When digital cameras were first introduced they were used mostly as digital replacement to film cameras. Users would shoot photos, print them and archive them in photo albums. As users became more sophisticated new ways to use digital photos were found. Here are a few.
The most basic thing you can do with a digital photo is print it and view it on paper or save it on a computers hard disk and view it on the computer screen. There are however some other ways to use and enjoy digital photos here are a few ideas:
Desktop photo wallpaper: Your computer desktop is a great place to display special photos. Setting a photo that you like as your desktop wallpaper allows you to view it every time you log on to your computer or have your application windows minimized or consume only part of the screen. You can also use software that allows you to choose a list of photos to rotate through as your desktop wallpaper: it can be done on a time basis (the photo is changed every X minutes, hours or days), or on a random basis (the photo is changed to a randomly chosen one every X minutes, hours or days).
Photos in your screen saver: When your computer is idle it can be programmed to do one of many things: turn off the monitor, go into standby mode or show a photo (either a full screen photo or a smaller photo that floats around the screen). You can program your screen saver to show a photo that you especially like or you can choose a list of photos the screen saver will rotate through (either on a time basis or on a random basis). Setting your photos as your screen saver or desktop wallpaper allows you to view and remember experiences on a continuous basis. Viewing is something that happens in the background, does not consume dedicated time.
Digital photo frames: Digital photo frames are devices that elevate photo frames up to the digital era. Traditional photo frames have a single paper print inside a frame that you hang on the wall, put on your desk or on a shelf. On the other hand digital frames embed an LCD screen that allows you to display different digital photos at different times. There are many types of digital photo frames some can receive the photos wirelessly from your computer while others has internal storage for up to a maximum number of photos. Other features include the ability to read memory cards content directly from your camera. Most digital photo frames can work in few modes: show a single photo until you manually switch to another one, roll through a list of photos or show photos randomly.
Photos in cell phones: New cell phones can do much more than voice calls. They include cameras and allow you to take photos and short video clips. They can also store photos and display them on their small LCD screens. If you have a photo that you like you can download it to your cell phone (usually using special software that is bundled with the cell phone) and set it as your cell phone wallpaper. In this way you carry the photo and its experience with you all the time and can share it with people you meet.
Photos as personal icons: Some software allow you to load any photo you like that will represent you when communicating with other users. MSN messenger is a good example when you chat with a friend you can set a photo that your friend will see that represents who you are and what you feel. You can load photos that tell something about you and about what youre going through maybe a photo from your birthday party if you had one in the last week or two or from your last trip abroad.
Digital photos in blogs and social networks: Social networks and personal blogs are extremely popular. Almost everybody has a page on one or more such networks. You can upload photos to your personal page that represent who you are and what you are going through. It is a good idea to keep those photos fresh if something happens to you, if you saw something interesting or if you took a photo that you would like to share with others for any reason upload it to your page and let everybody see and enjoy it.
This list is just a short example of what can be done today with digital photos. This list is far from being inclusive and what it really intends to do is to seed your imagination so that you can come up with more out of the box ideas for using and enjoying digital photos.