Important Notes for your Camera
Experiment with exposure Digital cameras usually work best in sunlight, just like film cameras. When you move indoors, or into dim light, things get much trickier — just like film cameras. So experiment.
If you can, shoot your subject from different angles and with different lighting. If you can manually turn off your flash, do so. Other flash settings can also be tried such as ‘fill flash.’ Sometimes even a perfectly exposed picture can be improved with fill flash. Other times turning off the flash leaving the subject underexposed can add an element of drama.
You can take the same photo three different ways using three different exposure options and the result will be three totally different pictures. What’s even better is that all three can look good, but you have to experiment.
If at all possible, bracket your shots, with one shot slightly underexposed, one slightly overexposed, and one “just right.” Some digital cameras will do this automatically, but even then you need to practice. If you are expecting the camera to shoot one frame and it shoots three, there is an excellent chance the last two will look like they were taken by a very surprised photographer.
Special Features: Many digital cameras now come equipped with a variety of special features. Some of these include allowing you to take short QuickTime clips and the ability to record sound annotations. Even though some allow you to experiment with effects such as black and white or sepia-tones, focus on mastering the basics first before taking on the special effects.
Keep in mind that some of these tricks, such as black and white or sepia-toned images, can be done without the camera. Just load up a normal color image in Photoshop and, in a few minutes, you can have perfect black and white or sepia-toned photos. In other words, if you can do it easily in Photoshop, you might be better off concentrating on taking a good color photo, and worrying about special effects later on at your leisure.
On the other hand, you should try out other special effects. For example, if you pan your camera to track a car moving at high speed, the car will be in sharp focus but the background will be blurred, making an interesting picture. Or you can do the opposite: focus on a particular stationary object — a child flying a kite, a freshly-painted fire hydrant — and allow a speeding car to enter the frame. You’ll then have a sharply focused center of attention with the added benefit of motion.
Silhouettes are another nice special effect. Try taking a photo with your subject in shadow, eclipsing a brightly-exposed object in the background. Now try the reverse, a brightly exposed subject against a dark background. One can be just as interesting as the other. Getting a good silhouette with film is expensive, as you shoot a lot of frames with little or no reward. There is no cost with a digital camera, just a little time and patienceboth of which will be well worth it!
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