Better Digital Photography
in Two Easy Steps

When Your Point And Shoot Camera Lets You Down

Your guide to better digital photography in just two easy steps. With these tips you could be shooting like a professional in no time.

If you are looking for the best in photography books, let me suggest Digital Photography Success by Amy Renfrey. I've looked over many books out there and I believe Amy has one of the best available. This article was based on the information I found in her books.

An Afternoon At The Park

Picture yourself out walking in the park with your new point and shoot camera. You are happily taking picture after picture of all of the beautiful flowers you find along the way. You can't wait to get home to enjoy all those excellent nature and flower pictures stored on your camera.

You rush home and excitedly load the pictures onto your computer. Only the pictures just are not quite what you had imagined them they would be.

When Your Point And Shoot Camera Lets You Down

These wonderful new point and shoot digital cameras take care of everything for you. But sometimes the camera just can't seem to get it right.

When you get in a hurry and just point your camera at the subject, you can often be surprised by what decisions the camera makes. For instance, notice in the middle picture how the clear focus is on the background?

Now many times a photographer will create this effect intentionally. But when I took this picture I really did want to pink flower to be clear not the background. These are some of the chances you take when you let your camera try to figure out what you are really aiming at in your shot.

The Road to Better Digital Photography Just Ahead

This is when it is time to take control. Who knows you may find you like your own settings better.

Almost every new point and shoot camera has a setting where you can control the shutter speed and aperture (this is the F-stop). Some will give you a larger range of control than others. But with a little practice you will be shooting pictures like the Pros.

What the heck is an F-Stop, you say?

Believe me I know how you feel. I have asked friends who have taken classes about these same terms. Their answers are always textbook photography class mumbo jumbo. The minute their lips start moving I start to feel my eyes glaze over. There seems to be some kind of block to receiving the information this way.

Written Words Can Make a Difference

When I see that same information in print, it seems to finally click in. So here is a quick explanation to clear up some of the fog.

F-Stop - This is simply the range of light that your digital camera can record. You can adjust your F-Stop with your camera set on M for Manual or C for Creative.

Every camera is different. Refer to your camera's instruction manual to see how yours operates. Just look for F-Stop to find the instructions quickly.

Go ahead. Play with your camera a little. Take a picture at the lowest F-stop setting. Then take the same picture at the highest setting. The range of these settings will depend on your camera. For instance, my Canon IS6 is capable of settings from F2.7 to F8.

Notice that taking the picture at the lowest F-stop your picture is very light. Please note, the light in your room will affect your picture. If you have a dark room this can produce a decent picture. If your room is light the picture will be too bright.

Now try the opposite end of the spectrum. In my case the highest setting I can take pictures with is F8. Your camera may be different. Take the same picture so you can compare notes.

Notice how dark your second picture is compared to your first? Now if you combine your F-stop with an adjustment in the shutter speed you have a better chance at the perfect photograph.

Shutter speed is just what it sounds like. It tells you how long the shutter will be open when you take a shot. And the range is much greater than with the F-stop settings.

The Canon PowerShot IS6 for example ranges from 15 (longest time open) to 1/1600 (shortest time open). Translated that means the cameraÂ’s shutter is open from 15 seconds (longest) to as little as 1/1600 of a second.

As you may guess the longer you have your shutter open the more light is able to come in. This means a higher exposure of light to the picture. Thus you have the term over exposed photograph.

Watch your LCD monitor while you are making the shutter speed adjustments. You can actually see the screen as it becomes lighter and darker. When the light looks good, this is the picture you want to take.

These two simple steps will give you a greater control over the outcome of your picture. You can be shooting like the professionals in no time at all! And yes even with a point and shoot camera.

The information from this article was taken from Advanced Digital Photography by Amy Renfrey. This is just one portion of her Digital Photography Success package. Amy has written her books in easy to understand language. You will want to print parts of the book to have with you at all times. And now Amy is offering to sell just the Digital Photography Success ebook alone for those who are not quite ready for the advanced topics covered in this article. Check out AmyÂ’s site here Digital Photography Success