Digital images are created by light being focused onto semiconductors. The popularity of digital cameras has been closely linked with the increasing popularity of personal computing, both in terms of making advances features possible and how people prefer their pictures. Digital photography allows a paperless age, where people often prefer to store, view, and share images over the computer instead of printing them physically.

Photography is driven by creativity. You want a basic yet thorough process though when selecting a digital camera. The Internet has extensive information so no one needs to make their camera purchases blindly.

Certain features are invaluable for different types of photography. A large zoom lens is great when taking pictures of the great outdoors. Children move fast, so when taking photos of kids in action you'll want a fast response time. For indoor photography with people in set poses, you'll want a model that is good in dim light.

Novices should stick with a basic well-rounded model until you learn more about taking digital photos. A more advanced model will do you little good, and by the time you'll learn it well there might be tempting new technologies available. There are two primary types of digital cameras - the Point-and-Shoot, and the Digital SLR.

Point-and-Shoot Cameras

Most of the settings on the point-and-shoot are automatic. It can adjust to many different environments and lighting without you doing much. If you want to customize there will probably be a mode preset for you to use, with settings tailored for outdoors, indoors, sunny, cloudy, and so on.

The ISO (sensitivity to light) and focal length are calculated for you when using automatic settings. Some cameras are excel more at different environments than others, so keep that in mind.

The compact camera can offer solid features as well as small size, including image stabilization and blur reduction. Some even have face detection. You should also be able to find many compact cameras that offer a large, easy to use LCD screen.

Optical zoom cameras can capture small details that compact cameras might not be able to. Optical zoom is different than digital zoom - with optical zoom, the image is physically adjusted and looks natural. Digital zoom crops the image and then enlarges it, which can reduce image quality. Not everyone has use for an optical zoom; beginners probably don't need one unless they love distant landscape type shots.

The Single Lens Reflex (Digital SLR) Camera

Digital SLRs have a dual-function lens. SLRs are for advanced users - they have wide arrays of manual controls, and can also offer interchangeable lenses. This is a camera that can unleash the creativity of a photographer who is truly dedicated to getting the perfect shot.