Digital Camera Information Brochure, Essay Example

How to Take Great Digital Photographs

Your first goal when taking a digital photograph is to ensure that you get a great picture first time. Just because you can take multiple pictures with a digital camera does not mean you should! If you get into the habit of just snapping off pictures in the hopes that at least one will be “good,” you’re setting yourself up for failure. Here are some tips for making sure you take a great picture every time you press the shutter button.

You need to hold the camera steady. A good idea is to wrap the camera strap around your fingers so that they are out of the way of the viewfinder; this will also help to stabilize the camera. Also get in the habit of using the optical viewfinder rather than the electronic viewfinder. When you hold your eye up to the optical viewfinder, you naturally keep the camera steady. You also avoid the effects of too much light interfering with your view of your subject.

It is important to focus every shot you take with a digital camera. Many digital cameras require longer to focus than film cameras with the result that you end up taking shots that come out blurry. Good practice is to focus on your subject, wait for at least five seconds, and then take the shot. If you are using zoom to take a picture of a distant subject, you may wish to use a tripod to steady the camera.

A great advantage of using a digital camera is that you can instantly preview a shot and determine if you’ve achieved exactly the effect you want. If a shot is blurry or someone’s eyes are closed, you can take the shot again. However, don’t let the preview capabilities of digital cameras lull you into thinking you don’t need to carefully focus and compose your shots. Try to take a great picture the first time, knowing that, if you absolutely have to, you can delete it.

Take every picture at the very highest resolution and then download your pictures frequently from your camera to a memory stick or your computer. You want to avoid being in a situation where the perfect picture is just waiting to be taken and you’ve run out of memory! Get in the habit of clearing your camera of all pictures every few weeks or months, depending on how frequently you take pictures. If you are on holiday, take along a good supply of memory sticks on which to save your photographs. A good rule of thumb is to keep no more than 100 pictures on your camera at any one time. That way, you always have room when the once-in-a-life time shot suddenly presents itself.

Taking great pictures isn’t a science—it’s an art! You can have the best equipment in the world, hold your camera steady, focus correctly, and still take ho-hum pictures. Good photographersknow the rules of good composition. Good photographers may also break these rules, but at least they know when they do and why.

Carefully identify exactly what you’re taking a picture of. Avoid cluttering your pictures with too much content. Focus on one thing and make it the center of attention. If you’re taking a picture of a group, zoom in on the group so that every face is clearly visible. The background should all but disappear.

Deconstruct your subject into geometric shapes such as lines, circles, and triangles. For example, imagine you want to take a picture of a train track going off into the distance with green fields on either side. Rather than taking a picture of the tracks straight on, walk a little to one side and make the tracks bisect the picture at a 45-degree angle. That way, you give your picture dynamism.

Use framing to draw attention to a subject. For example, shoot a picture of a tropical beach through the veranda door or shoot a medieval street scene framed by an arch. In nature, trees provide great natural frames. A scene of a lake, for example, is much more visually interesting when a tree arches over one corner.

Avoid taking every picture from eye level. You don’t see the world only from one angle, and your camera shouldn’t either. In the forest, get down on your knees and shoot straight up into the canopy of trees. When taking a shot of children, crouch down to their level. When taking a group picture, climb up a few stairs and look down so that the whole picture is filled with faces looking up. After all, it’s the faces that are the most interesting!