Copyright Information

Important Notice:
Top Photo Tips is a copyrighted work 2007 David Peterson from DigitalPhoto-Secrets.com.

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system without expressed written, dated, and signed permission from the author.

Disclaimer and/or Legal Notices

The information presented herein represents the view of the author. This book is for informational purposes only. While every attempt has been made to verify the information presented here, the author does not assume any responsibility for errors, inaccuracies or omissions. Any slights of organizations or people are unintentional

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Table of Contents
Copyright Information Important Notice: All Rights Reserved Disclaimer and/or Legal Notices Table of Contents Introduction I love my digital camera! Top Photo Tips About David Peterson Fixing Blurry Images What makes blurry photos? Camera Moved The BLUSH System Subject Moved Why Cant I Tell If My Images Are Blurry Until Later? Focus Night Photos Using A Flash Night Photography Essentials Night Photography Procedure Photographing People At Night Noise Reducing Noise 9 10 11 11 12 13 15 16 16 2 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 7 8 Aperture Bright and Dark Patches The Cause Removing Noise Using Software Background Problems Background Out Of Focus 18 19 21

Creating Out Of Focus Backgrounds 22 22 23 23

How To Handle Both Very Dark and Very Bright Areas Boring Shots Get Closer The Rule Of Thirds Solving Shutter Lag What is Shutter Lag? Eliminating Shutter Lag White Balance Setting White Balance Use A Paint Program Red Eye 27 28 28 29 30 30 31 33 34 34 35

Fixing Red Eye Before It Happens 35 Removing Red Eye Using Software 36 Authors Conclusion 37

Use A Combination Of Techniques 18

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Introduction
I love my digital camera!
Digital cameras have made photography so much easier than it used to be! You get to see your photos immediately, and can instantly see if you have a problem with your photo. No more waiting 2-3 days for the photos to arrive back from the lab. You may have found, however, that even with all this new technology, that your photos arent that much better than the ones you took with your film camera.

Top Photo Tips

What most people dont realize is that its really easy to take spectacular photos. You just need to know a few simple tricks and techniques and youre well on your way. So thats why I wrote this book. Ive listed the top 10 problems that people have with taking great photos with their digital cameras, and have provided easy answers to all!

About David Peterson

Ive been in love with digital photography for years and have been sharing my knowledge with the world through my website, Digital Photo Secrets. On this website, I give away lots of tips for becoming a better photographer, and so far have taught over 100,000 people these simple techniques. David Peterson.

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Fixing Blurry Images

This is one of the biggest problems when taking photos with your digital camera. You take what you think are wonderful shots, but when you get home and transfer the shots to your computer, they turn out all blurry. Fortunately, theres some easy solutions to fix blurry images once and for all!

What makes blurry photos?

Blurry images are caused by one of two things. Either your camera has moved while the shutter was open, or your subject moved. Its easy to work out the cause if the whole image is blurry, then the camera moved. If only part of the image is blurry while part of it is crystal clear, then it was the subject that moved while the shutter was open.

Magic Tip

Camera Moved
If your whole image is blurry, it means your camera moved while the shutter was open. The camera has some sophisticated optics to focus your image onto a small sensor inside the camera. Any movement of the camera (even a small shake caused by your hands) can be enough to result in a blurry result.

Blurry images are mostly caused when there is not enough light around. Situations like shooting indoors or at night both have the potential to create blurry images.

With slow shutter speeds (like 1/30 second or slower), the small movement of your hands, or your body breathing, will cause the camera to move. The camera will usually tell you if the shot is susceptible to shaking by showing a little Hand icon. This means that should not hand hold the camera for this image with the current settings. You need to Page 5 2007, TopPhotoTips.com

either change the settings, or steady the camera before you press the shutter button. Heres how:

Use A Tripod
The easiest way to steady the camera is to use a tripod. Tripods come in lots of different sizes and steady the camera by providing a solid resting place while the shutter is open. However, tripods can be bulky and a pain to carry around, so there are some other options you can try. Use a small bean bag. A small bag filled with beans or rice provides an excellent camera stabilizer for little money. Place the bag on a steady surface, and your camera on the bag. A String-Pod is a really neat invention. Its just some string thats as tall as you are and looped at one end. Place your foot into the loop, and tie the other end to your camera at about eye height. While taking your shot, pull the camera upwards so the string is tight. The string acts as a steadier and while the camera can still move around, its a lot less susceptible.

Steady Yourself
If you dont have a tripod, or another steady surface handy, you can steady yourself and thus your camera while the shutter is open. Ive heard of people who have taken crisp, sharp hand held images even with the shutter open for 3 seconds. Thats pretty impressive (and needs a lot of practice). However, there are some things that will help you to take clearer shots.

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The BLUSH System

I have a great system called the BLUSH system to ensure your camera is as steady as possible. B Breath. Take a deep breath just before you fully depress the shutter, and hold it while you press the shutter. Breathing causes your body to move, so holding your breath will eliminate this. L Line Up Your Body. Hold your elbows close to your site, stand straight up, and steady yourself. When your elbows are close to your body, you provide your camera more support by turning your body into a makeshift tripod. U You. Bring your camera close to you. Dont use the LCD screen to preview your photo. Instead, use your cameras viewfinder. This will force you to bring the camera up to your face and provide even more stability. S Stability. Steady yourself using your feet, or by leaning on a post or wall. H Hands. Use both hands to firmly hold your camera from each site. If your camera has a large lens, use one hand to steady the lens. All you have to remember is the word BLUSH. Next time you need to keep your camera steady, go through each of the 5 BLUSH steps. Youll be surprised at how quickly youll be taking rock steady images. Also take a look at the ISO and Shutter Speed tricks below, as these will help reduce blurry images.

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Subject Moved
If your subject moved causing them to blur in your image, the solution is to increase your cameras shutter speed. This can be done a number of ways.

Increase the ISO

The ISO is a setting the tells the camera how sensitive the image sensor inside the camera should be. The higher the ISO number, the more sensitive the sensor is to light. In other words, at higher ISO numbers (like 400 or higher) less light is needed to take your shot, so the camera doesnt need to leave the shutter speed open for as long. I recommend setting your ISO one setting down from the highest your camera can go. So if your highest ISO is 1600, set it to 800. Be aware that having an ISO thats too high can mean you get noise in your photos. See my section on Noise elsewhere in this guide.

Turn On The Flash

In low light situations (including when you are indoors), the camera doesnt have as much light as in the bright sun, so it keeps the shutter open for longer to compensate. One solution is to turn on your cameras flash. This will illuminate the scene, speeding up the shutter speed and freezing your blurry subject into a crystal clear shot. This can cause other problems, however. A flash removes any mood lighting in your photo. And if your subjects are too close, they will be too bright in the photo (we call this over exposed). Also, using a flash can cause Red Eye (however, this too can be eliminated see my discussion in this guide).

Use Shutter Priority Mode

If your camera supports the Shutter Priority Mode (TV or S mode) try using it. In Shutter Priority mode, the camera still does most of the work for you, Page 8 2007, TopPhotoTips.com

but you can choose the shutter speed. Set a shutter speed that is high enough to freeze any movement by your subject. 1/60 second will work for most situations unless your subject is moving very fast (like a race car) where youll need to use a higher value. If your camera wont let you increase the shutter speed to 1/60 second (or higher), its probably because there is not enough light around. In this case, also increase the ISO setting as mentioned above to make the camera more sensitive.

Why Cant I Tell If My Images Are Blurry Until Later?

Most of the time we dont see that an image is blurry until we look at the photo on our computer. We may not look at the photos until the next day (or next week) way too late to go back and re-shoot the photos. So youre left with some very disappointing results. The reason you cant tell if your images are blurry by looking at your LCD screen is the screen is too small to see everything in the photo. In a computer, you have a much larger screen to view your images, but the LCD is usually tiny smaller even than a normal photo print. The small screen isnt large enough to show you every pixel, so your camera scales down the image to show you. While this gives you a great overall look at your photo, you wont see any fine detail or know if your image is blurry. When taking shots in situations where I suspect I might get some blurriness (like in low light), I always use the zoom function of my camera to zoom in on the image on the screen (this is not the zoom you use to get closer to your subject Page 9 2007, TopPhotoTips.com

before you take the shot this zoom gets closer to an image that you have already taken). Zooming in to full size means I can see each pixel and can quickly see if my image is crisp, or blurry.

Focus
Before we leave blurry images altogether, there is one other cause of blurry images that is not related to movement. If the camera is not focused on your subject, then the image will be out of focus, which results in an image that looks kind of blurry. The most common cause of this is the Auto Focus on your camera was accidentally turned off. But it could also be that your subject moved out of the focus point between when you half depressed the shutter button (and the camera determined what to focus on), and when you fully depressed the button (and the shot was taken). Out of focus pictures can also be seen by zooming in on the LCD screen, so make a habit of looking closely at your images just after you take them. Dont come home to disappointment by finding blurry images. Make sure in low light situations that you check your photos before you go home.

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Night Photos
How do I take a great night shot? This is another question that I get a lot. Unfortunately our eyes are much better at seeing in the dark than a camera is, so when we take shots in the dark they dont turn out as we had hoped. Common problems are : Flash Too Bright; Blurry images; Too Dark; and Too Much Noise. Ill cover the noise problem next, but first I want to explain how to take some stunning night shots.

Using A Flash
Honestly, I recommend you do NOT use a flash when photographing at night. A flash tends to drown out your scene in light which usually ruins the mood. First try some of the techniques below to take your shot without flash, and only use a flash when absolutely necessary. When using a flash, you need to be aware that the flash light only lasts a short distance from the camera. Thats why most flash photos show your subject very clearly but no background. In fact, the background is usually completely black because the flash didnt reach that far. So compose your flash shots against a close background, and ensure your subjects are all relatively close to the camera.

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If your subjects are too close, the resulting image can be too bright. Thats why I always look at the shot in the LCD screen before moving on. If it is too bright, I move away from my subjects a bit and try again. Another thing to watch out for when using the flash is Red Eye. See my Red Eye section for tips on removing this common problem.

Magic Tip
When moving away, I also zoom my camera in a fraction. This will make sure my subjects are still full frame in the picture, but I dont get the overexposed flash look.

Night Photography Essentials

The best night shots are taken without the flash. This allows the natural light of the scene to be shown in the image. The way to do this is to set your camera to a high ISO setting. This makes it more sensitive to light, so youll need less light around to take your image. I recommend setting the ISO to one or two values below your cameras highest setting. Another essential is a tripod. You absolutely need either a tripod (or something flat and steady) to take great night shots. This is because the cameras shutter is open for a very long time and any movement will cause blurry images. You also need a camera thats capable of slow shutter speeds (between 2 and 20 seconds). You will need these extra slow speeds for taking photos with only moonlight. Its handy in some circumstances (like taking shots of fireworks) to have a camera with a bulb setting. This is where the shutter stays open for as long as you keep the shutter depressed. Using an SLR digital camera is a real advantage in night photography. SLR cameras are usually more expensive than Point And Shoot cameras and have better parts.

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Night Photography Procedure

Heres my procedure for taking great night photos every time. This procedure only works well with subjects that are not moving. If you want to take shots of people at night, see the next section. Place your camera on a tripod. Increase the ISO setting to one down from the highest setting on your camera (so if your cameras highest setting is 3200, set it to 1600). Set Shutter Priority Mode on your camera. If you dont have this mode, use the Night Photography setting. Both these settings turn off the flash which is what we want here. Plug in your external shutter release. If you dont have one of these, activate the self timer of your camera. The self timer will activate once you fully depress the shutter button, giving you a few seconds to move your hands away from the camera so it is steady when you take the shot. Compose the shot youd like to take. Halfpress the shutter to see if the camera can find the focus. If not, then point the camera towards a light source thats about the same distance as your subject so it can focus. If you dont have any other lights, shine your flashlight on your subject until the camera focuses. Fully depress the shutter and the first picture will be taken.

Magic Tip
Believe it or not, but the action of your finger pressing the shutter usually moves the camera enough to ruin your night shots. Use an external shutter release, or the cameras self timer to avoid this problem.

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At this point I look at the image in my LCD screen zooming in if necessary. If it seems too dark, my camera hasnt set the exposure properly. This can happen in night photography because there is very little light around. To fix any exposure problem, change the Exposure Value (EV) setting of your camera. For images that are too dark, set the EV to 1 or 2 and take the shot again. If the resulting image still isnt right, try again with a lower EV value. Another way to fix an exposure problem is to switch your camera into Manual mode. Use the cameras menu system to display the shot record (EXIF) data of the first shot you took. Take a note of the Aperture and Shutter Speed settings.
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Then switch the camera to Manual Mode, set the same Aperture and then take about 4 more shots each time varying the shutter speed to be slightly longer than last time. For instance, if the camera chose an Aperture of 5.6 and shutter speed of 2 seconds, I would place the camera into manual mode, set the same aperture (5.6) and try three more shots with slightly slower shutter speeds say 2.5, 3.2 and 4 seconds. These are the three next slower shutter speed settings on my camera. Take a look at each of these photos on your cameras screen. You will find each image to be brighter than the previous images. What you want is a brightness where you can see the darker areas of your photo, but the lights arent too bright. I take one last shot, setting the shutter speed to be slightly slower once again, because sometimes the image in the LCD doesnt quite give me the same view that I will see on my computer (or will be printed). Page 14 2007, TopPhotoTips.com

Photographing People At Night

The above techniques work superbly for subjects that dont move much (like buildings or gardens). If we want to take shots of our friends, we need to use a slightly different technique. You can use a flash, as mentioned above, but heres some other solutions you can try.

Turn On More Lights

One very simple technique is to make more light available to your camera by turning on some lights, or having your subjects move more into the light. If you ask people nicely, they normally dont mind moving around so you can take a better shot. Who knows? With these techniques youre likely to be taking better photos than anyone else there, so your friends may even want copies of your shots!

Slow Sync Flash

Only some cameras have this mode. Usually when you turn on the flash, the camera increases the shutter speed because it knows the flash will brighten the image enough. With the Slow Sync Flash mode (which can
searay

sometimes be represented as a person with a star in the background), the flash fires, but the cameras shutter stays open for longer. You can use this mode to great effect because your foreground subject will be frozen in light by the flash, AND the background will show on the photo because of the long shutter speed. This way you get the best of both worlds! If you use this method, make sure you tell your subject to stand as still as possible, otherwise youll get some motion blur (as in this example image).

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Noise
Digital Camera noise is anything that is visible in your photograph that was not present in the scene. Noise is the brightly colored little specks in your photo when there should not be any. Noise is a really common problem with digital cameras, but there are some techniques to reduce, or eliminate it. Noise is caused by a technological limitation of your digital cameras image sensor. Sometimes, your camera needs to amplify the signal coming from this sensor, and while the amplification does boost the signal (your picture), it also boosts the noise. Its similar to the background hiss you can hear when you turn your stereo up loud.

Magic Tip
In this discussion Im not talking about JPEG Noise. You will get artefacts on your photo when using the Low Quality or Small File Size JPEG setting of your camera. While this allows you to put more photos on your memory card, it also reduces the

Reducing Noise
Its not possible to completely eliminate noise, but when you know the most common causes of noise, you can help to reduce it.

quality of your images. I recommend always using the High Quality JPEG setting.

A high ISO value is the most common cause of noise. Increasing the ISO causes the camera to amplify the signal from the sensor even more. And as I noted above, when you amplify the signal, you also amplify the noise. So reduce the ISO of your camera as much as possible. If youre shooting on a bright sunny day, use ISO 100 or 50. On a cloudy day, use ISO 200 or 300. At night, use 400 or above.

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If your camera has a Noise Reduction mode, turn it on. Some cameras enable it automatically when you use a high ISO value, but its worthwhile ensuring it is enabled. When this mode is on, your camera uses some software to reduce the noise as much as possible before it saves the image to your memory card.

Magic Tip
A happy side effect of reducing the ISO of your camera is your images will have more vibrant colors. So always use the lowest ISO you can.

Noisy Image

After Noise Removal

Cameras with larger sensors are less susceptible to noise, so this is another option. SLR cameras usually have larger sensors and the higher cost of these cameras also means they are more likely to include better quality parts.

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Use A Combination Of Techniques

I also recommend using a combination of all the above. Use the lowest ISO possible, turn on noise reduction, and if possible invest in a more expensive camera. All will combine to almost completely reduce the noise in your photo.

Removing Noise Using Software

What if your camera doesnt have a noise reduction feature? Lots of image editing programs available for your computer (like Photoshop Elements, Photoshop CS and Paint Shop Pro) have noise reduction features. These work really well to reduce noise in a photo. There are also specialized noise reduction software programs on the Internet. These programs only do one thing (and do it well) removing noise from your photos. One I recommend is called Neat Image and it is available from http://www.neatimage.com. Another highly recommended program that also works on a Mac (although more expensive) is Noise Ninja from http://www.picturecode.com.

To learn more about Digital Camera Noise, and how you can reduce it (including a video that shows you how to use Neat Image), see my Noise Bonus available in my Digital Photo Secrets book.

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Background Problems
How often have you looked at a photo and said Wouldnt it be great if the light pole wasnt sticking out of Aunt Mavis head or Did that tree branch need to be right in front of little Johnny? When we compose photographs, we tend to concentrate our subject. And well we should because this is the main element of our photo. Unfortunately when we do this, our brain doesnt see anything else in the picture, like those light poles situated in the wrong
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place.

Notice the basket in the foreground? Very distracting. If the photographer was to move slightly to the left, the shot would have been much better.

Our brains dont register the unwanted element in our photos until we see the photos again on our computer. Way too late to do anything about it. The trick that professional photographers use to make sure there arent any hidden gottyas is to use the cameras viewfinder. Once they are almost ready to take their photo, they scan the rest of the scene with their eye. So take a leaf from the pros, and do a quick scan yourself. Look for anything in the background that will interfere with your subject in the final photo (like that pesky light pole). Also look for anything in the Page 19 2007, TopPhotoTips.com

Magic Tip
Keep an eye on rubbish in the frame as well. Take a few extra seconds to remove any litter, or unsightly objects from your frame. Youll thank yourself later.

foreground that obscures some of your subject (like the basket handle in our example above). If you find anything problems with the foreground or background, move your camera and recompose your shot. Sometimes you only need to move a few feet to one side. Other times, you might need to look around to find a more pleasing background. And this trick works for light as well. If on a scan of your image you notice that your subjects arent as bright as the background, then ask them to move more into the light. A second invested before you press the shutter will save agony later when you see your pictures in print and discover that unwanted extra.

hilonesome

This photo of kids running would have been better without the person in the blue jumper.

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Background Out Of Focus

Kilian Hofmann

The number one photography aspect that makes others say wow to a photo is the Subject In Focus, Background out of focus effect. This emphasizes your subject because the viewer of your photo cant make out anything else. This effect is a result of two features of your camera called Depth Of Field and Circle Of Confusion. But rather than bore you with the technical aspects of how this works, Ill just show you how to use them to your advantage In the same way as most people dont know exactly how electricity works, but we all know how to use it!

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Creating Out Of Focus Backgrounds

Its really easy change your camera to the Portrait Mode. With this mode, youre telling the camera that you will take a portrait shot of someone and it will change the settings to ensure the subject is in focus and the background is out of focus.

Aperture
You can control the amount of your image is in focus, and the amount that is out of focus by changing the Aperture value. Set your camera to Aperture Mode and use a small aperture number (like 4, or 5.6) to have only a small area of your image in focus. This is what your camera does when you select Portrait Mode. Similarly, setting a high aperture number will increase the amount of your image in focus. Use a high aperture number (10 and above) for landscape shots where you want both the foreground and background to be in sharp focus.

Magic Tip
As you increase the aperture number, you also decrease the amount of light getting into your camera. With Aperture Priority, your camera will compensate by keeping the shutter open slightly longer. You will mostly notice this in low light situations because a longer shutter speed can cause blurry images. See my section on blurry images for why this is so.

The Background out of focus technique is done by manipulating Depth Of Field. To know exactly how Depth Of Field works to shift the focus of your images, take a look at my Depth Of Field Secrets course at http://www.dofsecrets.com. This video course explains this technique simply (without any jargon) and how you can use it to take your photography to the next level and produce winning photo after winning photo. Page 22 2007, TopPhotoTips.com

Bright and Dark Patches

Ever had this problem? You take a great shot, but parts of the image are either too bright or too dark. You have a perfect sky, and the foreground is too dark; or your foreground is great, but the sky is all white. Or your subject is very dark while the background is perfectly exposed. A correctly exposed picture is where the brightness level is just right. There are no areas that are completely black, or completely white. If these areas exist, they are said to be under
This young man is a little too dark. The camera has exposed for the bight area behind him,

exposed (the black parts) or over exposed (the white parts).

The Cause
The simple reason is that a camera cant pick up all the light levels that our human eye can. Our eye can see great ranges of brightness at the one time. We can be inside and see both the inside room, and outside the window quite well. However, there are some limits to how quickly we can adjust to different brightness levels. If you go from an almost dark room outside into bright sunlight, your eyes blink while they adjust to the large change in brightness. Its worse for your camera because it cant see as many levels of brightness at once as our eyes can. Fortunately, camera makers have developed some very clever techniques to overcome this limitation. And they have mostly done a good job. When you half press the shutter button, the camera does a few things (to know exactly what it does, look at the section on Shutter Lag). One is the camera Page 23 2007, TopPhotoTips.com

samples parts of the scene and finds the overall brightness. It then adjusts the camera settings to ensure that when the photo is taken, it is not too bright or too dark. This is called a correctly exposed photo. When you try to take a photo of two areas that have a large brightness difference between them (like an indoor room and the view outside a window), the camera cant correctly expose both of these areas at the same time. This is where you get areas of your photo that are too dark or too bright. Most of the time, its good enough to ensure your subject is correctly exposed. When our subject is too dark or too bright is when we get annoyed! You need to tell your camera where your subject is, so it can ensure the exposure of that part of the image is correct. To do that, give your camera hints.

Magic Tip
The cameras exposure reading is why your camera knows to keep the shutter open for longer in low light scenes. Without this reading, you would need to adjust your camera manually for every single shot you take.

Giving Your Camera A Hint

Your camera will get the exposure of your subject wrong because it doesnt know where your subject is in the frame. It may see a very dark scene, but not realize that your subject (over the right side of the image) is brightly lit. The resulting image will have the dark scene exposed correctly, but your subject will be too bright and be over exposed. Your camera assumes that the object in the center of your photo should be correctly exposed, so it reads the light from the center of your image. The trouble is that for pleasing images, often our main subject is not in the center of the photo. See the section on Boring Shots for why this is the case.

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Remember that your camera reads the exposure when you half press the shutter button. Use this knowledge to your advantage! Just before you press the shutter, move your camera so the subject (or the area of the photo you want to be correctly exposed) is in the center of frame. Then depress the shutter button half way. Your camera will set the exposure according to what is now in the middle of the image (your subject). Then move the camera back so your subject is where you want them in the shot. Finally, fully depress the shutter button. Your subject will now be correctly exposed. This works for any scene. With our indoors and looking outside a window scene, if we wanted to ensure that the indoor room isnt too dark, we move our camera so that the center of the frame is looking at the inside wall. Then we half press the shutter. Move the camera back to recompose our image, and fully depress the shutter to take the photo. To ensure we see outside (so the indoor room is dark), keep the center of frame pointing at the bright outdoor area when you half press the shutter. Recompose and then shoot.

Magic Tip
When you half press the shutter, your camera also sets focus. So make sure that if you move the camera to set exposure, ensure the new center of frame is about the same distance to your camera as your subject. Otherwise your subject will be out of focus.

Metering Modes
Another way to give your camera a hint is to change your cameras Metering Mode. This tells the camera where in the image to sample for brightness. The three most common metering modes are:

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Matrix Metering. Also known as Multi-Zone or Average metering. Your camera looks at the whole scene and takes an average light measurement. Use this mode youre your whole scene has brighter and darker sections, but no areas that are very bright or
Wendy Arthur

very dark. Center Weighted Metering works similar to matrix metering, but it places more weight on the brightness level of the center of your image. Because most of the time your subject will be close to the center of your photo, this ensures your subject is correctly exposed. Spot Metering takes a light reading from the very center of your photo and ignores the rest. This is handy when there is a small part of your photo that you need to be correctly exposed. For instance taking shots of sunsets is problematic because the sun is very bright. Setting Spot Metering, and pointing towards the clouds will fix this problem. Some more expensive cameras even allow you to select specific areas of the image to read when setting the exposure. I find its usually easier to set Spot Metering and point the camera to the area Id like to have correctly exposed rather than trying to work out how to tell the camera what parts of the image to read.

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How To Handle Both Very Dark and Very Bright Areas

So how do we correctly expose a shot where we have both very dark and very bright areas? Unfortunately, when there is too much of a difference between the bright and dark areas of the photo (like our inside window and outside example above), the camera just isnt capable of correctly exposing both areas at once. You can get around this by taking two shots. One exposed for indoors, and a second exposed for outside. You merge these two photos in a paint program such as Photoshop. This is quite hard to do, however. Another option is to use a camera filter. Filters (particularly a graduating filter) change the amount of light getting into a camera at specific parts of the image. Graduating filters are of most use when you have a bright sky and a darker foreground. You can place the filter in front of the camera in such a way that the filter doesnt let much light through where the bright sky is. That way the camera can correctly expose the foreground, and the sky will still look great. Neither of these options are perfect though. My recommendation is to stay away from situations where you have a large brightness range. Either change your composition (to remove the bright sky), or move to shoot from a different angle.

What if you have taken a photo already that is too dark or too bright or has areas that are very dark or very light. Find out how to fix these problems with a paint program. My Image Editing Secrets at http://www.imageeditingsecrets.com show you exactly how to do this (in video 2) for Photoshop CS2, Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro and Picasa. Plus youll get lots of other helpful hints for fixing your photos. Page 27 2007, TopPhotoTips.com

Boring Shots
No matter how hard you try, your shots always end up being boring. You look at the photos in newspapers and magazines and see that they are better, but dont know why. Im about to let you in on the secret! Change just two things in almost any situation and your boring photo will turn into a masterpiece!

Get Closer
It doesnt get any simpler than that! Next time youre taking photos of your friends (or anything for that matter), take a few steps closer or use the optical zoom on your camera. Dont take a shot of a person with
Ritasdigs

their head and half their body get really close and fill the frame with their face. Thats it! Youll be surprised at how much better your photos look with this simple trick. I remember the first time I realized this. When I was young, I took some photos at a relatives wedding. My uncle (who at that time knew quite a bit more about photography than me) took pictures of the same event. For a long time I wondered why his pictures were so much better than mine. It was only years later when I heard the get closer technique that it dawned on me. Getting closer (and filling the frame with the happy couples faces) was exactly what he did. Page 28 2007, TopPhotoTips.com

The Rule Of Thirds

This is another really simple trick. Most people place their subject in the center of the frame. Very boring! When next taking a photo, imagine your image divided into 9 areas by placing a two lines vertically and two horizontally. Like a Tic Tac Toe board. Place your important elements (like your subject) along these lines, or where the lines intersect.
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When your subject is looking to the right, place them on the left side of the photo (so they have something to look into. Similarly, when looking to the left, place on the right. When they are looking into the camera, make sure you have some interesting background in the rest of your photo. Doing this will result in more aesthetically pleasing and professional looking photos. One note: This rule should be more of a guideline than a rule. You do not always have to place your subjects on one of the third lines. Or even use the rule at all. You can often make pleasing shots by ignoring this rule completely. So dont always place your subject in the middle of the frame. Experiment, and youll have a much better result. These two tips are so essential that they are included in my 21 Digital Photo Secrets course that go along with this book. If you havent received any of these tips yet, sign up from http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com. Page 29 2007, TopPhotoTips.com

Solving Shutter Lag

Its always very frustrating! You have a great shot lined up, and press the shutter button. But your camera takes an extra second to think about the photo before it opens the shutter. By the time the photo is actually taken, your prefect shot has vanished! This is called Shutter Lag.

What is Shutter Lag?

Shutter lag is the time between when you press the shutter button, and when the shot is actually taken. Its the combination of two different processes: Time To Autofocus. As soon as you depress the shutter button, the camera needs to find the correct focus for the shot. On most Point and Shoot cameras, this can be very slow as the camera moves the focusing lens using a motor until it finds the correct spot. On SLR cameras, its quicker as more advanced technology is used to speed the motor up. Time for the Shutter Release. This is the time the camera takes to open the shutter (either a physical or an electronic shutter), and prepare the sensor for the shot. It is a lot less time than the time needed to Autofocus, but on cheaper cameras is still noticeable. The shutter lag is the combined time of the above. The Autofocus lag is the one we notice the most because its the longest of the two. Shutter lag time varies greatly from camera to camera. Usually the more expensive cameras have less of a lag than cheaper cameras.

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Eliminating Shutter Lag

While shutter lag cant be completely eliminated, you can do a number of things to speed up the time between when your mind wants to take the photo, and when your camera actually takes it.

Depress The Shutter Half Way First

Almost all cameras have a two step shutter. If you press the shutter half way, the camera will perform the Autofocus step, but wont actually take the shot. When you are ready, fully depress the shutter button and the image will be taken. On some cameras, your camera can keep tracking the subjects focus as you keep the shutter button depressed (called AI Servo, or Dynamic Area DF). This means that if you keep holding the shutter button half way your camera will keep sharp focus on your subject - even if they move towards or away from the camera. Depressing the shutter release button half way is the absolute best way to reduce shutter lag because the camera can
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actually take the photo at the time you want the photo taken because the long focusing process is already complete.

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Anticipate The Moment

On fast action shots, anticipate your cameras shutter lag by fully depressing the shutter slightly before your subject is where youd like it to be. So by the time your camera takes the shot, you have a perfectly composed photo. This takes some skill to master, but if you anticipate the moment and ensure you depress the shutter half way beforehand, youll get some very good results.

Prefocus
This is where you focus your camera on a specific region where your subject will be in the future. Then when your subject is in the correct place, take the shot. You can also turn off auto focus (if your camera allows you to) and manually focus on the desired spot. If your camera has a focus lock, this is another handy trick because you can lock the focus where you want it.

Take Lots Of Photos

The more shots you take, the more chance (particularly if you use the above tips) of you not missing the crucial moment. And in the digital age, you can simply erase the ones that dont work out.

Upgrade To A Better Camera

I dont often recommend this, because my philosophy is that you should be able to take great shots with the camera you have! But sometimes the only way to reduce shutter lag is to get a better camera. Almost all SLR cameras are much quicker at focusing, and if you prefocus there is almost no delay. Look for a camera with a shutter lag of less than 0.5 second. The quicker the better! Shutter lag can be a big problem with digital cameras, but with a little prethought, can be almost eliminated!

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White Balance
Ever taken a photo where the colors were very mediocre or even have blue, yellow or brown tints? Do your images have dull colors or lack vitality? This is a very common problem and results from an incorrect white balance. White Balance is the ability of a camera to adjust the color of an image based on the lighting situation. You see, different lighting sources emit color tones. Sunlight has a slightly different color than tungsten lights, which are slightly different again from florescent lighting. Our brain is very good at deciphering these different
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This is the image with the cameras original white balance. It looks too blue.

colors, so we see normal colors.

The same image after white balance correction. It now looks a much warmer image corresponding with the leaf colors.

But all a digital camera can do is represent the actual colors and lighting of the scene. Unfortunately when we look at the photos later, we see a blue, yellow or brown tint. What White Balance does is correct these hues in the camera, before the image is written to the memory card. It does this by looking at the brightest spot in the image, and calling that white. Usually, in outdoor scenes, the white parts are the clouds in the sky. The camera then slightly changes all colors in the photo so the bright spot is pure white. Most of the time, the camera can find the correct white balance and automatically correct this problem. Sometimes though, when there is no white in the image, it Page 33 2007, TopPhotoTips.com

has a hard time. Youll know your camera is having troubles when you look at the image after it has been taken and you notice a slight color tint. One way to overcome the problem is by using a flash, but the flash can present more problems. The flash will reflect against shiny surfaces, has a limited range, and takes a while to recharge (meaning you cant take multiple shots quickly). Its usually better to manually set the cameras White Balance setting.

Setting White Balance

Cameras come with two types of white balance settings preset and manual. The preset white balance modes are: Auto, Daylight, White Fluorescent, Standard Fluorescent and Incandescent. The Auto setting is the one that has trouble if there is no white in the image. So to be sure the white balance is going to be correct for your image, change the white balance preset that corresponds to the lighting in the room. Look around if there are mostly Incandescent lights, use the Incandescent setting. Some more advanced cameras allow you to manually set a white balance from a white card placed in front of the lens. This is the most accurate way to correct for color imbalance, because you take into account the light coming from all light sources (even different types of light, such as incandescent and fluorescent lights). Any white card will do I use the back of a business card!

Use A Paint Program

Fortunately, if you forget to set the correct white balance in your camera, it can be very easily changed afterwards in a paint program. Picasa, Photoshop Elements, and Photoshop CS all have a setting called Auto Color. Paint Shop Pro users can use the Color Balance setting.

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Red Eye
Red Eye is the unsightly bright red eyes that can occur in a photo of a person that you take. What causes it? Red Eye is caused by the following situations: There is low light (for example, at night) Your cameras flash is turned on. Your Subject looks directly at the camera Your cameras flash is very close to the lens (any camera with an on-board flash will have the flash very close to the lens). Because of the low light, the pupils of your subjects eye will be wide open - a lot more open than on a bright sunny day. Red Eye occurs because the light from the cameras flash enters the eye, reflects off the red retina at the back of the eye, and bounces back to the camera's lens. The red of the retina is why you see a red eye.

Fixing Red Eye Before It Happens

Being aware of the causes of Red Eye (as above night shots when you use your flash and your subject is looking at the camera), you can take some steps to minimize, and even eliminate this unwanted effect. If your camera has it, turn on the Red Eye Reduction flash. This will pre-flash the flash (or show a pre flash light). The extra light before the shot is taken causes Page 35 2007, TopPhotoTips.com

the pupils on your subjects eyes to close. When the photo is taken, not as much light gets into the eyes and so not as much is reflected back to the camera. If your flash is external, or if it can be moved around, point your flash away from your subjects. I usually find a white reflective surface (like a wall, or even the ceiling). Because the flash light bounces off something before it hits your subject, you wont get any light reflecting from their eyes back to the lens. Stopping Red Eye in its tracks! Keep your flash off. A flash is what causes Red Eye in the first place, so leaving it off will eliminate the unwanted effect entirely. If your camera doesnt have enough light to take a good (and non blurry) photo, add more light to the room by turning on some lights. Even with the flash on, with more light around your subjects pupils wont be as open and this reduces any red eye. Finally, you can ask your subject not to look directly at the camera. This can help, but your subject needs to be looking almost 90 degrees away from the camera to completely eliminate the effect. I recommend instead to use one of the options above.

Removing Red Eye Using Software

If you have a great photo that has been wrecked by Red Eye, you can use software to remove it. Googles Picasa is a great (and free) program that does a great job at removing Red Eye. Most good image manipulation programs will also automatically remove Red Eye too. Download Picasa By Clicking Here To watch a video that shows you step-by-step how to remove Red Eye using popular programs like Photoshop CS2, Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro and Picasa, sign up for my Free Image Editing Secrets at http://www.imageeditingsecrets.com. The Red Eye Reduction is video number 3.

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Authors Conclusion
Well, 37 pages of free valuable information on taking better photos. What was I thinking!!! Was it worth paying for? I think it would have been. You wont find these simple explanations anywhere else on the Internet. The only thing you need to do right now is login to http://www.topphototips.com/members/ to share this compilation with everyone you know. Wouldnt they appreciate knowing the tips and secrets to better photography that you now know? Make sure to read our referral offer. This is the gift that gives twice! Your friend gets great photograpIt can make you some nice and easy extra money.

To Your Photographic Success,

David Peterson

P.S. My Plug. If you think I earned the right to ask you to review my best selling product Then Just Click Here.

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