Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
get blurry photos. That's because the shutter needs to stay open longer to let more
light in, and even the tiniest little movement on your part guarantees a blurry photo.
The way around this is to put your camera on a tripod, which simply holds your
camera steady. You don't have to buy an expensive one; my most famous photo
was taken with a $14 tripod I bought at Walmart when I forget my regular tripod while
on vacation.
4. The trick to getting great color
If you look at your photos, and they all look too blue, or too green, or too yellow,
you're not alone. It's a common problem with digital cameras, but it's so easy to fix.
All you have to do is change your camera's White Balance setting for the light you're
shooting in. For example, if you're shooting in the shade, everything's going to have
a blue tint to it. But if you change the White Balance setting to “Shade” it changes
the color so it looks great. If you're shooting indoors, change it to the Indoor setting
(usually an icon of a light bulb). Shooting in a office? To keep everybody from
looking green, change the White Balance to Fluorescent. If you're outside, you can
just leave it set to Auto. Make setting the White Balance a part of your shooting
routine, and your color will finally look great, no matter where you're shooting.
5. Better shots with your pop-up flash
That flash on top of your camera is really harsh. In fact, it may be the only light more
harsh than direct sunlight, but there is something you can do to make it much more
flattering. A company called LumiQuest (
www.lumiquest.com
) makes a small
diffuser called a “Soft Screen” that fits over your camera's pop-up flash, which
softens and diffuses the light, and the results you get are dramatically better—your
pictures will be much more flattering.
6. Don't make this mistake when shooting portraits
One of the biggest mistakes people make when taking portraits is that they leave
too much room above the subject's head. Ideally, your subject's eyes would be in the
top third of the photo, and your subject would pretty much fill the frame. Also, it's OK
to crop off the top of your subject's head a bit (just look at the ads in any magazine),
