Digital Photography 101

Of all the industries forever changed by the rise of the internet and digital technology, the photo industry has probably been one of the most radically changed forever. Can you remember the last time you took a roll of film to the drug store for developing? Yeah, we can't either.

If you are still taking shots on that old film camera your dad gave you when you were 12, the same one he got as a graduation gift back in the day, then it's high time you moved into the 21st Century. There are so many cool things you can do with your images now, that it would be a shame to limit yourself.

The first thing you'll have to do is get a digital camera, and it's easy to get bogged down by so many choices. Thankfully, the makers of digital cameras have gotten most of the kinks out of their products, so you can buy pretty much any brand of camera and get excellent shots. Whether you choose a simple point and shoot or a more advanced SLR with changeable lenses depends on how much you want to use your camera and what you want to do with your images after you take them.

If all you'll ever want to print is the standard 4"x6" print with the occasional enlargement to 5"x7", then pretty much any camera with at least 3 megapixels will do. For 8"x10" or larger print, you will probably want to go with at least 8 megapixels or more. Beyond that, it just depends on the features you want. Checking out a digital camera review site should help you narrow down your choices.

Once you have the images on your camera, you'll want to get a simple photo editing program to really make the shots pop. Relatively inexpensive software programs like Image Doctor 2, ACDSee Photo Editor 4.0, or Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 make covering up mistakes like blurring and red-eye a cinch to fix, plus they'll allow you to tweak colors and contrasts to turn a simple snapshot into a work of art.

When you are ready to flaunt your snaps, you can upload them to any one of numerous photo hosting sites such as Flickr, PhotoBucket, or ShutterFly. These sites will help you set up collections of your best work to share with others, plus they also offer printing of your shots that's even more effortless than visiting the local drugstore.

Of course, if you want to exercise the maximum amount of control over the printing of you photos -- or simply want to save some cash in the long run -- you can select an ink jet printer that will allow you to print your photos without ever leaving your desk.

With Christmas coming up, you'll be happy to know that there's more you can do with your photos then simply make prints of them. A simple Google search will yield a plethora of potential gifts: professionally-bound photo books to showcase your portfolio or even document that trip to Hawaii you took over spring break; photo mugs with your mug printed right on them; personalized calendars with a different photo for every month; or cool little business cards that show off 100 of your very best shots. You can even make a digital slide show that can be embedded into your blog or Facebook profile.

Oh, and check this out... you can even get one of those snazzy digital photo frames that can be loaded with all your best photos and displayed on your desk or bedside table. Sweet!

Whatever you end up doing with your snapshots, be sure to back up the originals just in case your hard drive crashes someday. There are all kinds of storage devices that can hold all your photos in a small space, so safeguard them for future generations!

-Guest columnist E. Ott

Game Review: Assassin's Creed

Assassin's Creed
XBOX 360, PS3

Nutshell Review:
Worth Buying A Must-Play Game

Pros: Beautiful graphics, innovative fighting system, unique storyline, extremely fun "free-running" maneuverability, good voice acting, decent game length, lush game environment.

Cons: Repetitive game-play, main character dies if he falls into water, limited options for executing each assassination.

Full Review:

In this much-anticipated release from Ubisoft, you play as medieval assassin Altair, the deadliest member of a mysterious assassin's guild known as The Brotherhood. Set during the third crusade in the war-torn cities of Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus, Altair is tasked with tracking down and executing nine highly influential targets. With beautifully rendered, heavily populated medieval cities to traverse, tons of stylized sword-fighting and acrobatic chase scenes, nine high-profile assassinations to perform, a seriously mysterious storyline that subtly mingles past with present, and enough free-running to feel like a 12th century Peter Parker, Assassin's Creed is a game that will be remembered.

The first thing to mention about Assassin's Creed is the graphics. You'll be struck by the sheer amount of diversity that the game achieves. Any game that boasts of crowds of civilians and large collections of buildings seems bound to make use of repetitive character and architectural design. With a game like Assassin's Creed, you would expect to see the same nine or ten civilian-clones reappearing everywhere, or the same handful of buildings distributed cookie-cutter-style to constitute each city. However, of the hundreds of small and large buildings that make-up each city in Assassin's Creed, and the 30+ groups of citizens crowding the streets, you'll be hard-pressed to find any two identical buildings or civilians. Despite the fact that most players will be more focused on evading guards and running around than observing each individually crafted stone wall and cluttered vendor's table, the amount of detail put into the game definitely enhances the sensation that you are interacting with a living, breathing universe. This actually allows the player to focus more on the action-oriented parts of the game, as there will rarely be a moment when the player is distracted by an irritating design flaw, such as an encounter with a group of six or seven identical civilians.

Next to the graphics, the free-running mechanic in Assassin's Creed is the game's strongest selling-point. For those of you who don't know, the general idea behind free-running is that there are faster ways to travel through a city on foot than using sidewalks, staircases, and ladders. Though there is some limited horse-back riding, free-running is by far the quickest and most enjoyable method of transportation for getting from point A to point B in Assassin's Creed. As an expert free-runner, Altair can perform some pretty impressive acrobatics, clambering up the side of building by, say, hopping from a windowsill to a flagstaff to a window-grating to the top of a doorway. Once the player is comfortable with the highly-intuitive free-running control system, Altair virtually glides through the city. The experience is similar to webbing around a metropolis as Spiderman, only without the web.


It's a good thing that the game-play in Assassin's Creed is a lot of fun, because it is fairly repetitive. Upon arriving to the city where an assassination is to take place, you'll need to climb one of several tall buildings in the area to scope out portions of the city and spot opportunities to learn more about your target. You'll generally be gathering information about your target through chance moments of eavesdropping, pummeling town know-it-alls into telling you what they know, and pick-pocketing important documents off of various townspeople. You'll also be able to spot fellow members of The Brotherhood who have information to give you in exchange for the completion of some task, which inevitably involves collecting flags or killing people. The player can also choose to save random citizens being tyrannized by town guards, which will increase Altair's reputation in the city and cause certain citizens to help him if he gets into trouble. Once a requisite amount of information has been gathered, the assassination can be performed. Though each target has a unique personality and background story, Altair kills them all in more or less identical ways (stabbing them, basically). It is a bit anti-climatic to spend an hour getting ready to kill a book-burning zealot, only to finish him off with the same move you'd use to take out a town guard. Repetitive game-play is the only real flaw in Assassin's Creed, but most players will feel it's an easily forgiven hitch in light of all the fun they'll be having.

Though this game is about performing assassinations, make no mistake: Assassin's Creed is not merely a stealth game. There is a "suspicion meter" on the HUD that monitors whether or not town guards are oblivious to Altair's presence, suspicious of his behavior, or are actively chasing him down and trying to kill him, and certain tasks are automatically failed if Altair brings too much attention to himself. Though the game is certainly designed to encourage discretion, it has its full of high-intensity sword fighting. Combat in Assassin's Creed typically involves Altair surrounded by a group of angry guards, dodging under sword blows, flicking out the occasional throwing knife, parrying attacks and delivering vicious counter-moves. Altair is somewhat of an exceptional swordsman, and it is entirely possible to take on large groups of town-guards without being killed.

The storyline in Assassin's Creed will take most players by surprise, as will the sudden shifts between past and present. Without divulging too many details about what happens, the first ten minutes of the game introduce an ever-mysterious plot which only gets stranger as the game progresses. By the end of Assassin's Creed, you'll know a good deal more about what is going on than when you started, but the developer's seem content to leave all of the big questions unanswered - a move that strongly suggests a sequel.

If you can afford it, Assassin's Creed is definitely worth purchasing; if you don't have a lot of spare cash, it would probably be better to select a game with more replay value. With stunning graphics, an immediately easy-to-use control system, a carefully written storyline, a solid 15-20 hours of game-play, and a healthy balance of action and stealth, Assassin's Creed is an excellent development in the world of video games.

-C. Whichard, Guest Reviewer

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