Pacific Northwest Images

I’m often asked by friends with point and shoot digital cameras “how can I take a good picture?” Or even “why doesn’t my camera take good pictures?”

Below are my top 10 things that everyone can do to take better pictures. It doesn’t matter if you are shooting a digital point and shoot or a film point and shoot camera, these tips will work for both.

1. Get in Close – Fill the frame with the subject. If you are taking a picture of person, zoom in until only that person’s face will fit in the view finder.
2. Rule of Thirds – Imagine a tick-tack-toe grid on your view finder. When you frame your photo, place key elements at the intersections of these lines. For horizons, place the horizon along the lower or upper horizontal line, never in the center of the frame. Some say that the most powerful location is the lower right intersection point. Experiment with placement and see what works for you.
3. Don’t Shake – Hold the camera steady, brace yourself, hold your camera with both hands and your elbows close to your body. Lean against something, use a tripod.
4. It’s all about the light – For outdoor shots, early morning and evening are the best times to get great natural light. During the afternoon, the light may be much too harsh to get a good image so it’s time to move indoors. Try to use available light and not flash as much as possible as flash shots can look pretty harsh.
5. Flash – Use your flash when necessary. Bright days when you are shooting outside, use the flash to fill in people’s faces. If the subject is backlit by the sun or another light source, use the flash to keep the photo from being just a silhouette.
6. Watch your Flash Distance – Don’t be one of those people in stadiums shooting with a flash! On a point and shoot camera, the effective distance of a flash is around 12 feet. Save your battery and shut the flash off.
7. Find the Angle – Try out different angles, tilt the camera a little bit, shoot from a high vantage point, get down really low, shoot vertical frames and not all horizontal. Mix it up and add variety to your images.
8. Take it off Automatic – Use your camera’s different shooting modes such as landscape, outdoors, night, sports, etc. Your camera will still adjust the settings for your but now they will be biased towards the type of shooting you’re doing.\
9. Use the Right Zoom – Point and shoot cameras have two types of zooms, optical and digital. Don’t use digital as it lowers the quality of the image. You can always zoom in more once you get the image in your computer. Optical zooming will result in better images. On cameras that have both, see if you can disable the digital zoom.
10. Take Pictures – That’s right, take pictures. Lots of them, get to know your camera. Give yourself assignments to photograph one subject (like street signs) or one area (your backyard). Get out and do it and have fun!

Let me know if you have any other ideas and if you want to share some of your images.