Many of you will be getting new cameras over the holidays.
Camera manufacturers are putting bigger chips behind better glass at lower price points than any time in the history of photography.
Some photographers grumble about modern cameras introducing low-cost competition into the market, but overall this is an exciting time to be in photography! While modern cameras make it almost impossible to take a poorly exposed photograph, none of the technological advances have made any changes to the basics of taking good pictures.
So, let's make this year different.
Here are a few tips for getting great photos with your new camera, right out of the box.
Get In Close The biggest amateur mistake in photography is having a tiny little subject in the middle of a great big picture.
Too much foreground and too much empty space on each side showing background elements that distract from the picture within.
So get in close.
When you think you're close enough, get in even farther.
Take at least one or two pictures ridiculously too close.
So close you can't even fit the whole subject in the frame.
You can always back up if it's too close, but that's a rare problem indeed.
Turn The Flash On Outdoors It seems counter-intuitive to turn the flash on outdoors but give it a try, it really works! The built-in flash on most cameras is generally a very poor light source for taking pictures, but they make an absolutely marvelous fill flash.
Try to find some open shade for your subject, then set the camera flash to ON.
That tells the camera to fire the flash, even if the computer thinks it doesn't need to.
Frame your picture like you normally would and check the results.
Many professional photographers will use fill flash even in full daylight.
Bend Light To Your Will Even modern cameras are optimized to take photos in full, direct daylight and many balance daylight slightly on the blue side.
The blue bias is not always flattering to skin tones which are more pleasing with the light shifted a little more toward the red end of the spectrum.
There are many ways to get light to do your bidding.
You can wait until later in the day when the sun is lower in the sky which scatters the blue spectrum and leaves light that is more reddish gold in color.
You can put a filter over the lens that makes the colors warmer, or you can fool the camera into thinking the light is more blue than it actually is.
The way to tell the camera to warm up the lighting is to set your camera's White Balance setting to cloudy or overcast.
That tells the camera to expect a blue, overcast day and prods the camera's computer to correct the colors toward the red end of the spectrum.
This year instead of average photos, unleash your inner photographer and have fun with that new camera.