9 Tips For Taking Great Digital Photos

Written by Christopher Thomas


Introduction

Modern cameras are highly automatic in operation. They have auto focus and auto exposure. The camera will focus onrepparttar subject - often identified by a small circle or square atrepparttar 116004 centre ofrepparttar 116005 viewfinder - and calculate an appropriate exposure by detectingrepparttar 116006 level of reflected light - usually fromrepparttar 116007 same spot. A slight pressure onrepparttar 116008 shutter release will activate those two functions, without taking a picture. Further pressure onrepparttar 116009 shutter release will result in a photo being taken.

1 Take care to Focus and Expose onrepparttar 116010 Subject ofrepparttar 116011 Image

Imagine you are taking a picture of your girl friend againstrepparttar 116012 background of an interesting harbour. Your girl friend is six feet away whilerepparttar 116013 harbour is around 50 feet away. You position your girl friend carefully - she is important to you - at one side ofrepparttar 116014 picture with an interesting view ofrepparttar 116015 harbour inrepparttar 116016 distance. Now do you want to focus onrepparttar 116017 harbour - or your girl friend? Positionrepparttar 116018 square or circle atrepparttar 116019 centre ofrepparttar 116020 viewfinder overrepparttar 116021 spot that you want to focus on and correctly expose - take a slight pressure onrepparttar 116022 shutter release - and keep that pressure while you moverepparttar 116023 camera to framerepparttar 116024 image you want to take - then, and only then, pushrepparttar 116025 shutter release fully down and takerepparttar 116026 photo. If you want to have everything in focus - then see 7 Depth of Field.

2 Carefully Compose Your Shot

Before takingrepparttar 116027 picture take a careful last look throughrepparttar 116028 viewfinder. Checkrepparttar 116029 composition, and particularly that heads and feet are included, and that all faces are visible in anything otherrepparttar 116030 smallest of groups. Withrepparttar 116031 camera taking care of focus and exposure - you haverepparttar 116032 time to concentrate on gettingrepparttar 116033 composition perfect. Photographic amputation of limbs is unforgivable!

3 Setrepparttar 116034 Colour Balance Correctly onrepparttar 116035 Camera

Digital cameras have controls that allowrepparttar 116036 operator to setrepparttar 116037 nature ofrepparttar 116038 lighting illuminatingrepparttar 116039 subject. In general they will default to daylight, since shots are likely to be taken outdoors. On this setting, pictures taken indoors under artificial tungsten lighting will look yellow - they will have a yellow cast. Pictures taken under strip lighting will look green. Settingrepparttar 116040 camera appropriately will produce consistent balanced photographs. Look inrepparttar 116041 camera manual to see how to setrepparttar 116042 control - it is very easy. Flash guns produce a light, which is very similar in colour 'temperature' to that of daylight.

4 Don't Expect Too Much fromrepparttar 116043 On Camera Flash

The on camera flash is designed for convenience when shooting a small group of people. It will not illuminate a hall. When watching public events onrepparttar 116044 television it is somewhat surprising to see members ofrepparttar 116045 audience inrepparttar 116046 Albert hall take a pocket camera out and shoot a picture with their flash. This is unlikely to be successful. Better to turnrepparttar 116047 sensitivity ofrepparttar 116048 camera up - say to 800ASA -repparttar 116049 'film speed', or sensitivity. This might produce a better result. Do not confuse sensitivity ofrepparttar 116050 camera with shutter speed. They are different. An on camera flash will illuminate only a short distance - as a guide pick up your cat firmly with two hands byrepparttar 116051 tail and swing it around at arms length - that isrepparttar 116052 sort of distancerepparttar 116053 flash will illuminate!

5 A Tripod is Essential for Long Distance Shots

Photo Software for Your Digital Images

Written by Gary Hendricks


If you’re just starting out in digital photography, you may be worrying a lot about which digital camera to get. While that is important, do remember that there is another element – image editing. After digital photos are taken, they can (and should) be cleaned up using an image editing program. In this article, we’ll take a look atrepparttar various types of photo software available inrepparttar 116003 market. Beginner Photo Editing Software If you’re new to editing digital photos and images, a basic photo editing software is what you need. These programs tend to have standard image editing features and allow you to perform basic image editing tasks like rotation, sharpening, cropping andrepparttar 116004 like. You can refer to my list ofrepparttar 116005 top 5 beginner photo editors for more information.

Personally, I rely on a great tool called Ulead PhotoImpact 10. This program allows you to all sorts of image effects to your photos using clean, simple-to-use wizards and menus. What’s more, it’s one ofrepparttar 116006 cheapest commercial grade photo editing packages I know of.

Advanced Photo Editing Software If you need more power in your photo editor, you need to turn to advanced photo editing software. Examples include Adobe Photoshop CS and Corel Painter. These programs have high-end features not found in typical lower-end packages and are used by professional photographers. Their prices are also much higher – so do your research first if you’re thinking of buying one. Free Photo Editing Software There are, in fact, many photo editors available for free download onrepparttar 116007 Internet. These programs offer basic image editing features and are usually written by individuals. If you want to have a feel of how to edit your photos, try one of these programs out. You can refer to my list of free photo editors for more information.

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