Taking a good picture

[DaveS]

I've just bought myself a new camera a Canon Ixus 900 ti which was a top rated digital compact in PC Pro magazine.

I decided that it would be better to have a compact than a digital slr as its a bit more portable.

However I'm finding almost too small!
so that got me on to thinking what are the basic rules of photography?

I remember a little nugget that Barftone passed on to my lad, Ben at the National Meet. He said treat the shutter button like a womans nipple, stroke it gently to take a picture, don't stab at it otherwise you'll get camera shake. I remember thinking at the time how's he going to know what a womans nipple is like.

So share your wisdom.......... on photography not nipples.

[cafe650]

here are my pointers for what they are worth...

1. Take loads of pictures. (they are free, and you can always delete the ones you don't like later)
2. Get in close ( nothing worse than something that looks like a bike away in the distance, be part of the action)
3. always keep your batteries charged.
4. buy a bigger media card.

[samwise]

A friend gave me one good tip - he only puts 512Mb cards in his dSLR when on holidays etc, that way he can burn the entire contents of the card to a CD, whereas a 1Gb card would need compressing or 2 cds.

The thing I need to learn is composition now that I've got a camera with a long enough optical zoom for my purposes. I can have great ideas for what I want to achieve in a shot, but seldom pull it off due to compositional issues. At the moment, if I get 5 good shots from a holiday, it's a good ratio

[Hagrid]

Start with the basics.... The Rule of Thirds...

[Xander]

Nice camera Dave, I love those little things (I would love to buy one as a 3rd rig for my slrs).. This is not an easy post as there is entire books written on the subject, Fletch is right, rule of thirds is the most important thing. If you look at many of the shots that are good even if the subject is crap it follows the rule of thirds (of course there are exceptions). Then you have depth of field (which i dont know if you can control on a compact). But in brief the the smaller the aperture (i.e the bigger the number cus it is real 1/x) the farther focus field you have. The faster the shutter speed (also bigger number as it is also 1/x seconds) the less light you let it so the steadier you hand has to be (most people can not hold under 50-60s), but in good light you use high shutter speeds to capture motion. you can also try panning techniques but this is very difficult to master. Many pros do the "bracketing thing, which is take the photo 3 times. 1 @ metered light, 1 @ one step higher and one @ one step lower, if you do this pic a pattern and stick to it, or else you will not know which one is your camera's ideal. Those are the basic basics..

I would not go above a 1 gb card because if you lose it you lose a lot so many smaller is better, i dont burn to CD/DVD I use a portable media vault 120 gig this is cheaper and easily too

[z-weiser]

the rule of thirds is the key to good composition - but that said if you are taking technical photos for a how to or similar then let the camera do the work - put it on program and click away on the bits you want to show!
i think on that camera you can set the white balance! - do this manually - i find that the auto white balance on canons can be a little confused under different conditions!

other than that take pics that mean something to you - often the best pictures are that ones that evoke a memory!

enjoy!

Z

[Cabby]

Take an ISwooley with you......












Coat...?........OK

[SteveWilko]

Using filters increases photo quality: but, its restricted to mainly SLR/TLR/format and rangefinder units.

There are some compact designs on the market that have filter mount, so if you come across one I would recommend using a skylight (81a) filter for all photography..

Then consider buying a more expensive polorising filter for balancing overexposure in the brighter outdoor shots.

Using the 81A filter will not only protect your camera lens but will very subtlety reduce the "blue" tinge that very often corrupts a landscape photo..

[iswoolley]

...that got me on to thinking what are the basic rules of photography?

At a philosophical level, photography is an art form, so there are no rules. An image that looks good to one person, can be the worst photo ever to someone else. And vice versa.

However being pragmatic there's one tip I can give: spend a lot of time looking at photos.

Not just browsing photos, but actually examining them. Find one you instinctively like, then try and work out why you like it. Is it the colours, composition, subject matter? To be able to take 'better' photos, you've got to know what it is that you're trying to improve about your photos. Once you've got a handle on why you like certain images, you can start to look for the techniques that will enable you to take 'better' photos.

[Robster]

I remember a little nugget that Barftone passed on to my lad, Ben at the National Meet. He said treat the shutter button like a womans nipple, stroke it gently to take a picture, don't stab at it otherwise you'll get camera shake. I remember thinking at the time how's he going to know what a womans nipple is like.

I'm sure Barftone's a man of the world