How to Take Excellent Pictures with Your Digital Camera

These days, decent-quality digital cameras can be purchased for as little as $100. Bump that up to about $250 and quality approaches professional levels. Taking really good digital pictures depends only partly on the camera, though. The most important part of taking a digital picture - as with a film picture - is the person who pushes the shutter release button.

Do you have what it takes to take great pictures with a digital camera? Learning just takes time and practice -- and a little basic knowledge.

Camera ABCs

First things first. When looking for a good quality digital camera, check out the reviews. More money doesn't always equal better, and doing your homework online costs nothing. There are several review sites online. The most comprehensive is at www.dpreview.com. Their site allows you to browse by brand name and specific model. It provides an in-depth analysis of most digital cameras now on the market. Dpreview.com compares a specific camera to other brands and models, giving pros and cons of every model, and even showing the results of the same picture taken with different cameras.

More Isn't Always Better

Contrary to popular belief, high megapixels don't automatically equal a crisp, clear image. As the number of megapixels rises in digital camera development, the camera has to cram more and more information into a set amount of space. Sometimes the pixel size gets crunched so small that the color dots(or pixels) end up bleeding over to surrounding pixels. That results in a blurry image. An example is the Canon A630 digital camera vs. the Canon A640. They're the same brand and the A640 is the upgrade of the A630. The A630 has an 8 megapixel sensor, while the A640 costs $100 more and has 10 megapixels. Of the two, the A630 takes cleaner pictures.

Noisy Images

Indoor photos in low light will often be "noisy." Noise, in reference to digital cameras and images, means the tendency to pixilate. At close inspection, a shadowed or gray area will have dots of every color of the rainbow. The lower the light, the more noisy images will be, no matter which camera is used. Noise filters are one solution, though they have their pros and cons. A noise filter on a digital camera will remove a lot of the pixilization. It also tends to soften the image, sometimes causing noticeable blurring.

ISO

While the ISO rating originally referred to film, the principle carries over to digital camera. An ISO 100 setting, for example, would be used in normal light outdoors and in the studio with strong lighting. It's based on the ambient light. When the setting moves indoors, the ISO number should go up. An ISO of 400 might be used indoors during the daytime, and 800 with incandescent lighting at night (without flash.)

Depth And Aperture

Have you ever seen an image in which the foreground is crystal clear but the background is fuzzy? The depth of an image is set by the aperture. All cameras -- digital and film -- allow light to enter through a hole behind the lens. The aperture setting allows a manipulation of the size of that space. In digital or in film photography, the aperture settings are commonly known as f-stops, which refers to the lens focal length. A higher f-stop number extends the distance at which an image is photographed clearly. A lower f-stop will mean closer objects are in focus but further ones will be blurred. The aperture setting also regulates how much light reaches the recording medium, whether you're using film or a digital camera.

Shutter Speed

Aperture settings may determine the depth of a field, but the shutter speed can make it possible to take a picture of fast motion, or to take one in which motion is intentionally blurred. Slower shutter speeds also allow for long exposures, useful if taking photos of the stars and the moon, for example. A faster shutter speed means there's less chance of blurring, but also requires stronger light to create a clear image. Extremely slow speeds, such as those used at night, require a tripod for clear pictures.

Composition

Composition is just a fancy word for what's in your picture and in what part. Composition is also a little trickier to explain, because it's a matter of personal taste. In general, everyone can take a straight-on photo. The more interesting pictures, however, are taken from odd angles, such as down a long corridor, the corner of a house, above or below a face, etc. From an artistic standpoint, think about the part of the picture you want to be most important. Then position the camera so that focal point is off-center, both vertically and horizontally. If the angle doesn't suit you, move a couple of feet and take the picture again. And again, if necessary.

Strong colors make the best pictures, though the whole image doesn't have to be saturated with deep or bright color. For example, a brilliant turquoise sky may frame softer hues of a sun-washed building.

To Flash or Not to Flash

Knowing when to use your digital camer's flash takes time and experimentation. Some pictures will work either way, depending on how you set other features. Other times, flash won't be negotiable. When in doubt, take pictures both ways and compare. Generally speaking, a digital camera requires the same level of light as a film camera. Too much light will wash out everything. The best option is to play with aperture and shutter settings first, then with flash.

There are times when flash is pointless even if it's dark. If the subject of the picture is more than

When More Means More

Digital camera have one huge advantage over film. With memory cards of a gigabyte and up in modern cameras, more pictures can be taken in a single session. When the memory card is full, it's a simple process to either put in a different memory card or download pictures to a PC and start again. Furthermore, digitals allow you to peek at your pictures via an LCD screen. If there's a bad picture, deleting it takes a few seconds and that space is free instantly for more pictures.