Top 5 Tips for Using Your Digital Camera

I recently figured out that I'm now using my fifteenth digital camera. Having grown with these wonderful beasts as they've developed from slow almost unusable toys to the amazing, feature packed units that are now available, there are a few common tips I want to share with you which, if followed, I guarantee will improve your pictures. And all these tips will work no matter what your caera is - I promise!

Tip #1 - Have Your Camera With You.

I don't care how good a photographer you are, if you havn't got your camera, you can't take the picture! How many times have you missed that shot of the kids playing, or the dog rolling on the grass, or that wonderful sunset, because your camera was safely tucked up at home instead of in your pocket, handbag or in the back of the car! A camera is a tool to take pictures, so keep it to hand - you never know when the next opportunity will come up.

Tip #2 - Set the Resolution as High as Your Camera Can Go

Most digital cameras allow you to set the resolution of your shots to different settings. Many people see that if they set the camera to a lower resolution, they can take more shots before their memory card is full - that's gotta be good hasn't it? NO NO NO! The lower the resolution you set, the less detail is recorded by the camera for each shot, so the shots look more blurry and jaggy the bigger they are printed. Memory cards are REALLY cheap, so buy a bigger card, and make sure that your camera is set to always record at it's highest resolution - your shots will look miles better!

Tip #3 - Get in Closer.

Most of the shots whch we take are of people - our loved ones, workmates, club members - the guys we spend time with. Look at your last set of shots - how big are the faces in each shot? Those beach shots with a tiny figures indistinct in the distance surrounded by wide sand expanses... Next time you get the camera out, go in CLOSE. Fill the frame with the head & shoulders if you're photographic just one person, or as much of the frame as possible with the upper bodies & heads of the group. Faces are generall what we focus on, so fill your shot with the stuff you are looking for!

Tip #4 - Turn Your Camera Through 90 degrees

If you always take your shots so they come out with the long edge at the bottom, you are shooting in "landscape format". But think about it - most people are long and thin (relatively!), so the landscape format means you have lots of space to the right & left doing nothing. Next time you take a shot of a person, turn your camera through 90 degrees, so the frame now has the SHORT edge on the top & bottom. Follow Tip #2 and get in closer. Hey, guess what - the parson now fills most of the photo - no wasted space to the sides!

Tip #5 - Focus on the Eyes.

Now you're getting in close, you need to get really creative. Assuming you are using your camera with the auto settings, there's normally a little box or cross in the middle of the frame as you compose your shot which is where the camera is going to focus - this determines where the really sharp (not blurred!) bits will be in the final shot. When photographic people, we all instinctively look for the eyes, so make sure that you focus on the eyes, or the bridge of the nose between the eyes.

Learn more about this author, Joe Houghton.
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