Setting Up Your Digital Camera

Setting Up Your Digital Camera

Windows XP recognizes common cameras and scanners , so often you need only attach the device to your computer and Windows XP will recognize the new hardware and set it up automatically. You'll know this is happening because Windows XP alerts you with messages that pop up in the system tray.

If you have a camera that Windows XP does not recognize, you can set it up manually using the Scanner and Camera Installation Wizard. Follow these steps:

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Your camera most likely came with a disk with the appropriate driver (the file that tells Windows the technical details about the camera). You can use this disk to set up your camera. (This may be your only choice if your camera model is not listed in the Scanner and Camera Installation Wizard.) To do so, click Have Disk when prompted to select the manufacturer and model and then select the drive that contains your camera's disk. Follow the steps for that process, clicking Next to go from step to step.

Transferring Pictures

The basic mechanics of using a digital camera are that you take the pictures and then download them to your computer. When downloaded, you have several options for working with the pictures as covered in this section.

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Windows XP prefers that you store these images in the My Pictures folder. Your particular camera software, however, might automatically transfer the images to another folder. For instance, with my Kodak camera, the transfer program places all the images in the Kodak Picture folder and names each folder by the date the images were transferred. You can always move and rename the files. Chapter 3 covers how to rename and move files.

The steps vary depending on your camera setup, but the general process for transferring pictures is as follows :

1.	Connect the camera to your computer via a cable.
2.	Using Windows XP's Transfer Wizard or your camera's Transfer Wizard, transfer the images from the camera's memory (or media card) to your hard disk.
3.	Select any options for the download. For instance, you may choose to delete the pictures from the camera's memory after downloading. As another option, you may select to download only some of the images or all the images. Figure 12.4 shows the download options for Kodak's transfer program. Figure 12.4. You can download pictures from your camera to Windows XP.

Check your particular camera and its transfer program for the specifics.

Working with Picture Files

After the images are transferred or scanned (scanning is covered later in this chapter), you have several options for working with the files. This section covers how to organize, edit, and insert pictures into documents. The next section covers options for printing photographs.

Managing Picture Files

Here are some of the common things you do with pictures to prepare them for printing or emailing:

• To organize pictures, Windows XP includes a special folder named My Pictures. Consider placing all pictures within this folder. You can create subfolders within the main My Pictures folder to store similar pictures together.

• When you open a folder that contains pictures and then select picture files, the task pane displays picture- related tasks . For instance, Figure 12.5 shows some pictures from a digital camera.

  Figure 12.5. In the My Pictures folder, you see commands for working with pictures.

  

  
  

• The default names used for the images are not descriptive. To effectively store your pictures, you should rename them. To do so, right-click the image, select Rename, type a new name , and press Enter. This process can be tedious , but you will be glad you went to the trouble when you are looking for a photo. The folder names are usually the dates of transfer (2005_12_09, for example). Again, rename these to something more descriptive (such as Michael's Birthday).

• Picture files can be large. You usually don't want to permanently store them on your hard disk. Instead, you can work with them and then print or email them. After those tasks are finished, you can consider a more efficient storage media. For instance, if you have a CD-R disk drive (the R indicates recordable ), you can store pictures on a CD disk. To copy pictures to a CD-R disk, right-click the folder or picture(s) you want to copy and then select Send To. From the Send To menu, select CD drive and follow the instructions in the wizard.

• You might also simply want to delete the picture files. (If you keep all your picture negatives from a traditional camera, you'll want to save them to another medium. If you throw out the negatives after receiving your prints, you might want to delete some, if not all, of the picture files.)

Editing Pictures

Most cameras come with software for working with the images. You can use this software to get rid of red eye, crop images, combine images, and make other changes. This is yet another benefit of digital cameras ; you have many options for improving the shot.

For instance, Figure 12.6 shows a picture opened in JASC Paint Shop Pro. You can use the many features of this program to adjust the color , crop the image, add a frame, and even add special effects. For specific instructions on using your program, consult that program's manual or online help.

Inserting a Picture into a Document

You might want to insert some images into a document. For instance, you might include product pictures in a catalog, or you might include family photos in a Christmas letter. As another example, you might insert images into a Web document if you want to display them as part of your Web site.

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If you don't have software or if you want more sophisticated program tools, you can purchase a picture-editing program. These range from simpleAdobe's $99 Photoshop Elementsto complexthe complete Adobe Photoshop. You can find other programs besides those created by Adobe, although Adobe is the most popular.