Photography Tips and Tricks

A digital camera can be confusing to a person new to the technology. All of the different modes can leave your head spinning. Here is an overview of the common modes you will find on most digital cameras and how to use them.

Landscape Mode

Landscape mode is usually marked by an icon that looks like mountains or hills. This mode is great for taking pictures of wide, open spaces. What this mode does is keep everything in the frame in focus. So, if you are photographing mountains with trees in the foreground, it would all be in focus. This is called a long depth of field, which is caused by the lens opening being small, letting in very little light. This also makes it so the camera takes longer to take the photo, so the camera needs to be held very steady, preferably on a tripod, to avoid any camera shake and blurry pictures.

Portrait Mode

Portrait mode, marked by an icon of a head, is best for taking pictures of people. It makes the person that you are focused on very clear, but makes the background out of focus. This is great because it makes your subject the center of attention in the photo.

Portrait mode can also be used on inanimate objects, as long as the object can hold its own in an out of focus background. Play around and experiment to see if you like the results.

Action Mode

Action mode, marked by an icon of a running man, is great for taking pictures of moving subjects. It keeps the subjects from being blurry from the movement. Use this mode on anything that moves faster than casual movement, such as sporting events, dance recitals or races.

Night Mode

Marked by an icon of a moon, Night mode allows a digital camera to take great photos in very low light. Night mode may also be called ISO on some cameras. This mode needs complete stillness to take a clear photo, so, set the timer, depress the shutter button and let it do its thing. You can set the camera on a solid object or attach it to a tripod to get the best results.

Some cameras have more advanced modes, but as a beginner, these are all you need to focus on right away.

Have you ever tried to print a digital picture and it came out horrible looking? This can be caused by several factors. Here is how to make sure that every print looks fantastic.

Resolution

The resolution of a digital picture is important to how good the image looks when it is printed out. Resolution is how many dots or pixels there are in an image. The more dots you have the better your picture will look. Basically, the higher the resolution is set on your camera, the sharper your pictures will look.

To get the best resolution possible for your digital camera, set it to its highest-resolution setting to get the sharpest detail. This will take a lot of memory, so you will want to use a memory card to store all of your pictures.

Enlargement

Resolution is also important when you enlarge digital photos to print. If a photo is low resolution, then the more you stretch it out to enlarge it, the more pixels or dots you will see in the printed image. Take a look at the digital picture above. It was enlarged much larger than its resolution allowed. The pixels are almost all you can see.

Here is a basic chart to help you decide how much you can enlarge a certain resolution size:

3 MP or 2100 x 1400 can be enlarged to 11” x 14″

4 MP or 2500 x 1600 can be enlarged to 20” x 30″

5 MP or 2500 x 2000 can be enlarged to 20” x 30″

6 MP or 2900 x 2100 can be enlarged to 30” x 40″

Paper Quality

Your choice of printer photo paper can also have an impact on the quality of your print. Always be willing to pay more for quality, because, really, you get what you pay for.

Pick a paper that is archival because it will last longer and won’t yellow or fade. Also make sure to choose a heavier weight paper. It is more durable and will hold the ink better.

If you combine all of this knowledge when printing your next digital photo you will end up with beautiful prints.