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30 tips for perfect pics - part two
Put an end to disappointing snaps and learn how to get the most of your camera's features with our top 30 tips on avoiding photo blunders
16. Converging verticalsThe sides of buildings are straight. So why do they appear to taper upwards when you take a photograph of them? It's because you're so close that you're having to tilt the camera upwards to get it all in. One solution is, where possible, simply to move back and shoot from a greater distance, using the camera's zoom to fill the frame with your subject. Because you're further away, the camera is less tilted, so there is less distortion. You should also look for a viewpoint where there's something interesting in the foreground so that you can shoot with the camera level.
17. Cold coloursOutdoor portraits can sometimes look cold and unhealthy. It's because you're shooting in shade on a sunny day, or under an overcast sky. Your camera's auto white balance always attempts to normalise the colours whatever the conditions, but this is one situation where cameras often don't compensate sufficiently. Instead, change the white balance from auto to the cloudy white balance setting. Or, if you're shooting in the shade on a sunny day, the light from the sky will be bluer still and you should see if your camera has a shade setting.
18. Squinting subjectsOne way to prevent your subjects' faces from being in deep shadow on a sunny day is to turn them to face the light. This is the classic photo advice - 'always shoot with the sun over your shoulder'. Unfortunately, while the sun isn't shining into the camera lens, it will be shining into your subjects' eyes, leaving them squinting and grimacing instead of smiling at the camera. The solution? Look for a nearby patch of shade and move them into that to take your picture. They'll look more relaxed, the light will be softer and you'll end up with a much better picture.
19. JPEG artefactsDigital cameras offer two or three different quality settings - such as fine, normal and basic. This is the degree to which images are compressed before being saved. The higher the level of compression, the more images can be saved on the memory card, but the lower the quality. Higher compression produces 'JPEG artefacts', or image flaws. You may start to see a loss of fine detail, edge 'halos' around objects and a faint chequerboard pattern in even-toned areas like
skies. It's irreversible, so you should always shoot at the higher quality settings if you can.
20. Dead batteriesWe're willing to bet your camera has let you down more than once, running out of power just at the worst possible moment. Get into the habit of charging the camera fully the night before any event or day out. If travelling abroad, take the charger and a universal adapter. Check the manual to find the range of voltages the charger can cope with. If the camera uses AA batteries, invest in a set of lithium AAs as spares once you have checked that the camera can use these. They're expensive, but they keep well and last longer in use than either alkaline or NiMH rechargeable batteries.
21. Parallax errorWhen you compose photos using the LCD on the back of the camera, the shot the camera takes will be identical to what you saw. But use the optical viewfinder, and objects don't always come out as they appeared during composition. This is because the optical viewfinder is separate (this doesn't apply to digital SLRs) and positioned an inch or so above and to one side of the camera lens. This is enough to cause a difference between what you see through the eyepiece and what the camera sees through its lens. It's worst with close-ups, where using the LCD is actually essential.
22. Shaky zoomingThe more you zoom in towards your subject, the more any camera shake is amplified. There's a simple rule of thumb for calculating this, but it involves knowing the millimetre equivalent of your camera's optical zoom lens. This can usually be found in the camera's manual. Let's say you're shooting with the zoom set to the equivalent of 60mm. In this case the slowest safe shutter speed for handheld photography is 1/60th of a second. If you're shooting at an equivalent of 100mm it's 1/100sec (or the nearest faster equivalent). If you have a superzoom camera that goes up to 400mm, you need to shoot at 1/400sec. Look for cameras with image stabilisers, because these reduce shake dramatically.
You get amazing flexibility from 10x and 12x super-zoom cameras, but long zoom settings need high shutter speeds to prevent camera shake.
23. Lens flareLens flare can spoil pictures, and is caused by shooting into a bright light - the sun, or a spotlight, for example. It's most often seen as discs of light diagonally opposite to the sun in the frame. Sometimes the result is a flat, wishy-washy look from lens flare even if the sun isn't in the shot but is still shining on the front of the lens. So if your camera came with a lens hood (many digital SLR lenses do), make sure you use it. With a compact camera, if you can see flare on the LCD as you compose the shot, try shielding the lens from the sun with your hand or a magazine.
24. Party popperFlash produces very unattractive pictures. The light is harsh, it only works over a short range and it completely kills the atmosphere. Switching off the flash means slower shutter speeds and, in a busy club for example, you'll end up photographing nothing but blur. Instead, see if the camera has a slow sync or night portrait flash mode. This combines the flash with a longer exposure to mix both the flash and the available lighting. Your subject shows up sharp against a naturally-coloured background, often with some rather attractive impressionistic blurring, which really adds to the atmosphere.
25. Lost in the distanceA common error is for the subject of the photo to get lost in the distance, despite everything having looked fine when the photo was taken. This is because the human eye is very selective. It tends to zoom in on the thing it's most interested in and ignores all the space around it. With that in mind, it's important to learn to study the whole image in the viewfinder or on the LCD, and not just the bit you are interested in. And what you may not realise is that the separate optical viewfinders on compact cameras typically show no more than four-fifths of the area actually photographed - another reason why it's best to use the LCD.
26. Lost in the shadowsWe all get our cameras out on sunny days, but these can be the worst conditions in which to take photographs, especially outdoor portraits. The sun can cause ugly shadows on people's faces and, if they're wearing hats (at a wedding, for example), it can leave their faces entirely in shadow. The easiest way around this problem is switch on the camera's flash. It sounds a daft thing to do in bright light, but the flash will fill in those dark shadows and produce much more pleasing portraits. Watch any professional photographer at an official event and you'll see they use flash even in the brightest light.
27. Memory card full?Don't waste time trying to find the perfect image size and quality setting for cramming the most pictures on your memory card. Just buy a bigger memory card. They are quite inexpensive these days. You can get 512Mb cards for £30 or less, and one this size can store hundreds of photos. Alternatively, get a selection of smaller cards (128Mb, say) so that at any one time most of your photos can be left safely back at the hotel. After all, cameras get lost, stolen or broken, which is bad enough in itself without losing all your pictures too.
28. Manual ISODigital cameras have an auto ISO feature, which is usually set by default. This means the camera automatically increases the sensitivity of the sensor in dim light to reduce the risk of camera shake. However, it won't usually use the full ISO range available so that a camera with a range of ISO 100 400 might only use the ISO 100-200 range. In bad light, then, you may need to take over the ISO adjustment manually. Older compact digital cameras go to a maximum of ISO 400, but newer models go up to ISO 800 and even ISO 1600.
29. Noisy shotsIf some shots have a pronounced speckled or grainy look (known as noise), it's almost certainly due to a high ISO setting. This is the compromise made by the camera to take shots in low light without camera shake. However, you may have set a high ISO manually and forgotten to switch it back. What's more, for smooth-toned night shots, try using a tripod, or rest the camera on a convenient flat surface so that it doesn't move during the exposure, and manually set a low ISO for the best quality. Noise can sometimes be the result of long exposures at night. Check the camera's manual to see if it has a noise reduction mode.
30. Spots on the sensorShots from digital SLRs sometimes show small, diffuse dots. These only show up against even-toned areas like skies and are caused by tiny dust particles on the sensor. This doesn't happen with compact cameras, because the lens and sensor assemblies are sealed. Spots can be 'cloned out' in an image-editor, but it is a bit of a nuisance. To reduce the risk of dust, change lenses only when you have to, angle the camera downwards as you do it and find somewhere where the air is still. You can clean your sensor, but wait until it's really dirty because for the inexperienced it's a tricky job that can make things worse rather than better. If in doubt consult a camera shop.
Snap happyIn the days of film, by the time shots returned from the lab, you'd forgotten what you were trying to do in the first place and because of the cost of film and prints, it was all too easy to stick to staid compositions. Digital cameras have changed that and they're more reliable when it comes to focusing, colours and exposure.
But the great thing about digital, of course, is that it is impossible to waste film. Digital cameras provide freedom to experiment with different settings and odd angles without worrying about the cost.
What's more, the results are immediately visible and if you don't like what you see, just shoot it again. Instant results make it easier to learn how to get the most out of photography through experimenting. So get snapping.
Written by Rod Lawton for Computeractive magazine
To read more picture tips, see page one
This article was created: 3 January 2007.
This article was last edited: 19 February 2007.
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