Arts and Entertainment: Photography

Digital Photography Tips To Get The Best Photos

If you use your digital camera to its best advantage, you can create images that will rival even the best film images. The basics in using a film camera are sometimes carried directly over into digital photography, and there are various tips that can help you to optimize the quality of your digital photographs.

A tripod is quite useful if you are using a slow shutter speed, or large telephoto lenses. You can stop action more easily with faster shutter speeds. Center your focus on the part of the scene you feel is most important, and use dramatic lighting for best effect.

Since point-and-shoot cameras of the digital type have automatic exposure and focus, it's pretty easy to snap a photograph. More advanced cameras do have automatic controls, but these also have special features to make them more flexible to use.

Getting the best photographs from digital cameras means starting off right. Understand the scene you are shooting, and how you want the finished image to look. Keep the camera very steady, or your images will be blurred, or their sharpness reduced.

If you want to under-expose or over-expose your photograph, darker subjects can be overexposed to make up for the lack of light in the scene. Snap a photo and check it on the screen of your camera, and then adjust the exposure if you need to.

You can use the auto-focus zoom lens on your digital camera to fill the frame of the photograph with your subject. Rather than looking at the center of whomever you are photographing, look carefully at the entire picture frame and then at the size of the subject. This will help you to fill the frame with the desired image.

Photographs can be created in a more interesting way if you use an angle that is different than your normal point of view. You can look at your subject from the side, or even from a lower vantage point if you kneel.
Children and pets are easier to photograph when you place yourself closer to their level, and they'll be less intimidated by the camera that way, too. You can also find a higher place from which to take your photograph, with a downward view of the subject.

You never know when the perfect photo opportunity will present itself, so keep your digital camera with you when you can. If the light isn't just right, you know now how to account for that, and sometimes a scene will be "right" just as it is. Be sure to take your camera with you on vacation, so that you can capture the most memorable images. You can also use a digital card and card reader, for the most efficient way to get your photos on your computer to edit them.