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Latina model in blue jeans taken with a 6mp camera.
The Holiday season is here and I know many of you will probably be getting some nice new toys, like digital cameras. If you have owned one before or this will be your first digital camera, I bet you cant wait to start shooting away. Maybe you’ll use it to capture some great photos at the local sports event, maybe its a family party you cant wait to document with your camera. Whatever it may be, I know one thing, whenever you look at photos of a model or see a photographer shooting a model, you dream for a split second that it could be you taking photos of beautiful women! Right? But of course that cant happen because you don’t own all those expensive cameras, lenses and equipment. You’re holding your little Point & Shoot camera and feeling like that could never happen.
Not so. In fact many of the regular Point & Shoot/compact cameras of today are more than able to take very good photos in the hands of a talented person. Its more the setup of the shoot and knowing how to use your camera that enables one to take great photos. Most people who get a new compact camera for the first time simply open the box, charge the battery, insert the memory card then place everything on Auto/Program and find the button to shoot the picture. After all, isn’t that the only requirement to take a good photo? Again…not so!
Over the years I have always suggested people to concentrate on understanding how to use your camera instead of focusing on how much it cost or how advanced it is. After all, if you don’t know how to use all the features, what does it matter how advanced it is! Many of the compact cameras of today have many basic and advanced features. Read the manual the first day you open the camera. When I get a new camera, I sit in the living room with the camera on my side and I begin to read the manual. I go back and forth from the camera to the manual and visa-versa. I take simple sample snapshots at objects around me and play around with the different features so that I know how to use some of the basic features. Later that day or next day I talk a walk at the park, beach or somewhere outdoors and take outdoor photos, again learning how to use the camera and figuring out the good and bad things about it. I want to know as much as possible right away. I later forget some of it, but that is ok, because I read most of the manual and absorbed so much information, recalling a specific feature or issue will be easier to find the solution to in the manual.
Its not until then that I start taking photos of events, people or projects with the camera. And even then, I never stop learning more features or things I can do with the camera. If don’t own a DSLR but only a compact digital camera or are looking to buy one, you might want to look at some of the features first! For example, is there a manual mode? Most do, they usually have a Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Program Priority and Manual Mode. Optical zoom is always what you really want to use, not digital zoom, so make sure the range of the lens refers to optical zoom. Don’t focus on the 3x or 5x zoom, look at the range, it can be 35-70 or 24-110mm, these numbers will vary on the camera. Does it have a macro feature, many do nowadays, its so you can take very up close photos of objects.
Camera’s also have “film” speed even though they don’t use any speed, but they range from 100 speed to 1600. Most will be in the 100-800 range (having those available to use). Most should allow you to shoot in RAW/Tiff format, this is an extra way of the camera saving the image instead of or along side the .jpg image it will save. A RAW file is uncompressed, which .jpg is a compressed file. An image saved over and over again as a .jpg file will start to lose quality. Also, a RAW file will allow you to better use the image later on your imaging software like Photoshop. A RAW/Tiff file is like a negative, its the original image un-tampered with, an image saved as a .jpg has already been manipulated. Now, there are many reasons when to use each. It is not always required to shoot in RAW format, I’ll tackle that subject later.
Beauty in the garden
Look at the “noise” issue when shooting in higher speeds, like 800 or above, or 400 and above in some cameras, so you need to know your camera capabilities. Now when practicing your shots, try using a tripod, yes you heard me right a tripod, even with a compact camera I sometimes will use a tripod. In fact a few weeks ago, I took some family photos with a tripod and studio lights in my living room. The results were studio quality pictures similar to ones I have taken with my Nikon DSLR. Compact cameras work better for well lit, non-action situations…well at least most of them!
Finally, there are many other features to look for but take the time to know how YOUR camera works and you can take very similar photos like the ones you see here and on other photography sites. The image of the Latina with jeans on the upper left was taken with a 6mp camera, which I later had to reduce in size to fit on your screen. So take your time and fight the urge to always use the Auto mode in your camera. Experiment, have fun and don’t feel embarrassed or scared to ask one of your friends to model for you, that is how I started!
