How To Get The Most Out Of Your Digital Camera.

Point and click. The advent of digital cameras has given us all the opportunity to capture images any place and any time. Whether you simply hit the shutter button to take pictures of your friends and family or if you want to have your camera with you at all times in order to capture the beauty of life wherever you find it, getting the most out of your digital camera can be easy.

Imagine yourself with the perfect set up of digital camera and a few accessories to make things just right. What accessories would you purchase? My personal and professional recommendation is that you start with memory. If you only have one memory card for your camera it is time to add to the collection. If you have more than one then well done ! The more memory you have for your digital camera the less likely it will be that you get stuck wanting to take more pictures but having no more room on the card.. Memory is relatively cheap, and getting cheaper, it takes up no space in your kit and gives you more control over creativity.

Your camera comes with a variety of quality settings to work with when taking images. If you are intending to print your images quite small then don’t use TIFF, leave the setting on one of the medium quality level settings and your camera will take fine images for you and not eat up all your memory. If you use the highest setting you will get very few images onto your card. They will for the most part be of very high quality but you would only want to shoot at that level of quality if you are intending to make high quality large format prints of your images.

Now if that child of yours is just so incredibly cute and your wall is aching for a portrait of his or her shining face then by all means do it on the highest quality. The key will be to use good software to process the image and then a printer that can make a large format, high quality print of your image. They exist and for not unreasonable prices I might add, although the price of good quality ink can be a bit off putting.
.
Another accessory that you should stock up on is the simple, and most underrated accessory – the battery. Lithium batteries are the rage nowadays as they are lighter in weight, have no memory problems, and run longer. Some camera systems use proprietary battery systems. It is cheaper to buy batteries from one of the specialist battery makers rather than pay over the odds for batteries from the camera manufacturer. You will find them advertised in the camera mags. For often less than half the price of the camera manufacturers'

to get more enjoyment from your digital camera experimentation is the name of the game. Digital images cost you nothing but time and a little battery life. Play around and take lots of shots of things, people, events, whatever takes your fancy. Look at magazines, newspapers and notice what images look cool to you. Try to take shots like that yourself so you can see how it is done. This will get you thinking about how to make your everyday shots better.

Look for new and different ways to frame things, take both a vertical and a horizontal shot of the same thing and see how it changes perspective. Get closer to your subject, or get farther away to see which looks better. Find something unique about your subject and look for a way to exploit that for a better image. Here is an example, You have a great looking car that is your pride and joy. You want a picture of it. Don’t stand across the street from it and zoom in on the car. Get right up close with the sun behind you so the car is sparkling shiny and fills the whole frame of the image. Find it’s best feature and center that in the shot say the awesome lines of front of the car or snazzy wheels.If you have a wide angle lens or your camera has a wide zoom get in really close to your cars best feature. Sure there will be distortion but you may end up with a more creative and interesting image.

If you are really into your photography try to print something from your camera every week to remind you of the beauty of everyday things. Take shots all the time, pick one and print it out and then put it in front of you for a day or a week. Live life as though you want beauty around you all the time. If you are madly in love or have a burning passion for something then surround yourself with pictures of that love. If you live in a beautiful place then take pictures of it all the time to make sure you never forget how special it is to be there in your life. Don’t let those images hide away and not be seen.

The big drawback of digital photography is that although we can take more photographs for less cost there is a tendancy not to print them, but to leave them on your desktop.

Wallpaper on your computer can be another place to put your weekly image, change it regularly with images from your family, work, life, hobby and you will get more smiles and more joy out of your camera than you know what to do with. My current wallpaper takes me back to a wonderful day in the mountains of Northern England when I was at peace with the world and everything in it was perfect. What about yours?