Purchasing a digital camera takes you one step away from amateur photography and one step closer to taking crisp, beautiful and professional-looking photographs. The techniques for operating a digital camera are essentially the same as a film camera. The real skill is in using a few essential photographic techniques in order to optimize the benefits of a digital camera. By using these easy techniques, you will be well on your way to taking professional, high-quality photographs.
Instructions
Take Professional Pictures with a Digital Camera
1. Carefully select the object, person or landscape you want to photograph. In order to get the best results from your digital camera, you need to first choose what you want to photograph. Simply putting your arm in the air and snapping the shutter won't produce a good photograph.
2. Compose your shot by looking into your viewfinder at your subject matter and using an old artist's rule, the "rule of two thirds." According to visual artist, designer and photography Samir Bharadwaj, "The idea is that if you draw lines over your image to divide it into three equal horizontal rows and three equal vertical columns, you are most likely to get an attractive result if you place your major points of interest at the intersection points of the lines or along the lines" (Reference 1). A way to understand this better is to imagine taking a picture of a person. You don't want their head to be at the very top of the frame, but rather two-thirds from the top.
3. Use the natural light more than your flash. The camera's flash should be used sparingly, as it tends to dilute natural light and the true colors of landscape and skin pigments. One of the benefits of having a digital camera is that you can set your camera to "automatic." What this means is that the camera will automatically adjust the camera to different light settings. Allowing the digital camera to record the natural light in a photograph will only enhance the look of the final shot.
4. Use the digital camera's zoom lens. The kind of zoom lens will be different for every camera. If you have a point-and-shoot digital camera, the zoom lens will likely be just below the shutter release (the button you push to take the picture). If you have a digital SLR camera, you will control the zoom of your lens by twisting the lens back and forth. The reason it benefits your pictures to use the zoom lens is because you can get close to your subject matter, and allow the high-pixil digital camera to record crisp, clear details of your subject matter.
5. Look at the photograph you took immediately after you take it. Perhaps the greatest benefit of the digital camera is that you can immediately see the photograph that you recorded. In most digital cameras you can see the last shot by pressing a "Play" button. This will show you, either in the viewfinder or a separate viewing screen, the picture you just recorded. Therefore, if you don't like the photograph or didn't position your subject just as you wanted to, all you have to do is take another photograph.
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