Beginners Guide to Digital Photography

Beginners Guide to Digital Photography

Prasad Naik, Mar 09, 2010 1539 hrs IST

Tips to better your photography skills

Hold it right, hold it steady

The first thing that you need to learn when you start using a camera is how to hold it properly. Not holding your camera properly may cause you to cover something, such as the flash or lens, while shooting or get blurry pictures because of camera shake, especially in low-light.

Original Image by Sherlock77 (James)

Smaller point-and-shoot cameras usually have very little surface area for you to grip properly and hence you need to pay more attention to how you are holding it. It is also very easy to accidentally cover the flash or the focus assist lights in these cameras and in some cases the lens itself. Before you shoot always make sure you are not covering any of these. The camera lens is usually on the left side, so it is best if you don't keep the left hand anywhere near it. Use your left hand to hold the base of the camera. This will give the camera more stability and also ensures that you don't end up covering the lens. Grip the top right of the camera with your right hand and with the index finger on the shutter button, place your thumb on the backside of the camera to the right of the display. Cameras usually have an indentation or free space here to place your thumb.

Once you grip the camera properly, you need to make sure that your arms aren't suspended in air, causing them to shake. When holding a camera, make sure your arms are tucked in and your elbows are touching the body. This may make you look funny but it is essential as it helps reduce camera shake. Also, make sure your feet are spaced a bit apart (at least by a foot), as it makes you more stable on the ground. Try not to hyperventilate when shooting, as it can also cause the camera to shake a bit. Breathe in once before a shot and just before you are going to press the shutter breathe out as it causes the body to stabilize a bit for a while.

Sometimes even after you do this there will be some amount of camera shake. Thankfully almost all cameras these days come with Image Stabilization making your life easier. Image stabilization are of two types; one is optical, in which the camera physically adjusts the lens to correct the camera shake, while the other is digital where the camera software digitally corrects the shake.

The first one is definitely more effective and is the one to look out for when buying a camera. But just because your camera has image stabilization though, doesn't mean you don't take the above mentioned precautions.

One thing to remember is that when you use zoom, even smaller shakes in camera are magnified. So you need to be extra careful when using zoom.

However, for super steady shots, use a tripod. You get a lot of different types of tripods, so choose one according to your need and budget.