. By: Roy Barker

You may have been using your camera for holidays and family affairs and thinking from time to time that you one day should attempt to use it for other beneficial purposes. This is an attempt to show you some ways you can benefit from your camera but without touching on the commercial areas that we have discussed before. I have simply focussed on the overlooked areas that are beneficial to you on a day to day basis.
Make your photos look better before uploading to an online dating service;
Online dating services are just getting more and more popular. You may be considering this option to meet Mr. or Ms. Partner. You'll want to look your best to capture the attention of your potential partner, so how about brighter eyes and whiter teeth? It's so easy to enhance your digital photo using inexpensive photo editing software such as Foto Finish, Photoshop or Jasc Paint Shop Pro. You can adjust the overall brightness and contrast to generally brighten the image. Zoom in on your eyes and using the software's polygon or magic wand tool, select just the whites of your eyes. Then use the ‘adjust color' or ‘adjust exposure' tool to make your eyes brighter and less red. Similarly, you can zoom in and select your teeth, then adjust the color and exposure. And there you have it! A fresher, more alert and attractive-looking you.
What about improving the sale of goods on eBay
I'm sure you'll agree when I say that research shows that merchandise with attractive photos sell at better prices. People are naturally drawn to appealing images. To show your items at best advantage, you can rig an inexpensive tabletop "studio" using a sheet of non-glare white plastic and a PVC pipe for support. The important points to remember are having a uniform background behind and below the object and even lighting, either with shop lights or natural sunlight (through a window—it's best to shoot indoors). You may need to adjust the white balance on your digital camera, which is easy to do on most new cameras. Then you should watch the auction bids rise on that item you're trying to sell.
Store pictures of your personal possessions in case of fire, theft or loss
Before too much time and risk passes, you can quickly and easily take photos of your personal possessions such as TVs, DVD players, stereo equipment, furniture, computers and other expensive items so you have a record of them for insurance purposes. Be sure to log serial numbers and keep a record of purchase prices too. For safekeeping, transfer the images to a CD and keep it in a safe deposit box, or upload the images to an online photo storage service that offers unlimited storage, such as Pixagogo.
Your Own Digital Photography Scrapbook
This can be great fun and is always rewarding - digital scrap booking, or computer scrap booking, is the newest way to preserve your family memories. Using inexpensive, easy-to-use scrapbook software, you can create complete scrapbook designs and add fun fonts and graphics to take your scrapbook project to a new creative level. Computer scrap booking has really taken off in the last year because people are finding it is less expensive, fast and takes up less space (no more taking over the family dining table) to make a computer generated scrapbook versus traditional scrap booking techniques. Most people already have a computer and digital camera, and once you have a scrap booking graphics software package and perhaps invested in a scanner for older photos, you're ready to go. You can easily color correct images, lighten dark photos, crop out old boyfriends, and even erase scratches from old photos. Most software programs come with special effects so you can enhance your photos and pages with antique sepia tones, torn or burnt edges, crinkles, soften or fade the edges, add digital picture frames, and much more.
Remember that your camera is not just useful for work and vacations and enjoy.