In the modern world of digital cameras, all it takes is to point a camera somewhere and press the button. Modern automatic cameras take care of most of the work and provide you with a mostly passable picture. But clicking pictures just like this without any thought leads you to a situation where all of your photos look unsatisfactory. It takes just a few steps to avoid this. Read on to know how:
Learn when use flash light and when not:
While using Auto mode, you need not to worry about flash light as it automatically use sense and take pictures with or without using it. However, sometimes you may want to use a different setting. In most cameras, there is a button, usually with a lightning icon which can cycle through different flash settings. As a default mode, flash light is on during indoor shootings and when shady days. During daytime, using flash even in a shade is not advisable for most conditions. You can do various experiments with flash light. Turn off the light under menu setting when you get enough light from window for indoor photography.
Use Zoom In and Zoom Out:
When doing macro or potrait photography or other close up shots, sometimes the camera’s auto focus refuses to work. Try taking the picture froma different distance and byusing zoom and manual focus. During portrait photography too, use zoom out/in technique. When camera is too near, animals may feel threatened and people may feel self-conscious. Avoid this by using zoom function of your lens wherever needed.
Tripods for Night photography and motion blur
Night photography needs extra steady hands or a good quality tripod. It’s done on slow shutter speeds and high exposure which means that the camera needs to be absolutely steady while clicking pictures. To take long exposures during night, you should not use flash light. Tripod are also a must have accessory when you are trying to take pictures with blurs like vehicle light trail on a highway.
Learn about manual mode:
It sounds intimidating to most people, but using manual settings in certain conditions can make a world of difference for casual photographers. While using auto mode, camera decides settings for ISO, aperture, focus and shutter speed. Although this auto mode works more or less well for most conditions, adjusting this features manually can make it even better. Although some features are available only in DSLRs and other high end cameras, most basic point and shoot cameras do come with controls for such settings like ISO, shutter speed, flash and so on.
Best source of information to get you started is the manual book of camera and later on you can move on to advanced tutorials. Start by learning to manage ISO settings, shutter speed, aperture, manual zoom and other adjustable settings.
Battery:
Battery is the heart for any camera. While shooting in unfamiliar location, most of the photographers face the problem of low battery. Always keep one or more extra charged batteries in a camera bag so that you will not be hindered by a drained battery.
Keep your camera ready at all times
Before going for photography, learn about standard settings of camera like aperture, ISO, shutter speed, focus and other available settings. Learn how to use functions of different buttons and their effect on a picture. Using night settings dring day time and vice versa are a sure shot way of destroying any good shot. You should have the knowledge to adjust your camera settings to suit different conditions like variable light, motion , focus etc.
Change in locations will help you learn new photography technique. Learning all this looks tough and first but becomes easy with practice.
Improving casual photography