Basic Digital Photography Tips for Beginners

When you buy your first digital camera it can be intimidating. There are so many buttons and settings on a digital camera that it can leave the novice feeling a bit at a loss. Many people deal with this by simply leaving there camera set to auto mode. This mode allows the camera to do all the thinking for you so you can just take pictures, but sometimes your camera makes the wrong choices. Understanding your camera functions and simple rules of light and composition will help you take better pictures. Here are some tips to get you started.

Read your camera manual. Yeah, I know it's boring, but knowing what your camera can do will save you a lot of headaches in the long run. When I bought my first digital camera I didn't read the manual at all. Instead, I tried to figure my camera out by just using it. Let's just say that didn't work out. There were tons of things my camera was capable of that I wasn't even aware of until I read the manual six month later. Don't make the same mistake I did. Read your manual. Learn about your camera setting. Test those settings out so you know what they mean.

Try taking the exact same picture using all of the different setting on your camera. You can compare these pictures to give you a better idea of what these settings do.

Take a lot of pictures. The more you use your camera the better you'll get at using it. I know you've heard the phrase, Practice makes perfect. Well it's true. Practice, practice, practice.

There are a whole host of words that people use when they are talking about taking pictures that mean nothing to people who aren't involved in photography. Understanding these words will make the many photography tutorials you find online easier to understand. Here are a few words that you should know.

Aperture - the opening in your camera lens that allows light to enter the camera creating an image on the sensor. Think of the aperture as similar to your pupil. The wider open it is the more light it lets in. On your camera f-numbers are used to measure the aperture opening. If the f-number is small, for example f/4.5, the camera's aperture is open wide. If the f-number is large, for example f/22, the aperture is small.

ISO - used to describe how sensetive your camera's sensor is to light. ISO is denoted with numbers like 100, 400, 1600. The higher the ISO the more sensitive the sensor is. Set your camera at low ISO settings most of the time because these lower settings will give you a clearer picture.

Noise - the visual distortions that appear in an image.

Lag Time - the amount of time between when you push the shutter button and when the camera actually takes the picture.

Shutter speed - how fast the shutter opens and closes.

White Balance - a camera setting used to compensate for different colors certain types of light cast in a picture.

These are just a few words you should know. There are a whole host of others.

Composition is one of the key points of photography. Good composition is one of the things that will set your picture apart from any other snapshot.

Keep your pictures simple. Avoid pictures that are full of objects with no real focus. Your viewer has to know where to look in your picture. If you have no real focus when you take the picture it will be visually confusing.

Notice the background and foreground. Are there objects in the picture that distract from it? Can you remove those objects just by changing the angle of the photograph? If so do it. If you are taking a picture of a person notice if there are any objects in the background that may appear to be jutting out of their head in the final picture. If so move so the object doesn't appear to be behind their head. If you're using a flash make sure there is nothing shiny behind your subject that will reflect the flash back into the camera.

Don't put your subject in the center of the picture. Placing your subject slightly off center will add visual interest to the picture.

Fill the frame. Don't be afraid to fill the frame with your subject.

Light is extremely important in photography. Knowing how to use light to your advantage will help you become a better photographer.

When taking pictures outdoors there are two times of day that provide you with beautiful light. During the hour just before sunset and just after sunrise the sun casts a lovely golden glow that looks great in pictures. This time of day is especially good for landscape photography.

If you are taking pictures in harsh afternoon sunlight you'll need to use a fill flash or reflector to get rid of the shadows that will appear on your subject's face. When you use your flash in these conditions it is called a fill flash. When using your flash to fill in shadows it doesn't need to be as strong as your flash normally is. Many DSLR cameras allow you to control the intensity of the flash. If your camera doesn't you can dim your flash by taping a piece of tissue or wax paper over it. A reflector is just a large reflective surface that you can use to aim the sun into the area where the shadow is. You can use a large piece of white poster board or a sheet of Styrofoam if you don't have a professional reflector.

When using artifical light to light your subject be aware of the shadows the light is casting. You can use multiple lights and adjust those lights into different positions to lessen the shadows. Experiment until you get a look you like.