Tech Talk: Digital gift-giving

Remember when holiday greeting cards were simple? Down the stationery aisle, one could find a box that had the card, matching envelopes, and, with a book of stamps in hand, you're all set. Yeah, well, that ship sailed, and these days my mailbox is filled to the brim with beaming smiles from custom printed photo postcards. And since we haven't been allowed within six feet of extended family and friends for much of the year, this may be the perfect time to join the photo postcard trend.

Get the shot

You don't need the bloated photography budget of a glossy magazine to get a good photo. In a lot of cases, a mobile phone camera will be able to do the job. The purchase of a camera remote shutter release is ideal, but all phone cameras have a timer option. With delay settings of three or 10 seconds gives you enough time to get into position. Check all the available camera settings. In order to save memory, some phones are preset to take photos at a smaller size. The simple toggle of a switch allows for higher resolutions that look as good on paper as they do on screen.

No matter how many megapixels your camera boasts, the first and most crucial step to getting a good photo is a clean lens.

Photography is a broad art form that could take years to master. Get the basics down quickly by taking advantage of camera and lens equipment maker Nikon's holiday offering of free classes. Now through December 31, all their photography classes stream for free. The main lessons are broken down into 40-second to minute long videos and are easily digestible and designed with holiday cards in mind. Consider the background decor as much as the subjects in the photo frame. Getting the photo just right with no one blinking or in motion can be tricky, but sometimes a wacky photo can best tell the story of the chaos that is the holiday season.

Make the handoff

Know your output. To bring images from our devices into the physical realm, they must be exported to a printer. This is the time to research what file types work for your printer and the desired project. A photograph saved as a JPEG or JPG file won't necessarily print the same size in every printer, whereas a PDF format size of the file will remain unchanged (much to the chagrin of editors).

Print projects that make great gifts but require particular file types are custom printed t-shirts or color-changing mugs. These would be best suited to vector images with transparent backgrounds such as PNG or SVG that do not degrade as it enlarges. If working with these different printer files sounds daunting and too much like a commercial production project, fear not. Local help is available.

This holiday season, shop local. Waitsburgers Nathaniel and Erin Murphy of N E Custom Creations have all the tools right in town. Reach out through their Facebook page and be a holiday hero.