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Who doesn't love to capture a great smiling holiday moment with a camera? Photos have to be one of the least expensive ways to record love and remember it forever. The only trouble is sometimes what you think you are getting on film doesn't necessarily print out the way you intended. I been taking photos for about ten years at home and in many different countries. I have also studied painting. Along the way, I have found some little tricks that work to make my photos better. I want to share them with you and hope they help.

I recently discovered that when you you are taking a photograph of a large something, let's say a Christmas Tree. If you want to take a picture of someone and have their face clear, this might work. Have the person or people six or seven feet in front of the tree, and then look into the LCD view finder and adjust them accordingly and yourself accordingly. This means that you will move yourself and the camera around and adjust the people in such a way that you get the fill whole in. Their faces will be closer and clearer in the photo. The reason for this is that everything is flat in a photo. The camera does not know or show the six or seven feet difference between the tree and the people.

When taking portraits also known as pictures of people, it's always good to leave only a small amount of space between the top of your screen and the top of the person's head. This is no matter whether you are taking horizontal pictures or vertical. There are exceptions of course but for the most part this holds true. Many pictures of people have the top half of wasted space. Move closer if you have to, but only have a very small amount of space between the top of your LCD screen or viewer and the top of your subjects head.

If you are taking pictures of shy people, ask them to lean forward just a little. This brings more energy to their body and face. Be careful that they don't exagerate but don't be afraid to ask for what you want of the people your taking a picture of. They want to look good. So make them look good, and this leaning slightly forwad usually helps.

Another way to take good holiday photos is either get people in action and pick an angle so what comes into the viewfinder is a clear depiction of what the person is doing and of the person themselves. You can always give props to people and they usally will perform natually for you.

One last major tip. As the photographer, it is important that you stay under control and hold the camera steady. It is very easy to get caught up in the emotion of the moment or the the emotion of whether the photo looks good or not. If you have a LCD screen just make sure that you look closely and steadily at what your taking a picture of, and how the people's faces look. What you see is what you get with photography, so make sure what you see is what you want to be printed later.

Those are just a few of the tips for now on improving your holiday photos. I almost forgot. Pick a colorful or interesting background so that evey inch of the photo is interesting. Photography is an instant, fun, and rewarding hobby. Always have fun, be creative, but rememeber to stay in control when it comes to taking the picture.

Learn more about this author, Jennifer Vensel.
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