It's June again and that can only mean one thing, SUMMER ! This is that magical time of the year when the kids are out of school, the temperature is rising and vacation plans are in full swing.

Remember those summers of old ? You know you were out of school for 3 full months, no homework, summer romances, going to camp, and let's not forget the beach. Man what a great time in your life.

June brings lots of photo related events with all it's summer expectations. There's that last summer you before college, maybe the special dinner you'll have this year with your Dad on Fathers' day. Then there is the invitation for your second cousin's, niece's wedding. This is the season of Grads, Dad's and Brides to be. It is also the second most photographed season in the year so don't miss a minute. Whip out your digital camera and let that shutter blaze you through the memories. Pack extra batteries and memory cards and don't forget to get double sets of prints for the family. Here are some tips that will help you to make the best of your picture taking this summer season.

Grads

Outdoor - Most graduation ceremonies take place out doors. This makes exposures easy and inviting. Even if you are taking photos in a well lit area, consider using a flash to help compensate for the light and insure that you will be getting great pix. Most digital cameras allow you to see the photo immediately after you take the photo, however don't be fooled by a bright screen, you might have a dark photo. Activate the flash so that it will be on all the time not just when the camera thinks it should be.

Auditoriums - If your graduate is accepting their diploma in an auditorium, keep in mind that you might be sitting far away and the lighting is bad in there. Most of these caves are lit only by florescent or a similar light which will turn your photo's green. The way you can over come this is to change the white balance on your camera to a florescent setting before you take your photo. This will correct the color for you based on a greener lighting scenario. The other thing you can do is either set your digital camera to automatic ISO/ASA setting so that the camera uses a higher setting for the darker conditions. If you don't have an “auto ISO “ setting on your camera we recommend an ISO of 400 for most consumer grade digital cameras and as high as 800 for pro & pro-am cameras. This will reduce your dependence on flash.

Flash Photography - You will note that we bring up using a flash in both of the standard graduation scenarios. One really big thing to note is that your on camera flash is not all that powerful. Any subject that is more that 5-8 feet from the camera will likely not have a significant amount of exposure from one of these little onboard flash units. So make sure you are close enough to your graduate to allow that flash to work to its full potential. If you are in the nose bleed section of the auditorium, your flash will only make for a nice light show, and give you a great exposure of the two rows of people in front of you. Wait til you can be close to your graduate to get their picture.

Dads

Ok most dads don't like getting their picture taken, yes even on Fathers Day. They do however love electronic gadgets. So do the next best thing to taking your dad's picture; get him a new digital camera for Fathers Day. Most 3-6 mega pixel cameras are within the range of 1 or multiple family members. Some really great models include The Canon A430 for just $179. This is a 4 mega pixel camera, plenty for your weekend warrior and easy to carry in their pocket. Others include the Fuji finepix A510 also for $179 and it is a 5 mega pixel camera. As we have said before we recommend you stop by www.dpreview.com to check out the latest in digital cameras.

The Bride to Be

June is the month that everyone wants to get married. We do mean everyone. Taking along a pocket sized digital camera is a great way to share this event with friends and family. From the ceremony to the reception you can get close up candid shots to share with those you love. We suggest being more than just a bystander. If you are sporting a 5 or 6 mega pixel camera, you can make a simple slideshow of your favorite images from the event and send them to the bride and groom after the wedding. There are a huge number of free and low cost slideshow programs out there that will allow you to download your pictures arrange them to music and burn them to a CD. Your camera may have actually come with such a program. Some programs we found online include Picasa from Google. This is a downloadable program for not only doing online sharing of your images but it will help you to store and organize your pictures. Another downloadable program called momento will cost you $50 but that is a great price for a personalized wedding gift. Others we found for about the same price are.

Xequte and a great online slideshow like smugmug, that you can purchase to keep up with friends and family for just $39 per year, would enable you to do this year's wedding(s), graduation(s) and Fathers Day all on one site for everyone to enjoy. What a bargain!

We hope however you spend your summer season it includes a lot of great photos and memories of the people and events that mean the most to you.

- Aloha