How to Take Perfect Pictures: Getting the Best Picture Quality Out of Your Everyday Snapshots

Summer Vacation is the perfect time to take new photos of friends and family. They have all changed during the year and everyone will be together during the season. But you don't have to make a big photographic deal out of it. With today's digital cameras, taking quick snaps is simple. Here are some rules for getting the best picture quality cut of each snapshot situation. Following these simple steps will make all your pictures look like they were taken by a pro, and less pictures will end up in your computer's trash bin when going through all your shots the next day.

Move in close. Get as big an image as you can. Crop in the camera instead of on the enlargement. If a portrait, take in only the face and shoulders. (Do your subject a favor - you don't need the belly in his portrait, and neither does he.) And if you really want a big head, turn the camera to the vertical and move even closer. The same holds true of groups. Stack them up tight and eliminate the empty spaces.

Keep the background where it should be - way back. You can do this by being sure that there are no distracting patterns of wallpaper, pictures, drapery or lamps intruding into the foreground- The simple way to avoid this front-back conflict is to choose a plain wall as a background. Or, if you can't control the scene, at least watch out for heads growing lamps and other strange headgear.

Don't pose your subjects smack up against a wall - leave some breathing space and also space for the shadow cast by the light to fall back. If you have bounce flash, try flashing backward into the corner where ceiling and wall meet for a softer bounce light. When photographing groups remember that flash light falls off rapidly, so don't shoot down a line of diners seated at a table. Instead, choose an across-the-table view so that they all get about the same amount of light. Use a slow shutter speed, if your camera has this option, combined with flash. In this way, the room lights will be on and the flash will freeze the action. Just be sure to hold the camera very steady so that ghosts don't get in the act. (The "ghosts" are the double images registered by the slow shutter.)