Gadgetory

Ansel Adams said that a good photograph is knowing where to stand you can take the most horrific ly awful pictures with the best of cameras and you can take great pictures with just about any camera you can find on the street so we went out and bought the Canon sx260 right now the vessel and camera on amazon.com and we're going to give you a few tips to show you how to take drastically better images even with a point-and-shoot like most things in photography composition can be pretty subjective but there are a few basic ideas that will be helpful when you're getting started always try to be aware of the geometry in your photo especially horizons keep your horizon relatively straight as a starting point you really should have a good reason for tilting your camera also be mindful of the so-called rule of thirds the center of the frame is generally a zone of despair and disappointment zooming can help you achieve a soft blurry background with a point-and-shoot but if your subject isn't actually far away from you just use your feet zooming also makes it harder to keep a steady shot so if you don't have a tripod become a tripod walls railings trees that crazy position from yoga last night do whatever you have to to steady your hand then there's the light when you press the shutter button half way the camera measures the light in the scene and chews it to settings for the photo this is called metering but you can force the camera to meter different parts of a scene just by pointing it somewhere other than your subjects do what you can to put light sources behind you including and especially the Sun if you want a bit more control leave the plush prison of auto mode behind and try aperture priority the aperture is the size of the opening through which light enters the lens and it also affects your depth of field at a basic level depth of field is what determines how blurry or sharp your background is if auto mode wants f/8 for example with that results in a shutter speed that's too slow switch to aperture priority mode and open up your aperture to a lower number you'll have a faster shutter speed that might be better suited to your needs okay so let's talk about flash as a general rule just just turn it off except for the darkest of circumstances most cameras today will do all right without the retina burning assault-weapon that the manufacturer decided you couldn't live without seriously is this how you want to remember your night it's like a PSA for bad decisions don't be afraid to move or to ask your subject to move look four lamps can street lights LED keychains road flares pretty much any light source around you will be better than the flash on your point you shoot camera alright it's time to let loose a little bit take everything I just said and forget about it then jump into the point-and-shoots menu system and try manual mode with wild abandon experimentation and failure are how photographers grow assuming you have a patient subject you'd be surprised what some simple adjustments can get you you