Thanks!
. Seems when I take pictures most of the colors specially the blues (sky) and reds seem to wash out. Is that an inherent problem with the digital cameras? Mine is a Sony 3.1 mega pixel. Do I need to upgrade to a higher megapixel camera or am I doing something wrong?
A lot of factors can affect the color of your images, things that have nothing to do with your camera being digital (and things that are resolution independent). I'm guessing that over-exposure (you can't always rely on a camera's built-in light meter to read the right levels), lens flare (from shooting in the direction of a light source), improper white balance, or the quality of the lens are the most likely causes.
Overexposing is really harsh in the digital world. You're usually better off slightly underexposing your shots and fixing the levels in post (i.e. Photoshop). It's very tough to balance the exposure above and below the horizon during the day without a graduated filter. Of course, for nearby subjects, you can always use the camera's flash, bounce cards, or shiny boards to help bring up the shadows, but at times you simply have to sacrifice the sky to get the properly exposure.
Color is also affected by the white balance. With digital cameras and video, you can simply switch to auto white balance, or specify a preset (indoors, outdoors, fluorescent). On many cameras, you can record a custom level by shooting a white subject (holding a white or neutral gray card under your key light makes a huge difference).
That all said, I have found dramatic differences in color quality betwen Sony's CCDs and Canon's CMOS sensors...ever since I got my D60 I haven't even considered using my wife's Sony Cybershot (P1). The Sony's colors tend to have more of a "video-look" (not surprising considering CCD technology is also found in video cameras), whereas I've been getting far more "film-like" richness from my digital SLR. Of course, I also use amazing (i.e. expensive) lenses on my D60. Resolution only helps the details...
Another problem with our Cybershot is its lack of manual control over aperature, ISO, and shutter speed...if you're camera is similar, you won't have a whole lot of control over how you expose your shots. With my digital SLR, I'm constantly varying these values to get the desired look.
thanks and keep the beautiful pictures comming.
Well, then...here are some more!
Best of Show (from the side)