Taking Better Pictures with Digital Cameras


Taking Better Pictures with Digital Cameras

Digital cameras are all the rage ”everyone has one or wants one. They can take great photographs, and they can make the images available to us in seconds, eliminating even the one- hour photo kiosk. They have also spawned a new generation of digital darkroom specialists, people who can make images look great, and make beautiful prints without enlargers or chemistry . In a word, digital cameras are miraculous .

But, digital cameras are still just cameras, and in the hands of a thoughtless photographer, they can produce bad images (although sometimes even thoughtless photographers get lucky!). The conventions of good composition, correct exposure, a level horizon, and other considerations apply equally to digital and film cameras. Just because you can fix a digital image easily does not excuse making a digital image badly .

Here are seven tips for better digital photography:

  • Look really look ”through the viewfinder (or at the little LCD screen) of the camera. Ask yourself whether the composition is interesting. Does everything in the shot look good? Are people positioned nicely , and are extraneous objects properly omitted?

  • Think about the use of the photograph. Should it be vertical? Do you need to establish the scene better to tell a better story?

  • Double-check white balance and autofocus ; make sure you have the white balance set correctly, and that autofocus is either on or off, depending on how you prefer to shoot. Digital cameras are unforgiving of images made with the wrong white balance setting.

  • Use fill-flash whenever possible. Even in broad daylight , fill-flash can add tremendously to an image. When photographing people, light up their faces and make them the subject of the photo.

  • Underexpose rather than overexpose. If you have the option to over- or under-expose a digital photograph, always choose to underexpose, because there are many ways to enhance slightly underexposed images. Overexposed digital images cannot be fixed, because there is no data whatsoever in the overexposed areas (see Figures 14.9 through 14.11).

    click to expand
    Figure 14.9: An underexposed digital photograph can be adjusted to open up the shadows without harm to the highlights in the image.

    click to expand
    Figure 14.10: After applying a gradient mask (left to right), the shadows are improved to make the photo look normally exposed. The highlights in the image are left untouched.

    click to expand
    Figure 14.11: An overexposed digital image has absolutely no data in the highlights (255-255-255 values), which cannot be repaired.

  • Zoom. If your camera has a zoom lens, zoom to its widest position and tell the greatest story with that perspective. Get in close and don t be shy about making the image interesting.

  • Practice makes perfect. Share your photos with your friends and family. Use them to illustrate lectures, newsletters, ads, booklets, and brochures . A lot of photography is practice, and as you practice you ll get better and better. Professional photographers shoot lots of photos (some joke that it helps them beat the law of averages!). Digital photos cost nothing, so if you don t like a photo, delete it and move on.




Photoshop CS Savvy
Photoshop CS Savvy
ISBN: 078214280X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 355

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net