Most digital cameras capture images at 72dpi (Dots
Per Inch); that's good because a computer monitor only needs 72dpi.
Many digital cameras capture images in JPG and/or TIF format. We'll assume
it's JPG and show how to convert it to TIF so you can safely play around
with the image without loss of quality.
Your digital camera will almost certainly capture images at a pixel dimension
far larger than we need for display. Confused? Here's the explanation.
If you're reading this on a typical 17" or 19" monitor, it's
probably running at a resolution of either 800x600 pixels, or 1024x768
pixels.
That means the screen will display 800px wide x 600px high, or 1024px
wide x 768px high.
A digital camera of 8 megapixels can produce a picture with pixel dimensions
of 3264px X 2448px which is MUCH bigger than your screen can display,
at least without an awful lot of up/down and left/right scrolling!
It also means the file size (in kilobytes or megabytes) will be much
larger than is necessary.
SO, this is what we'll do:
Take the large JPG image from your camera and convert it to TIF.
Let you play with the image to your heart's content.
Re-size the image to a size suitable for monitor display.
Convert the TIF image back to a JPG so it will display in a web browser
(and therefore be suitable for entry in Club Digital Competitions).