Top Tips for Taking Digital Photography Shots

Digital Photography Basics

Technology has improved dramatically over the past decades, yet the basic principles of photography have stayed the same. While everyone's situation and applications are different, there are certain basic requirements that must always be fulfilled.

© Attila Németh | Dreamstime.com

Tweaking and manipulating images in the digital darkroom won’t make up for a poor photo to begin with. Ideally, you should get your pictures right at the moment of exposure. The following digital photography tips will help you achieve that.

I also invite you to read this page in conjunction with my digital photography glossary, which will help you decipher digital photography jargon.

Digital Photography Tips

Tips for Taking Digital Photography Shots # 1: Use a Tripod

Be smarter than most people and use a tripod. Yes, it’s inconvenient to lug it around with you, but it can make an enormous difference to the end-product. Camera shake ruins pictures like nothing else - and believe me, I've been there! If you discipline yourself to take your tripod with you where-ever you go, you will have a leg-up on many of the pro's out there!

Tips for Taking Digital Photography Shots # 2: Use a Lens Hood

An adequate lens shade will help you minimize loss of contrast caused by lens flare and veiling glare. If you don’t have one, use your hand or hat to shield the lens, but just make sure that you don't include your shield in the image! Another solution is to position yourself in the shade whenever possible.

Tips for Taking Digital Photography Shots # 3: Use RAW mode

For the absolute best results in digital photography, shoot in RAW mode and then use high-quality RAW conversion software. Particularly if the image was under-exposed, RAW format allows for much better 'salvaging' after the fact.

In producing a JPEG, or 'ready-to-use' file, a digicam has to do a huge amount of work, including what is known as de-mosaicing, so conversion results just aren't as good as when you shoot in RAW. If using JPEG, set the highest quality (lowest compression).

Tips for Taking Digital Photography Shots # 4: Close down the Aperture

To take beautiful pictures, it's essential to get your head around aperture and shutter speed - and how the two work together. If you haven't quite got it down pat yet, try the following:

Set the lens aperture to a couple of stops below wide open for the highest image quality. This goes for all digital cameras, including DSLR’s and ‘Point and Shoot’ digicams. For example, set your camera to Aperture Priority or Manual mode and choose f/8 if your lens has a maximum aperture of f/4. A lot of DSLR lenses produce their best results at a setting of f/11.

Tips for Taking Digital Photography Shots # 5: Use a Low ISO

For the best quality images it’s advisable to set the camera’s ISO as low as possible. An ISO of 100 to 200 is still fairly low grain - and useful for portraiture under controlled lighting conditions and outdoor photography on sunny days or with flash.

Tips for Taking Digital Photography Shots # 6: Avoid Zoom Extremes

Try to avoid the extreme ends of a zoom’s range, for example the very widest or the very longest settings, as this is where lens distortions and image quality tend to be at their worst.

Tips for Taking Digital Photography Shots # 7: Expose to the Right

It's essential to get your head around exposure. If your camera has a histogram, keep an eye on it and remember to expose to the right, without blowing out any highlights. Use exposure compensation if necessary, for example -1/3 stop.

Tips for Taking Digital Photography Shots # 8: Set White Balance Manually

When you’re dealing with problematic or mixed light sources such as fluorescent (which vary enormously in tone), plus incandescent, as well as some daylight, it’s better to set the white balance manually instead of relying on the camera’s Automatic White Balance. The best way to do it is to use a sheet of white paper under the same light as the subject.

Tips for Taking Digital Photography Shots # 9: Don’t Zoom Digitally

Try to avoid digital zoom. Digital zoom just means that your image is being cropped at the centre whilst maintaining the same aspect ratio, for example 4.3, and then the resultant file is interpolated in-camera up to your camera’s normal output dimensions. As you can imagine, the quality of your image goes right out the window! It’s much better to get closer to your subject and fill the frame. Optical zoom, however, is far superior to digital zoom and fine to use.

Tips for Taking Digital Photography Shots # 10: Perfect your Stance

Ensure you have a good, steady stance if you’re not using a tripod. Lock your elbows in to your body and brace yourself with your back against a support if at all possible. It’s advisable to use the Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) if you’re using a a ‘Point-and-Shoot,’ with the camera body pressed firmly against your forehead. This provides a lot more stability than holding a camera with your arms outstretched to glance at the LCD. Press the shutter gently at the end of your in-breath.

Armed with more knowledge, you're now ready to experiment. Acquiring the latest digital gear isn't enough for creating beautiful images - you still need to work at mastering digital techniques. With the awareness of a few tricks, it does become easier to get the results you want!

Feedback

(From Tips for Taking Digital Photography Shots back to Digital Photography Free Tutorials) (From Tips for Taking Digital Photography Shots back to Basic Photography Tips Home)

Read, reflect and be inspired. If you find something of value here, enjoy its gifts and please pass it on to your friends.