Digital Photography Tips

This page is dedicated to helping YOU take better digital photographs.
There is definitely more to taking a good picture than "point and shoot".
I also give you tips for better editing and presentation of your photos.

These are photo tips that you can really use!

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Digital Photography tips you can use:

By Sara Beveridge

1-Take lots of shots of your subject. How do you think photographers end up with one good one?
One of the biggest complaints film photographers have about digital photography is how easy it is to erase a photo. Don't be in a big hurry to delete a photo. Take several good looks before you delete. You may even want to upload it to your computer so you can get a better look. Once you delete, it's gone forever! Some of the best photographs ever taken were thought to be a mistake!

2-Back up all your photos on a CD, Flash drive or external hard drive. What would happen if your computer crashed and you lost all your photos? You would be very upset, wouldn't you? Don't let that happen.

3-Read the user’s manual to your camera and get to know all of the settings and in what lighting or situation you would use them. This will greatly improve the quality of your photos!

4-You can use your flash outside in the daylight. This helps to eliminate some shadows and fill in where light is needed. This helps when you are shooting around trees or if your subjects are wearing hats.

5-Use a tripod whenever possible to avoid the "shaky hand" effect. You can get a decent lightweight tripod starting around $20.00. If you will be shooting outside in windy conditions then you will need a more heavy duty tripod.

6-Another way to avoid an out of focus picture when you are shooting free hand is to get much closer and do not use the telephoto setting because that will cause a blurry shot. Get in your shot!

7-Use a tripod and the self timer on your camera to take photos of flowers when it is windy outside. Be sure you use the Macro (close up) setting for close up shots. You'll have a much nicer picture.

8-Shoot at your cameras highest resolution and invest in multiple memory cards or one big card of at least 1 GB. This will assure that you will always be able to take as many high-resolution shots as you want without running out of space. This is especially good if you are going on vacation.

9-Don't you hate it when your batteries go dead right when you are shooting a great picture?! If your camera uses AA batteries, never use plain alkaline. Invest in 2 or 3 sets of re-chargeable "nickel metal hydride (NiMH)" batteries and a battery charger. Always bring an extra set (or 2) of fully charged batteries with you and leave one set in the charger for later. Carry lithium AAs for backup and travel. Lithium batteries cost more but last five times longer and are lighter weight than the traditional type. These batteries will hold a charge much longer and are more dependable. I actually have 3 sets. One set is in the camera and 2 sets as back-up. Whatever type battery your camera uses, invest in extras, I never miss a shot due to dead batteries.

10-A very fun thing to do is have a "slide show" for your family and friends using your TV and your digital camera. Most cameras come with an AV connecting cable that connects to the audio/video input jacks of your TV. Refer to your user’s manual on how to connect properly. Be sure to rotate your pictures if they need it. Take advantage of this really neat feature!

11-If you don't already have one, I would purchase photo editing software. It is very easy to edit your photos for exposure, cropping, etc. These programs can give you a much nicer looking shot with a couple of small adjustments.

12-If you do not have a program like Photoshop, the best way to edit or alter an image is by first saving your photos in TIFF format. Re-save the image in TIFF format, rather than in JPEG, which is the most common image format. Every time a JPEG file is opened and re-saved, data are thrown out and rebuilt, so the file starts to degrade. A TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) file takes up more space in your computer's memory but will better preserve image quality as you work with your photo. You can then re-save the photo as a JPEG file when you are finished and ready to print.

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Photographic Art by Sara Beveridge / www.sarabeveridge.com