Going Digital, By Alex L. Goldfayn

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Going Digital:
Simple Tools and Techniques for Sharing and Enjoying
Your Digital Photos and Home Movies

Welcome to the official home page of Alex L. Goldfayn's first book, GOING DIGITAL.

Quick Links for GOING DIGITAL:

GOING DIGITAL: Table of Contents

A Letter From the Author

Introduction

CHAPTER I THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DIGITAL

CHAPTER 2 YOUR DIGITAL TOOLBOX
Everything you need to capture, organize, edit, share and enjoy your digital photos and home movies

CHAPTER 3 GOING SHOPPING
How to ﬁnd the best prices on the best technology for you

CHAPTER 4 PRINTING YOUR PHOTOS
How to get fabulous, great-looking snapshots that look and feel like ﬁlm photos

CHAPTER 5 SHARING DIGITAL MEMORIES
How to enjoy your photos and video with family and friends

CHAPTER 6 DIGITAL PROJECTS
Fun, inspiring, heart-warming projects for your digital photos and videos

CHAPTER 7 CAMERA PHONES
Everything you need to know about camera phones and what to do with them

CONCLUSION A Final Word: Now, Go Digital!

APPENDIX A Reference Guide: Online Resources for Going Digital

APPENDIX B Reference Guide: Real World, Resources for Going Digital

NEW: An Excerpt From GOING DIGITAL

The following is an excerpt from the opening pages of GOING DIGITAL.

A Letter From The Author

Dear Reader,

I believe this little book will change your life. And if you give me the next five minutes – the time it will take you to read this brief letter – I’ll tell you how. And why.

The thing is, you’ve been through a lot. I’ve been covering technology for newspapers, magazines and television news programs for many years, and I know how difficult it is to keep up with all the new high-tech products that are fired at you by the technology industry. It seems like every day – heck, every hour – there’s a new product released that’s better, faster, cooler, sexier, bigger (smaller), flatter (wider), more metallic, less blue, etc. than the one that came before it, or, worse, the one you invested in not long ago.

Which one should you buy? What’s worth your hard-earned money? And why, oh why, does the technology industry insist on talking about their tools in a foreign language? We always hear about megabytes and megahertz and megapixels (oh my!), but we almost never hear about the real, meaningful, life-improving ways in which we can use this new technology. Whether it’s in ads, or in your local newspaper’s product reviews, everybody wants to regurgitate technical specifications. But nobody talks about what a particular technology can do for you.

And with cameras and photography, this has been especially true, and particularly painful. You see, until very recently (the last five years or so), photography had not really changed. We took pictures with 35-millimeter cameras, we captured them to film, and we got them developed into prints at the store. That had been the process for 50 years or more. Then, suddenly, dramatically, digital photography came along and turned that process upside-down.

With digital, the cameras still look the same, but there are hundreds of them to choose from: big ones, little ones, itsy-bitsy ones, and even ones on your cell phone. No more film: the pictures are stored on memory cards. And all kinds of weird language is used to describe these digital cameras: megapixels, digital zoom, optical zoom, USB and Firewire, XD, SD, CF and MemoryStick Pro Duo, which is different from the MemoryStick Pro (duh!).

All this is a big problem because it has to do with our photographs. The memories of our lives. Think about the first thing most people say they would pull out of their home if it was on fire. Even a sitting President has talked about it.

When George W. Bush was touring the Southern California area after it was severely damaged by wildfires, he met with reporters and recounted a conversation he had with a woman who lost her home. The first thing he told the journalists was how horrible he felt that she lost all her photographs in the fire. Her pictures, he said simply, were gone.

In the New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina ripped through and after the flood waters rose, many attempted to return to their homes for their family photos. When all else was lost, many counted their photos, wrapped in plastic bags, among their last possessions.

Our photographs make up the memories of our lives; they are among the most emotional, meaningful and significant things we have. And when we’re gone, our photographs become the legacies of our lives. They’re the history we leave behind for our children, their children, and everyone who comes after us.

All of which is exactly opposite of the impersonal, cold way that digital cameras are presented to us. The impossible-to-remember model numbers, the sheer volume of models, and the high-tech specifications that are used to describe digital cameras don’t exactly put us at ease about making the switch from film photography to digital.

But that’s only the beginning.

Everywhere I go – whether at dinner parties, speeches or television news interviews – people ask me the same question: “What can I do with the photographs?” With film, we knew what to do. With digital, many people don’t even know how to get the photos from their camera to their computer.

Many people still don’t know that you can make super high-quality prints from your digital photos at your local drug or camera store today. And if they do know that, they probably don’t know how to do it. We don’t know because nobody has taught us. We’re relying on the technology industry – which has a hard time creating a readable user manual – to teach us how to get the most out of our photographs.

Further, you probably don’t know how to enjoy your photos in your living room, on television, playing to the music of your choice. This can be done right from your computer, or through a DVD complete with professional-looking menus. It’s no surprise that you don’t know how to do this: nobody has taught you how.

Also, if you’re converting to digital photography, what’s to become of your old, non-digital photos? From now on, will there always be two categories of family photos? The ones in albums, and the ones on your computer? Of course not. But nobody has taught you how to combine them.

And, what of your home movies? The ones from your life, and your children’s’ lives? Can they be edited (yes), narrated (yes again), and set to music (of course)? Can you combine old movies with old pictures on a cool DVD that you can share with family and friends? Most definitely.

In this book, I will teach you how. In simple, easy-to-understand, non-technical language, I will teach you how to do all of the above. You’ve had enough tech-speak, and, frankly, so have I. It’s time to talk about the all of the fabulous things you can with your digital photographs and home movies in simple English.

This little book will arm you with the tools and techniques you need to share your digital memories with friends and family online and offline, on the computer and in the living room. It will give you a world of wonderful possibilities for your photographs and home movies – your family memories, your history, your legacy. Which means that what you’re about to read will not only affect your own life, but the lives of your children and grandchildren, your family and friends.

Respectfully,

Alex L. Goldfayn

Where Can You Buy Going Digital?

Click on these links to go directly to the GOING DIGITAL page on these sites:

Wherever books are sold, online and offline.