5 Secrets to Great Digital Photos

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Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

Most modern digital cameras make it nearly impossible to take a bad photograph, but there is room for improvement with even the best of today's digital wonders. While many photographers rely on the “on board” settings and modes to take a photograph, with a few photographic “secrets” up your sleeve you can improve on many standard digital photos.

1. Composition counts - So, you're planning to take a group photo…you gather everyone in a tight bunch, center them in the view finder and take the shot. The result? A totally "standard" image that could be easily mistaken for countless millions of other group shots taken anywhere. What is the secret to improving such a traditional photographic image? Composition! Many professional photographers look at each scene for its color and content, but also consider it geometrically. This means they think about the shapes created by the positioning every item in the scene, which means consideration of the background, foreground and subject. As an example, that group shot could have been balanced much better between foreground and background without simply placing the subjects in the dead center.

2. Perspective shifting - Again, let us consider the group photograph. A really great image may have come by a photographer mounting a chair, table or even ladder and "shooting down" into the group. With everyone looking up at the photographer, the scene can take on a totally unique perspective. This is also the reason many professional photographers crouch down to take a child's candid photograph. Unusual digital photos can come from a significant shift in perspective because they catch the viewer "off guard" and makes them look at things in a totally different way than before.

3. Watch that flash! - Not all dimly lit scenes necessarily benefit from using a flash. Some images can be ruined when the flash washes out the color from the subject's faces, produces "red eye" or makes spots of reflection off background glass. Good digital photos can be created by a considered use of the flash, and this may mean bouncing the light off of a background area or nearby surface, applying "flash fill" methods to eliminate shadows in all ready well lit scenes, or turning off the flash and using a slow shutter speed or long exposure to capture the scene (such as outdoor light displays during the holidays).

4. It's all about action - most digital cameras have "action" modes that are intended to capture people or animals in motion, but unless the photographer knows when to press the shutter, the image may not be a success. The best way to use a camera in "action mode" is to keep the subject in the frame, depress the shutter only half way, and when the time is right, depress it completely. Alternately, good digital photos can be created in "continuous" mode which allows rapid-fire photographs to be taken.

5. Tricky things! - digital cameras are full of all sorts of cool settings and features and good digital photos come easy to those who experiment with the many modes and possibilities contained within even the simplest equipment.

For more digital photos & camera tips visit: http://www.digitalcameraideas.com/

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