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Get to know your digital camera

Likewise, slow your exposure speed to 1/10 of a second or thereabouts. Be sure to hold your digital camera steady, or use a tripod, to avoid camera shake. That waterfall will now look like a stream of water flowing down. Try adjusting your digital camera's exposure time when recording pool balls, automobiles, or other fast-moving subjects for interesting effects.

If the histogram is balanced towards the middle, your exposure settings should be correct. Your photo should have a normal exposure. Exceptions can occur, so even if the histogram 'looks' right you should visually verify how the image will look with your viewfinder or LCD. If the histogram is weighted towards the sides, chances are your image contains a complex combination of brightness and darkness. Waterfall photos or other areas of dark foliage next to a bright sky may exhibit this trait. In this case, you should experiment and bracket your photos, then pick out which one looks the best to you.

What do you do when you leave your tripod at home and you see an awesome shot? There are several things you can do, its not the end of the world. If you are using autofocus mode, your digital camera may have a shutter button that requires you to press halfway down to focus, then fully down to take the picture. If you are experiencing camera shake, get the camera to focus on the subject by pressing the button down half-way, then press the button down fully and keep your finger pressed on the button until the camera has taken the picture.

If your digital camera has an optical viewfinder and not an electronic one, you should never, never use this when pointing your digital camera towards the sun, especially for sunrise and sunset photos! As your digital camera's optical viewfinder is not tinted, it's almost as bad as just pointing your head and looking straight at the sun. This could cause serious eye damage. Looking through a viewfinder versus the LCD helps you hold the camera sturdier and closer to your eyes, thus reducing camera shake. However, in this instance, you should use your digital camera's LCD. If you're worried about camera shake, use a tripod. However, especially with the sunrise, due to the brightness of the sky, your digital camera should normally be able to take very fast photos, minimizing any camera shake.

If you have a good optical zoom, here is an experiment you can do while taking digital camera photographs. When taking pictures of homes, skyscrapers, cabins, etc., zoom in on individual pieces of architecture. Take a minute to really look at your subject, and you may be able to find individual engravings, sections of paneling, or dents and scars in the wood of a cabin that may result in interesting pictures. The trick to taking better photos is to really observe a subject and see it from all angles. Go downtown, find some office buildings, and really take a minute or two to study them. You may find engravings or sculptures on or around the buildings that you have never noticed before.

Just because large cities can be known as 'concrete jungles', it doesn't mean your entire collection of skyscraper and cityscape photos should just be of steel and glass structures. For variety, look for green spaces near parks, and compose some of your shots intermixing trees with the skyscrapers. Some of your photos, if composed correctly, could look like taller buildings sprouting out above a line of trees. For example, if you are in New York City, look to Central Park. In Chicago, great skyscraper and greenery photo opportunities can be found near Grant or Lincoln Park.

If you are just starting out taking photos at night, check to see if your digital camera has a special night program or scene mode - read your camera manual. This mode will adjust your camera settings, tuning it to low-light conditions and possibly allowing you to take better night photos than if you were fumbling through other options. If you're not sure about adjusting exposure times and have no idea what ISO means, a one-touch setting may be all you need.

By: Dan Feildman

The Digital Camera: Learn about your digital photos. There are aloptions new options to take photos and you can figure out some tips on lighting

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