I’m going to regularly post some simple, effective, and easy to implement ideas to help improve your kid or pet photography, your casual family moments, and even your self portraits. These are things that may have taken me awhile to learn but that have made the biggest difference. We all know the “get down on their level,” so I’m skipping over that for now.
TIP #1
Know how to disable your flash and learn the different flash modes of your particular camera.
No matter what kind of digital camera you have, there is probably a way to disable the flash. It’s usually a button with a little zig-zag arrow, though each camera is different so it might be best to look up your camera online or find your owner’s manual.
On camera flash (usually a few inches away from the lens) eliminates the shadows that create dimension in faces and creates harsh shadows against walls. It also results in red-eye. Sometimes it’s too bright and other times not nearly bright enough. The biggest thing I cringe at is people in a stadium taking pictures with their flash because they’re probably going to get an awesome exposure of the bald guy in front of them while capturing a too-dark stadium/stage/performance. Oops!
On the other hand, sometimes a flash is completely a life-saver. Daylight is sometimes complimented by a little fill flash when you notice the sun casting some harsh shadows. Of course, it all depends on the result you’d like to achieve. Don’t mistake knowing how to disable your flash for me recommending to never using your on-camera flash. It’s something you’ve got to learn to judge for yourself and experiment to get the result you’re picturing.
My DSLR has only one flash mode built-in: up (on) or down (off). Point-n-shoots often have several built-in flash modes. My little powershot S230 has auto, fill-in, red-eye reduction, off. Some of those point-n-shoot flash modes will actually make the camera choose a slower shutter speed despite the flash going off. I took this of my youngest son just now with the point and shoot. Here’s a quick example of a bad use of flash.
If you’re getting orangey blurry photos with the flash (that look like someone totally smeared blurry motion all over it) it’s probably your flash mode! What’s happening is that the camera fires the flash to expose the subject then keeps the shutter open a split second longer to let in the ambient light. If there’s any motion, it usually (though not always) appears orangey and blurry because in most cases, the light from the flash is a cooler temperature of light than the ambient light (usually tungsten light bulbs).
This brings me to my second tip.
TIP #2
Don’t be afraid to experiment!
Self explanatory? I think so… Figure out what flash settings your camera has and take a series of photos with all of them. What do you like? What do you not like? Get to know that camera of yours and take lots of experimental photos. Sometimes images that you think aren’t going to work become your favorites.
I hope these give you a starting point to learning more about your camera and getting better results. It doesn’t take a fancy camera to get great pictures. I just takes some knowledge and experimentation. Now…
GO
TAKE
PICTURES
