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Photography Techniques

• Move around. Look at your subject from various angles, and keep in mind that the most interesting and pleasing light is generally from the side or behind. The days of "keep the sun over your shoulder" went away with the Brownie.

• Look for the light. Seek out those small patches of light and find ways to make them work for you. Remember that the human eye is drawn to bright areas, so use that to your advantage.

• Try early-morning and late-afternoon light. Those are the "magic" hours for photography, as the light comes in at a low angle and can have nice color to it.

• Make sure and expose for the light. If you've found a spot of light striking your subject in an interesting way, make sure and expose for that light. Remember, the camera's meter will try to average the exposure, so if the light you're using is a small part of the framing, the exposure won't be right. Try the camera's spot meter to read that light, or just use exposure compensation (see section 2, Camera Features) and dial-in a minus-1 or minus-2 compensation.

Composition
The first thing you have to remember about composition is that there are no rules, only guidelines. What it comes down to is one, do you like it, and two, does anyone else like it. If you're taking photos for your own enjoyment, then do whatever makes you happy (with the camera, that is!). If you want other people to enjoy your photography, then you may want to follow some of the guidelines. A few of them are:

• The human eye is drawn to bright things, so will naturally go to the lighter part of an image. You see photographers doing this all the time when they use dark backgrounds.

• Use depth of field to show the viewer what's important. We call it selective focus, but it's simply making a conscious decision to have the most important part of the photo sharp and the rest out of focus. If you have a lens that you can adjust the aperture on, set for a low number (f/2.8 or f/4). If not, try the Portrait scene mode, which will try to do the same thing.

• Avoid the center of the frame. Photos tend to be more interesting if the subject is off-center. The Rule of Thirds is a commonly stated guideline, the idea being you imagine dissecting the frame into nine rectangles, which creates intersections at four points in the frame. Place your point of interest at one of those intersections and you've followed the rule of thirds. Some people like it, some don't.

• Fill the frame. A common mistake many people make is to shoot too loosely, meaning that the center of interest is only a small part of the image, and thus is hard for the viewer to find. Move closer to your subject or use a longer lens.

• Avoid distracting objects. Cameras compress scenes, so those telephone poles in the background look like they're growing out of little Johnny's head. Look out for trees, power lines and anything else that will clutter your photo. I like to tell people to run their eye around the frame and make sure that everything that's inside the frame is there intentionally. If not, recompose.

• Use a wideangle lens to create a photo within a photo. The great strength of wideangle lenses is the ability to have an object large in the foreground, and also show it's surroundings in the background. This is the proper way to use a lens like this. Makes sure something's close, and that the surrounding area adds to the photo. Wideangle lenses can be the most difficult lenses to make good pictures with, but also the most rewarding.

• Get close to people. Another common mistake people make is not getting close enough to their subject. Getting close makes a photo more intimate, and often simply requires you screwing up your courage enough to say, "mind if I get a little closer for this photo?"

• Shoot vertical. Since we tend to see the world in a horizontal orientation, most people don't think of turning their camera on its side. Verticals can give a whole new shape to your photos, and often add tension. Try shooting nothing but verticals for one day. It will teach you a new way to see through your camera. - Use lines. Look for lines in nature, or man-made ones and use them to guide the viewer's eye through your photo.

• Shoot close-ups. All compact cameras have built-in macro capability. Take advantage of that to create images that people aren't used to seeing. Icicles, leaves, bugs ­ almost anything can be interesting if you get close to a small part of it.

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Light | Composition | Contact Us