Point-and-shoot tips
I'm not doing this to be the photographic equivalent of the Grammar Police... really! I've meant to write this for a very long time. I've learned quite a few things in my photographic exploits so far -- read books, viewed tutorials, attended seminars, pored through exhibits, made the stupid mistakes myself -- and so I'm ready to distill all that effort into just a few lines for you guys and gals reading this. Often you don't realize how wrong something is, or how to avoid it, until you appreciate what correctness is. Then you can break the rules responsibly and creatively.
Anyway, here are a few TIPS FOR POINT-AND-SHOOT CAMERA PHOTOS
for anyone making shots with anything bigger than a cellphone and smaller than an SLR.
1. Turn OFF the on-camera flash! It casts harsh shadows and makes flat light that should only appear in a bad driver's license photo. Get your subject close to a window, or turn up the room lights if necessary
2. If you are taking a self-portrait, DON'T do it in the mirror, especially with flash! Place your camera on a stable surface and use the self-timer.
3. When taking a portrait, don't get the camera lens close to the person's face. Stand way back and use your camera's zoom function to get really close. This compresses a distracting background and flatters your subject by minimizing distortion at the edges of the lens.
4. Experiment with placing your subject slightly to one side or corner of your photo instead of dead center. You'll almost certainly have a more interesting shot because the viewer can see a bit more of the background context and encourages the eye to travel around the photograph longer.
5. Fill the frame with your subject. Mom may be standing in front of Niagara Falls, but is this a photo of the falls or a picture of Mom?
6. Keep an eye on what's in the background. Don't make telephone poles, power lines, trees or other distractions grow out of your subject's head or body. Watch the corners, too.
7. Shoot at the biggest size and best quality in case you need to crop or make adjustments later that will only degrade the image.
8. All light has color, and the wrong color of light can make your subject look bad or simply ruin your photograph. Read up on your camera's white balance setting. If your camera doesn't have one, then be sure that something in your shots is neutral white or neutral gray that you can use to correct white balance later.
Anyway, here are a few TIPS FOR POINT-AND-SHOOT CAMERA PHOTOS
for anyone making shots with anything bigger than a cellphone and smaller than an SLR.
1. Turn OFF the on-camera flash! It casts harsh shadows and makes flat light that should only appear in a bad driver's license photo. Get your subject close to a window, or turn up the room lights if necessary
2. If you are taking a self-portrait, DON'T do it in the mirror, especially with flash! Place your camera on a stable surface and use the self-timer.
3. When taking a portrait, don't get the camera lens close to the person's face. Stand way back and use your camera's zoom function to get really close. This compresses a distracting background and flatters your subject by minimizing distortion at the edges of the lens.
4. Experiment with placing your subject slightly to one side or corner of your photo instead of dead center. You'll almost certainly have a more interesting shot because the viewer can see a bit more of the background context and encourages the eye to travel around the photograph longer.
5. Fill the frame with your subject. Mom may be standing in front of Niagara Falls, but is this a photo of the falls or a picture of Mom?
6. Keep an eye on what's in the background. Don't make telephone poles, power lines, trees or other distractions grow out of your subject's head or body. Watch the corners, too.
7. Shoot at the biggest size and best quality in case you need to crop or make adjustments later that will only degrade the image.
8. All light has color, and the wrong color of light can make your subject look bad or simply ruin your photograph. Read up on your camera's white balance setting. If your camera doesn't have one, then be sure that something in your shots is neutral white or neutral gray that you can use to correct white balance later.