is necessary, choose the extra fine option. I recommend a compact flash card with at least 512MB of memory. Even though the digital file is forgiving when printing out a slightly over or underexposed image, bracketing the average exposure is a wise precaution. The greatest danger in an overexposed image file is loss of detail in the highlights. An underexposed image file will lose definition in the shadows. By bracketing the image, some image software makes it possible to exchange portions of the images for a perfect final exposure. Digital files act more like transparency film, requiring an exposure within on half stop of normal. Do everything you can to prevent the image from softening. Clean your lens immediately before use, keep the lens out of the rays of the direct sun and use a tripod if available.

In camera sharpening is not as effective as after processing sharpening in the computer. The same goes for adding contrast to the basic camera settings. A well balanced color setting will make it easier to print perfectly. Since digital images are extra sensitive to color balance changes in light, a camera with a custom white balance is a plus. If artifacts show up in the smooth areas of the picture, a software called PureImage will remove the artifacts while preserving the edge sharpness.

When photographing nature subjects, use a smaller f stop like f4.0 or f5.6 in order to insure a good depth of field. Many types of light will produce good pictures, but the tried and true early morning/late afternoon is foolproof. Other successful lighting is shooting into the sun (bracketing is a must), using a sunset as a source and skim lighting. Use any trick to improve the dramatic values: framing the main subject for increasing the apparent depth or darkening the edges to bring attention to the main subject. Emphasize the vastness of a natural feature by including a diminutive figure in the composition or with the use of a super wide angle lens.

Telephoto lenses are often used in nature photography, even for scenic shots. The flattening properties of the telephoto lens compresses distance and plays up fog and mist for an eerie effect. Of course, these long lenses are invaluable when photographing animals in their natural setting.

Some zoos and animal parks contain enough greenery to help the telephoto lens fool the eye into thinking that these animals are in the wild. They are also useful in isolating an interesting composition when getting closer is not an option.

A vacation is an ideal time to capture beautiful scenics. A light tripod that hangs under your camera case or one of the new pod bags is not too heavy a burden and will improve the sharpness of your photographs. Remember that all hand held pictures contain some percentage of blurriness, depending on the shutter speed. A tripod enables you to choose a small aperture with no penalty. Take the time to compose your photograph, paying attention to vertical lines and how the areas are balanced within the frame. Run your eyes around the outside of the view finder to check that everything is included safely. Landscape photography is challenging but rewarding if one comes out good enough for the wall. We just may make you sign it!

Retired portrait photographer now photographs flowers and nature.