by Sheree Zielke

Created on: June 20, 2008   Last Updated: July 02, 2008

STOP TAKING HOLIDAY SNAPSHOTS!

Don't bore your family and friends with your holiday pictures. Wow them instead by taking great photographs, NOT snapshots.

Billions of snapshots have been taken since the introduction of the first camera, a daguerreotype, nearly two centuries ago. In that time, camera manufacturers have improved cameras to the point where they do nearly everything for the photographer except brush his teeth.

Newer cameras sport face detection, smile detection, anti-shake technology, and yet none of those technological bells and whistles will do anything to change a camera-owner into a photographer. Only an understanding of basic photographic compositional rules can do that.

Turn your holiday photographs from boring snapshots into works of art with these simple tips:

COMPOSITION and ZOOM

Decide on your picture's main subject and then zoom in. Endless shots of landscapes, no matter how pretty in reality, become boring 2-dimensional shots in the camera's eye. What you see is NOT what you get. Choose a great subject like a building, a tree, an animal, or a person, and use the landscape as a backdrop instead.

CLUTTER and CLARITY OF SUBJECT

Study the scene in front of you. Are there unflattering elements obscuring the main subject like power lines, tree branches, rocks, blades of grass, or distracting brightly colored objects? This is clutter and it is the ultimate enemy of a great photograph. Eliminate it. Change your shooting position and take a few steps forward, or to either side. The clutter will disappear like magic.

FLASH OPTIONS - ON OR OFF?

Guess what? Forcing your flash to fire in bright sunlight is not weird, it's imperative to get better people photographs. This "fill" flash eliminates unattractive dark shadows that occur under people's eyes in bright light. In addition, wherever possible, turn your flash off so you can take advantage of natural lighting. Be sure to boost your camera's ISO (light sensitivity) first.

RELATIVITY and CONTEXT

Landscapes are pretty but they are more interesting when your traveling companions are captured in the foreground. Alternatively, add a local person to better tell your story, and keep your travels in context.

Above all, when shooting people, don't pose them. Let them be themselves. Shoot while they are busy so you can avoid that forced phony smile.

CONTRAST and LIGHT

Photography is defined by the presence and absence of light - highlights and shadows. Without this contrast, a picture will be dull and uninteresting. Look for contrast - your camera will have an easier time focusing, too. Shoot during the magic hours (those hours around sunrise and sunset) and you'll get spectacular shots.

PHOTOGRAPH FIXES

There are many computer programs that help "tweak" photographic problems after the fact like exposure, colorcast, and clutter cropping.

In addition, online photography share sites like, "Flickr," are twinned with easy-to-use, fix-it programs like, "Picnik." Most photograph share sites like Flickr, Webshots, Smilebox, and Snapfish also offer quick and easy gifting features for doing scrapbooking, making mini movies, printing, and picture sharing.

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