Simple, But Crucial Digital Photography Tips
With the advancements that have been made over the years to digital cameras one would think that it's a given that the better your camera the better the pictures automatically and all you have to do is press the button for great pictures. Then we woke up, it would be great if the pictures took themselves and didn't require anything extra from us, for now we need to learn how to take great pictures.
You are able to take some great photos with a simple point and click camera, and at the same time it is possible to take some dreadful pictures with a top of the line digital SLR as well. The camera alone doesn't make the beautiful photos, it's the photographer. By tweaking a few things here and there it is possible to get some amazing photos out of an affordable $100 digital camera. To help you with those tweaks, here are a few digital photography tips that will guide you to take photos like a professional.
Use a Tripod or Bean-Bag
Yes, these can be such a pain to carry around, but they’re definitely worth the time. Using a Tripod or alternative such as a bean-bag will add stability to your camera, meaning you have greater control over exposure times and composition. You’ll also never see that annoying camera shake ruin a picture again whilst using a tripod!
Get a High Capacity Memory Card
Have you ever had one of those photography days which is going perfect? The light was great, your subjects look fantastic, the weather is holding off, your capturing the shots you only dreamed of…Then it happens.. Your Memory Card is full and you don’t have a spare! You could manually sort through and delete, but it’d take hours. It’s a much better idea to spend a bit more and invest in a high capacity memory card. They’re now available up to 8GB!!
Warm Tones
Do you ever notice sometimes your shots come out having a cool, clammy feel to them? Don't worry you're not alone. Most cameras default white balance setting is set to "auto", which for most pictures is completely fine. If you're shooting outdoor sunny landscapes, change your white balance setting to "cloudy". You may be wondering why change it to cloudy if you’re taking a sunny picture, cloudy setting is like putting a warming filter on your camera. The red and yellow tones are increased, resulting in richer warmer pictures.
Polarized Filter
A polarized filter is a filter that every photographer should carry in their arsenal, for shooting landscapes and all around general outdoor shooting. The polarized lens will reduce glare and unwanted reflections, resulting in richer shots. The problem here is that not all cameras have the ability to add additional attachments on to them. Well a little ingenuity goes a long way here. If you have a pair of quality sunglasses, simply hold them as close to your camera lens as possible. Use your LCD viewfinder to ensure you don't have a sunglass border showing around your shot.
Outdoor Portraits That Shine 
Controlling your flash so that it works when you want it to not when your camera thinks that it needs it is a secret to taking great outdoor photos. If you keep your flash on, the camera exposes the background first, then adds enough flash to illuminate your portrait subject.
Macro Mode
Macro mode, or close up mode, is a fascinating option on the camera that allows you to explore the world in finer detail. It's like when you were a kid and you'd get down on your hands and knees and stare into the lawn. Everything looked completely different and more intricate down there. A simple flower from a distance looks completely different up close. Try it out, you'll be amazed at some of the images that you'll capture.
Horizontal Line
LCD's have made picture taking a lot more convenient, but at the same time they have reached havoc on some great portraits. How you may be asking, well what happens is that your camera's optics allows distortion in when trying to render broad panoramas on a tiny two inch screen. What happens is you'll be looking at your subject with your naked eye, but when you look at it on your screen everything appears to be bowing inward. There is not a magic secret that will fix this problem for you, the best advice that I can give to you would be to take a few shots at slightly different angles, also use your view finder instead of the LCD screen. By taking a few different shots at different angles, when you get home surely you'll have at least one image that comes out straight.
Shoot, Shoot, Shoot!
This will obviously depend on your memory card size as discussed in point 2, but is still very important in trying to get those great shots. Simply put, do not rely on a single shot to capture a great image. Imagine taking time finding a fantastic composition, only to find later that the shot you took has a lens flare or dark shadow in it! It’s very frustrating indeed! Take several shots for each composition, try slightly changing the angle each time. This way you can compare and choose the best one later. Remember you can always delete the image you don’t want, that’s the beauty of Digital Photography!
With the advancements in the past few years in digital camera technology, even most consumer point and click models, have the capabilities to take some gorgeous masterpieces. By being creative and having a little know how you can take some great shots.
It's not the camera that's responsible for those great photos, it's the photographer!
