Digital Photography Tips and Tricks

The most important part of your camera is the 12 inches behind it! ~ Alfred Eisenstadt, 1945

The modern digital camera does not have to be any more difficult to understand than the Kodak Brownie camera of the mid-1990s.  A camera is simply a light-proof box.  It has a way to let light in (a lens).  It has a way to keep light out until you are ready (a shutter).  It has a way to record an image, so you can reproduce it later.  In older days that was film.  Now days that is replaced by an electronic sensor.

Film was used only one time for one picture.  Film had tiny grains of silver halide imbedded that would physically change when exposed to light.  Digital sensors have millions of tiny components called pixels (picture elements) that record the amount of light that strikes each one when the shutter is open. 

The modern digital camera is actually a small computer that gathers the information from each pixel for each picture and resets the pixels to be ready for the next picture to be taken.  The information gathered from each pixel is recorded on a photo card that can be placed in a computer to see and reproduce the photograph.

Capturing great images is far less dependent on the cost of your camera than on the way you use it.  The cheapest digital camera is capable of taking excellent photos.  Even cell phones now have excellent cameras as one of their features.  It is you, the photographer, that has the largest impact on the quality of the photos. 

The steps you can take to get better photos vary somewhat according to the subject matter of your photos.  Today, let's focus on taking better photographs of people.

Unless you are shooting mug shots at the police station, try to avoid the straight-on shot of the smiling person centered in the viewfinder.  Shoot people as they relax naturally or interact with others.  Compose the image so that the person is off-center but facing or looking slightly into the middle of the picture.  You want to see what they are looking at, not that they are looking away from the scene.

DO NOT TELL THEM TO SMILE!  Let them be natural.  If you want them smiling, say something funny and shoot them while they are reacting.

Flash is a deadly weapon.  Learn how to turn off the flash in your camera and almost all photos will be better.  Use the flash only when there is just no available light, or in bright sunlight when faces are in shadow and hard to see against a bright background.

Don't be afraid to get too close.  Zoom in and get just the face for really great and personal shots.  Other good shots happen when you have something in the scene to put the picture in context.  A birthday cake or other "prop" can enliven an otherwise drab photo.

Finally, pixels are cheap!  Take far more photos than you think you need.  You can delete the bad ones and it won't cost you anything for those.

My email address is ler@digphotopro.com.  I am available any time to answer questions or help solve photo problems.