For many people, the pictures they take with a digital camera are a disappointment. It doesn’t have to be this way. The technology exists inside almost every digital camera to take better pictures. It’s just a matter of figuring out how best to use what you’ve got.
The great majority of digital camera problems are due to a mixture of blurry or less than sharp picture clarity. Luckily there are things you can do to improve both. To begin, almost every digital camera now sold has a built in focusing agent. Unfortunately, most people don’t read the directions that come with their camera, and therefore don’t know how to activate this feature. To do so, use the button you normally use for snapping your picture. But instead of pressing it all the way down, press it just a little bit, enough to cause the auto-focus feature to take effect. For most cameras you’ll see a box or outline of some sort through your viewfinder. Move your camera so as to surround what is most important inside the box, then wait a second till the camera adjusts, then, push the button the rest of the way down to take the picture.
Another thing you can do to drastically improve the quality of your pictures is to use more lighting. All digital cameras have problems with low light. The more expensive your camera, the better your output will generally be, however, the great majority of digital cameras sold today are in the low to mid range, and thus need proper lighting to produce clear sharp images. For many situations, using your built in flash will help, but please keep in mind that the flash usually works best when used in conjunction with other lighting. When indoors, open the curtains, turn on all the lights in the room; add lamps if possible; whatever you can do to increase the overall amount of light. When outdoors in low light unfortunately, it’s difficult to add lighting, and thus difficult to improve the clarity of your pictures without adjusting your shutter speed, which is a topic far to advanced to be discussed here.
An important thing to note, is, whether taking pictures indoors or out, it is best to try to cause your subject to be well lit, while shielding the lens of your camera from direct light itself. In practice, this means keeping lamps or other artificial lighting behind you while taking the picture. This applies to taking pictures outdoors as well. Always try to keep the sun behind you.
One more thing you can do to improve the clarity of your pictures, is to use stationary objects to help steady your camera. If you can rest the hand that is holding the camera on a ledge, or shelf, or the top of a car perhaps, or even a tree limb, it will help to steady your hand and thus reduce blurring.
One final note. With almost every digital camera, it pays to read your owner’s manual. While it’s true some of them are difficult to read and understand, doing so will almost always reap huge rewards in helping to use your camera. Not only will you find that you can improve the overall quality of your pictures, but you’ll no doubt discover many interesting features of your camera that you never knew existed.
