Digital Photography#1 point to remember: You, not your camera, are the key to taking good pictures.

Turn snapshots into great photographs with these simple tips.

Rule of Thirds• Not a hard and fast

rule - but a very good guide.

• Draw imaginary lines dividing the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically.

• Place important elements of the photo where the lines intersect.

Look at Different Angles & Heights

Pay Attention to Details• Look carefully in the

viewfinder to see what is there.

• Ask yourself:– Do you need all that

background?

– Can you get closer to your subject or zoom in?

– Would the picture look better as a portrait or a landscape?'

Framing Your Picture• The use of a frame can

turn an otherwise plain picture into an interesting one. Use scenery, objects or other people to help frame your subject.

Get in Close

• Don’t be afraid to get in close to your subject.

• Fill the frame.

This instead of that:

Fill the frame: examples

Move in on your subjects. Be aware of distracting backgrounds and clutter.

Using Space Effectively

Sometimes large areas of foreground or background can add emphasis or feeling to a picture.

Placing a small subject in a large space can help tell a story.

This effect works better with simple settings rather than cluttered ones.

Using the Flash• Don’t rely on the

auto flash.

• Outdoors, turn on flash to illuminate objects in the shade or at night.

• Indoors, flash can result in glare or wash out, especially if there are windows, etc.

• Beauty of digital is you can experiment and see what works best in the lighting conditions.

Action Pics• Know how long

your camera takes between pics.

• Many newer cameras have action settings.

Pixels and Picture Resolution• The way to determine image quality is to look at the pixel count,

usually expressed in width x height. – Open the image in a photo-editing program.

– A count of 1600 x 1200, should be around 2 million pixels - a good number for most print sizes.

– Another indicator is dots per inch (or pixels per inch): 72 dpi is preferable for e-mailing or online viewing; you need at least 300 dpi for printing up to an 8x10.

• Note: "Resizing" in a photo-editing program reduces overall resolution by removing some picture data.

• Digital images are saved as jpeg files. Each time you edit a jpeg image and resave it, a little bit of picture data is lost.