Digital Photography for Beginners

Do you have a digital camera and love to take pictures? Here are some simple tips for taking nice photos that you will be proud of. I will also provide you with a simple way to organize your pictures on your computer so they are easily accessible.

Some of these tips you may have heard before but they warrant repeating. When you take outdoor pictures, be sure the sun is not behind your subject. If it is, move to where the sun is behind you. This prevents poor lighting and overexposure. With the sun at your back, it provides natural light to your subject which makes for an appealing picture. To avoid shadows and squinting, I have found it best to take pictures in the afternoon after 5:00pm. Outdoor light is still bright but not overbearing.

Shadows on or behind your subject don't make for a good picture. If you are outdoors and there are shadows, it is worth it to have the subject move to eliminate the shadow. Most indoor lights do not have dimmers on them. If you don't have this feature, you can simply utilize a lamp and face it towards your subject.

Close ups can make a great picture. Be sure you use the proper setting on your camera. On your camera, there is likely to be a picture of a flower to indicate the close up setting. If you don't see it, look at your user manual to determine how to set your camera for this type of picture. If you take it with your normal setting, you will have a blurry picture. Also, try taking the picture with and without a flash. You will probably have better results without the flash. At such a close setting, this can cause your picture to be extremely white. Try taking pictures of nature, like flowers or bees or anything you like. You'll be very proud of your results. If you like taking pictures of people, I highly recommend taking a close up of a persons face but not the entire face. Possibly put the face to the side of the picture only shooting half of the face.

Posing - Try having your subject look down or over instead of straight at the camera. You easily eliminate red eye and it gives the picture a natural look. I do this with my kids and the picture is more believable. Have them lean against a tree, lay in the grass or snow, do a head stand! The skies the limit when it comes to poses.

Action - To take action photos, there should be a setting on your camera with a picture of a person running. This is the typical symbol used to indicate action photos. If you don't see this, refer to your user manual. You can use these at sporting events, picnics, or any setting where there is a lot of movement. You don't have to worry about wasting money on film so snap pictures when people are talking, laughing, playing games or cooking. This way, nobody has to stop and pose for the camera. You get some good pictures this way. You can choose to delete them if you don't like it or you might find this was the best picture you ever took!

Focus - When you're ready to take the picture, first center your subject and only push the button down half way. This gives your camera time to focus on the center. If you want the subject in the center, then click it down completely after it has focused. If you want, try a technique where you put the subject off to the side of the picture and include a nice background. To do this, follow the same procedure for focusing the subject in the center and before you push the button down the rest of the way, move your camera slightly so the subject is to the side you want them on, and then push the button down the rest of the way. This will put your subject to the side and they will be in full focus with the background of your choice included in the rest of the picture. This is good to use when your background is real appealing to the eye or if you're traveling and you want to incorporate some scenery from your trip.

Backgrounds - When taking pictures of anything, be sure you have a good background. If there are power lines in the background, trash cans or a bunch of people that you don't want in the picture, re-position yourself and your subject. You'll be glad you did. Your picture will be perfect without distractions. Have you ever saw a place on the side of the road or at a park that was pleasing to the eye? Don't be afraid to take your camera with you to that location and start taking photos. There's a park by our house that has beautiful landscaping with water flowing on perfectly placed rocks. It's truly beautiful. Why not capitalize on the scenery for a great picture.

Take pictures of every event. It doesn't take much effort to snap a picture and it's a great way to record events in your life. Let the kids go around and take pictures for you. This is good because you get a very interesting catalogue of pictures. You're likely to delete a lot of them but who knows; maybe you'll end up in the picture! Often when you take pictures, you're never in them. Ultimately, you'll be happy you took as many pictures as you did. There are days you can thumb through the pictures online or burn them to a DVD. You can take a stroll down memory lane on your computer or TV.

Companies have made printing pictures very easy. I would suggest, picking a few pictures that you'd like to print and save them on your memory card. Take your memory card to any drug store, Wal Mart or Target and they have machines that will accept your memory card. You can request them to be printed by following the step by step instructions. They will process the pictures in their photo department and have multiple options to pickup in a few days for a lower cost per picture or you can have them ready in an hour. They also provide the option to create a CD with the pictures on it in case you don't have the ability to do one yourself on your home computer. Some of these same companies allow you to upload your pictures from your computer at home and pick them up from the store when it's convenient for you or your can have them mailed to you.

It's helps to know when you took the picture and where you were or what event was taking place. On your computer, start by creating a folder and name it whatever you want. This is where your pictures will go. Within that folder, create another folder with the year on it. Within the year folder, create another folder with the month name and year. Within that folder, create a folder for each event. I usually name this folder something like "07-04-07 July 4^th Party at Neighbors House". There's no limit to the character spaces for your pictures so do whatever helps you remember the event or easily search for it.

These simple tips should help you get started. Even if you know how to take pictures, I hope you can take something away from this article. I am really proud of my pictures and how I have organized them. If you haven't started, now might be a good time. See how good your memory is now. "When did I take this picture? Where were we? Whose birthday party was it?" When you start working on it, you're likely going to wish you had categorized your pictures a long time ago! Try to do it as you take them. It will be a lot easier.