Images on the Web - Digital Photography

Digital Photography offers an interesting portfolio project for students but it is not to be used lightly when embarking on a project for the following reasons:

Digital cameras are expensive and outside of the budgets of most schools;
For neophytes, both teachers and students, you need to consider investing time in training;
Though most digital cameras come with their own software for editing the digital video, you may want to by an additional package to get more options and power;
All digital video that is going on the Web must be edited, both for content and size;
Most people who visit your web site will not spend their time watching your video because it takes time to download, view and they may have to download additional plug-ins to view it. Never underestimate the impatience of a web surfer, no matter how good your video is.

Despite these cautions, digital video is becoming more and more popular, especially for teachers who like to integrate visual media into their lesson plans.

Digital video comes in the following formats:

AVI (Audio Video Interleave): this format is a Windows standard and if the majority of your users will use Windows (more than likely) you can use this format for your video.
MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group): this is the most widely used, non-proprietary format for video files.
QuickTime: this format was originally developed for Mac but it is also available for Windows.

In each case, your visitor must down the appropriate plug-in to view the video. This link will take you to PCWorld.com Downloads page for Video, allowing you to select the appropriate plug-in.

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