Our Top Tips For Your Holiday Pics!
- By Michael Harrison
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- 20 Jul, 2011
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Okay, so you have your holiday booked… Hurray!!!
Your well on your way with organising your money, toiletries and packing. Don’t forget your camera so you can get some great images to remember your trip by.
We know your not David Bailey and you may not have access to state of the art equipment, but at MC Photo, we also know this doesn’t mean you cant capture your magic memories with your handy compact!
Read on if you want to learn how to make the most of any photo opportunity!
Top Tip No.1 - Always Fill The Frame
Use interesting backgrounds, position your subject facing into the centre of your picture (& use flash, see top tip no 4)
Top Tip No.2 - Level Out Your Landscapes
Top Tip No.3 – Use your ‘macro mode’ or MACRO
Top Tip No.4 - Use flash
…To fill in to foreground
You want to see the foreground of your image as well as the background! Use your flash to fill in foreground to even out exposures behind on your subject matter.
Top Tip No.5 - Be aware of your focusing point
Be in control even when using Autofocus & ensure you are focusing on your subject not the background, Autofocus adjusts the lens so that the central part of the image in the viewing screen is sharp. These symbols indicate the points that the camera will focus on in the camera menus: or etc.
Point your camera on the subject you want to be sharp, half press the shutter release button to focus, once focused. keep your finger on the half pressed button and reposition in your frame to the centre or the side of the picture. When your camera is focused most will beep or indicate this with a rectangle on the LCD Screen on the back.
Below you can see a classic example where the focus is wrongly on the background.
Be aware of what you are focused on when using autofocus
Top Tip No.6 - Camera Shake, don't ruin a great shot
Night mode setting can sometimes help and also using a mini tripod or a sturdy surface such as a wall or building. Be patient and take your time with each shot, although we are aware that after a few vino’s a steady hand may not be available
Top Tip No.7 - Learn how to use exposure
Exposure means the brightness of your picture!
When using the automatic setting on your camera, it will generate the auto exposure from the centre of the shot, if this pointed at something bright such as sky, sea and sand, this will expose for the brightest part of the picture, making everything else dark (under exposed). To overcome this you need to perform a similar method to tip 5 (focusing) and half press the button while pointing the centre of the camera to the point that is between the brightest and darkest areas in your picture (mid tone), keep the button pressed and reframe, take your picture.
Many modern compacts now have a variety of settings – ‘P’ (Programme) AUTO or ‘M’ (Manual), opt for manual and get the best out of your images.
Top Tip No.8 - Learn how to use lens flare to your advantage
Frame your shot using flare
Top Tip No.9 - Photographing through glass
Turn your flash off & learn to minimise reflections by changing the angle of your camera to the glass and avoid being close to strong surrounding light that could cause reflection.
Be careful of reflection & using flash
Top Tip No.10 - Crop landscapes into panoramic format
Use framing effectively and cut out anything that is of no interest, most compacts usually have a panoramic setting saving you time later on the computer.
Use Panoramic mode to cut out any unwanted parts of your picture
Thanks for reading our top tips, we hope you have a great summer break, feel free to send us your pics or ask us for more tips on your photos!