Handy Ideas for Using a Digital Camera
Once you got that new digital camera, or smartphone with built-in photo capability, I'll bet you ran around excited with it. You snapped the kids, the cat, and all of you and emailed the photo to every relative on your list. You rushed to the mall with that stand that prints up T-shirts while you wait and got a shirt with your likeness on it. Your girlfriend, if you're in that stage of life, posed just for you, and now she's ticked because the photo got all over the Internet.
Now, you probably only think to carry it around or bring it out for those odd jobs where you want to grab an image to blog or tweet about later. "Hey!", you'll say, "This rainbow just formed over my house!" or "I was quite taken aback to discover this crocodile in my bathtub this morning." or even "Look what I caught THIS senator doing!" or whatever other amazing thing you encounter.
But here's a list of things to do with a digital camera that will make you say, "Why didn't I think of that?"
- Take a photo of your rental car, inside and out, before you drive it, and afterwards just before you return it. There, there can no longer be an argument about exactly what wear and tear on the car is and isn't your fault.
- Take a picture of a list. This is much faster than writing it down or transferring the text file from one machine to another. This is great for taking a copy of recipes to the store while you shop. It's also great for taking instructions from the computer that works, where somebody posted in reply to your question on the Internet, and going to the computer that doesn't work, where you have to use the instructions.
- Speaking of computers, if you do any work inside the case, take a photo before you take it apart, so you'll remember where all those wires go when you put it back together. This also works well for auto mechanic work.
- Win arguments at the check-out stand. When an item on the store shelf is labeled with one price but the check-out rings it up at a higher price, now you have evidence on the spot to show them.
- Legal defense. Since photos are so cheap and fast to make, there's nothing like a quick image of a scene that looks like it might be trouble, before you get into it. Great for liability purposes.
- By the way, reach for your camera first instead of your pad and pen when you need the license plate of the car that just hit you.
- Here's one for those huge parking lots like you find at airport long-term parking or Disneyland: snap a photo of the sign by your parking section, so you can find the poor thing again.
Filed Under: Digital Photography
