A question I get fairly often is “How can I take better pictures with the camera I have?” I plan to periodically post topics to help you take better pictures every day.Why compact digital cameras?
Unless you're buying a camera with a detachable lens (an SLR), you're buying a compact digital camera. They're very popular for many reasons. Like most consumers, you want a camera small enough to take everywhere, and you want it to produce sharp, bright pictures at the push of the shutter button. Most of us haven’t read our camera’s manual…and don’t feel we should have to. If you’re among this camp, it might help to know a little more about your camera’s strengths and weaknesses. In certain situations, compact digitals shine. These include outdoor pictures with overcast to bright sunlight. (I took the picture above with a $150 Canon PowerShot on a sunny day).
Unless you have a digital SLR (you'd know if you did!), your digital camera’s lens is very small and needs a LOT of light, especially with moving subjects. Where compacts have a little more trouble is fast action, and indoor low light situations. A compact’s lens struggles to let in enough light indoors to overcome movement – whether by your hand (called camera shake, which can be overcome using a tripod) or a moving target (anything moving faster than a bowl of fruit, which can be overcome sometimes - not always!- by using the flash).
Automatic doesn’t mean accurate – it means easy.
You spot your two daughters playing in the snow and think, “Cute picture time!” You head outside, camera on Auto, and start snapping. But the camera doesn’t see the girls…it sees blinding light from the white, reflective snow. It decides the scene has way more light than it needs, and drops the exposure way down resulting in a dark image…and gray snow. What your camera can’t know – this is where human decision comes in – is that you want the girls to be properly exposed, not the snow. Knowing how your camera will react in a given situation is the key to overcoming this difficult light situation. If your camera has a Manual setting, you would bump UP the exposure, resulting in true colors of the girls, and of course, bright white snow.
Have a question you'd like me to answer? Post it in the comments! I'm happy to help.
Automatic doesn’t mean accurate – it means easy.
You spot your two daughters playing in the snow and think, “Cute picture time!” You head outside, camera on Auto, and start snapping. But the camera doesn’t see the girls…it sees blinding light from the white, reflective snow. It decides the scene has way more light than it needs, and drops the exposure way down resulting in a dark image…and gray snow. What your camera can’t know – this is where human decision comes in – is that you want the girls to be properly exposed, not the snow. Knowing how your camera will react in a given situation is the key to overcoming this difficult light situation. If your camera has a Manual setting, you would bump UP the exposure, resulting in true colors of the girls, and of course, bright white snow.
Have a question you'd like me to answer? Post it in the comments! I'm happy to help.
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