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Take Better Pictures with
Digital Camera
by Jay Dougherty
 Digital cameras make
picture-taking fun, but they don't necessarily make it easy. When you get
home from a long day of picture snapping only to find that your digital
images do not convey the impact you wanted, disappointment is an
understandable reaction.
But the road to better digital photography does not have to be long and
arduous. Learning a few simple precepts about how to make your images more
interesting can go a long way toward giving you the satisfaction you deserve
from your investment in a digital camera.
Watch the Light
Good photographs are all about light. The word "photography," in fact, has
its roots in the Greek and means, roughly, "drawing with light."
Often what separates a good photograph from a mediocre one is how the
photographer has used light to advantage. Light serves to draw out your
subject from the elements around it. So when taking a digital image, be
aware of how the light is accenting your subject.
Specifically, it's generally a good idea to have the sun behind you or
slightly to the side when you take a picture - rather than in front of you.
Think of the sun as a giant lamp, and use it, when possible, to make your
subjects stand out.
Don't let the sun work against you. If you shoot into the sun - with the sun
behind your subject, for example - your digital camera will expose for the
sun, and your subject will end up too dark.
You can also use props to control the light, when possible. Simple
reflective surfaces can be used to bounce light toward your subject. Doing
so can dramatically enhance the quality of your photography. Any reflective
surface will do, or you can buy inexpensive, portable "reflectors" from your
local photography store.
Watch the Background
If your subject is the most important element of your photographs, the
background - what's behind and around your subject - is the second most
important element. That's because a busy or distracting background can draw
attention away from your subject and lessen the impact of the idea you
wanted to represent in the photograph.
Strive for simplicity in the background. When possible, move your subject
away from distracting backgrounds and consider blurring the background out
by setting your camera to portrait mode or using the camera in aperture
priority mode with an f-stop such as 2.8 or 4.0.
When taking pictures of people, be aware of how any background elements can
alter a viewer's perception of the subject. Posing people directly in front
of skinny trees or poles, for instance, can result in the dreaded "tree
growing out of the person's head" effect when your photo is viewed.
Go off Centre
The instinct of many beginning digital photographers is always to put the
subject in the very centre of the frame. Don't do it. Look at the
photographs of professionals, and you'll see that they often place their
subject to the side of a frame, or slightly off centre, to create a
composition that's more dynamic and interesting.
There's something called the "rule of thirds" that photographers have used
for a long time to describe how to compose a photograph. Essentially, the
rule of thirds places an imaginary tic-tac-toe board on your viewfinder,
with the centre square right in the middle of the frame. If you avoid
putting the central subject of your image in that centre square, you're
following the rule of thirds.
Get Closer
Try to take in too much with your photography, and you'll end up with
pictures that do not draw the viewer's attention to any one specific
element. So one trick that seasoned photographers use is to represent the
whole with a part - a branch and colorful autumn leaf, for instance, rather
than a wide shot with a couple of colorful trees among the other elements.
Most digital cameras today come with a "macro" mode - a special setting that
allows the camera's lens to focus closer than it normally does. Put your
digital camera in macro mode, and then see how close to a subject you can
get while retaining the ability to focus the lens. Combine getting close
with other lessons of good composition, and your photographs will almost
instantly be more interesting to look at.
Get the Color Right
Digital cameras don't see colors the way we do. In the sun, blue will look
different to your digital camera than blue in the shade or indoors under
artificial light. That's why most digital cameras have what are called
"white balance" settings that are pre-tuned to typical lighting situations.
By default, digital cameras are set to "auto" white balance, but you can
change the setting easily. Doing so will give you better color out of the
camera and allow you to spend less time trying to get your images to look
right into the computer.
DPA | April 1, 2007
Image by RK
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