Photoscout

• 4 Digital Photography Tips

  Many people believe that digital cameras do all the work in shooting digital photos. After all, you only have to push the button and amazing photos magically appear right before your eyes. This is not true, of course. You can make beautiful images using a simple camera or lousy photos using the most expensive digicam available in the market. The point is that fantastic shots are not due to the type of camera alone; the photographer is the one that makes the stunning images. With a willingness and a little knowledge, you can make great photography using even the simplest digicam. Here are four tips that will help you shoot photos like a pro.

  1. Know your digicam

  All too often when people buy a digicam, they excitedly rip off the box and then proceed to tinker with the gadget. They briefly browse through the manual and then never read it again. This is not a good idea at all. You have to understand how your digicam works. You need to know how to control the flash, how to play with different camera modes, and how to control exposure. The knowledge you obtain about your digicam will be priceless when you’re out there shooting special photos.

  2. Learn to use the flash

  Controlling the flash is an important thing you must know about digital photography. Photographers do not rely on the digicam’s automatic flash setting. You have to switch on or switch off the flash, depending on the situation. For instance, it is sometimes advisable to switch on the flash when taking outdoor photos. This is to illuminate your subject, particularly if the object or person is in the shade. Also, you can choose to switch off the flash when you are taking indoor shots since using the flash indoors sometimes results in unnatural skin color.

  3. Play with the macro mode

  Remember the time when, as a kid, you discovered an entire community of ants that you never knew existed while playing on the grass? Nowadays, you might not want to see yourself on all fours just to have a detailed view of flowers or insects. All you need is a digicam that has a close up mode and you are ready to explore the world in finer details. A macro mode is perfect for taking detailed shots of objects.

  What you need to do is to choose a subject (a flower or an insect), switch on macro mode, and then get as close to your subject as your digicam will allow. Focus your camera properly before you depress the shutter button completely. Since you have shallow depth of field when you use the macro mode, you have to focus on the detail that interests you the most, and let the other parts of the subject go soft.

  4. Play with the ISO setting

  Basically, the ISO setting controls the image sensor’s sensitivity to the amount of light present. Always use a low ISO setting if you are shooting a photo of a still object such as fruits. This means a longer shutter speed and a cleaner image. If you are taking a photo of an object in motion, like a young boy singing, then use a higher ISO setting. But remember, the higher the ISO setting, the faster shutter speed; and also requires less light. Thus this will yield noiser photos.

  Posted in Digital Photography

  This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 1:53 pm and is filed under Digital Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  September 2nd, 2008 /

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