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Choosing a Digital Camera – Understanding the Different Types

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If you’ve ever wondered what the difference is between the three types of digital cameras then here is your chance. Let’s talk about the main differences between Digital SLRs , Point and Shoot Digital Cameras and Bridge Cameras.

Digital Single Lens Reflexes (DSLR’s)

A digital single lens reflex camera (commonly referred to as a DSLR) is a professional style camera that can be  manually adjusted for greater control and flexibility. These types of cameras used to be exclusively used by professional photographers but now are becoming more commonly used by serious hobbyist photographers.If you’re really serious about photography then this is the type of camera for you.

Advantages of DSLRs:

  • Being able to change your lens in order to take different types of shots such as using a macro lens for super close images or a telephoto for taking distance shots.
  • Being able to manually adjust your camera settings like aperture and film speed so you can always be sure to capture the shot you want regardless of the light or the amount of movement of your subject.
  • Large light sensors so you can increase your ISO and get shots in low light without getting digital noise (unsightly graininess in your picture) like other types of digital cameras.
  • Lots of cool accessories, like external flashes, you can add to your camera in order to help you get the perfect shot.
  • Super fast shooting ability with no processor lag like other types of digital cameras. This allows you to click the shutter and get your shot instead of having a time delay.
  • Many cameras have high resolution video capture functionality.

Disadvantages of DSLRs

  • Cost. DSLRs are the most expensive type of digital camera and require you to buy additional lenses for your DSLR in order to take different types of shots.

Point and Shoot Digital Cameras

Point and shoot digital cameras (often called automatic cameras or sub-compacts for the pocket sized version) are the most popular type of camera and are designed for ease of use. Here are the pros and cons of these simple to use digital cameras.

Advantages of Point and Shoot Cameras

  • Easy to use. You really can’t find a more basic and easy to use camera as a point and shoot.
  • Low cost. These cameras are designed for the average person so they have a very low cost so almost anyone could buy one.
  • Very compact and portable so you can take them almost anywhere.
  • Have preview or movie mode so you can see you can view your picture or even shoot a YouTube video with some cameras.
  • Some models also give you a few manual controls like aperture priority and shutter speed priority.

Disadvantages of Point and Shoot Cameras

  • No ability to change or alter camera settings- it’s simply a point and shoot camera.
  • Some inexpensive point and shoot cameras may have a short lifespan as they are not built to last.

Point and shoot digital cameras are great for taking quick pictures and when you need to travel light but if you want to capture really great photographs without a lot of photographic gear then you’d be better off with another type of camera…the bridge camera.

Bridge Cameras

These cameras “bridge” a gap between point and shoot cameras and DSLRs. Bridge cameras (also called prosumer cameras) are a blend of the best of automatic cameras and DSLRs so here is a breakdown of their advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of Bridge Cameras

  • Intermediate price point. More expensive than point and shoot cameras but much less than a DSLR since you don’t have to buy all the extra lenses.
  • Have larger sensors than point and shoot cameras so you can make some adjustments to the ISO.
  • Most have movie mode or preview LCD screens so you can compose your picture on the screen.
  • Many have super zooms which means they have optical zooms in ranges of 10x-20x.
  • Do have quite a few manual controls for greater control and flexibility.

Disadvantages of Bridge Cameras

  • They have more adjustments than automatics but don’t have the manual control and huge flexibility of a DSLR.

Hopefully this has helped you get a better feel for the difference between these three different types of digital cameras so you can be sure to get a camera that is right for you.

Flower Photography – Ways to Improve Your Flower Photos

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If you love taking flower photographs but struggle with getting great flower photos, then here are some flower photo tips that can help.

1) Focus on the Detail

Always pay close attention to detail and look for slight imperfections in the flower or background. Look for tree branches, distracting backgrounds or anything that could take away from the flower. You also want to look for opportunities where you can have contrasting colors in your picture. This could be anything from having a yellow flower against a field of bright green grass or a blue sky.

2) Lighting is Key

Look for times of the day when there is great lighting with no harsh shadows or bright sunshine. The two best times of day for taking pictures are the hour after dawn and the hour before sunset. You can also get good lighting on overcast days when there is bright light with no direct sunlight. You should also be careful to avoid casting any shadows on the flower while taking your pictures. And if the flower is back lit, make sure to use a lens shade or a broad brimmed hat to prevent lens flare (light directly entering the lens).

3) Wind is Not Your Friend

Avoid breezy or windy days like the plague. Anytime you’re taking flower photographs, you need a still, calm day. The calmest time of day is at dawn so if you can’t shoot at that time, you may want to consider using a wind break. All it takes is the slightest breeze to move a flower which is one reason flower photography can be so tricky.  However, if the flower is moving slightly you can compensate for it by changing your camera setting which we’ll talk about next.

4) Check Your Camera Settings

Make sure you are using the right camera settings. Unfortunately, this is a common cause of bad flower photos. Depending upon how close of a picture you want, set your camera to either macro or portrait mode if you’re using an automatic. Or, if you’re using manual settings choose a wide aperture (small F Stop number) to sharpen the focus on the flower and blur the background.

5) Pretty Up Your Flower

Look for things on the flower that may not be noticed until the picture is enlarged. Look for small pieces of dirt, small insects (unless you want them in your picture) and ripped or damaged petals.  If the flower has any dust or aphids on it, brush off the flower with a soft brush (artist or make up brush). If there are any damaged or ragged petals look to see if the flower would look better without them. Normally if you have to remove more than one petal, it’s best to find another flower. And if you want to have a “dewy” look to your flower, try spraying the flower with a mist of water.

6) Know Your Angle

Anytime you’re photographing a flower, you want to get a unique angle that best displays the flower. This could involve shooting from above the flower or lying on the ground or some angle in between. But whatever vantage point you take, make sure you take time to consider how you want to compose your shot.  Just like any other type of photography, composition is always “king” when it comes to taking extraordinary pictures.

Have fun using these 6 flower photo tips and don’t forget to share your flower photographs with others by framing them for all to see!

How to Take Great Sunset Photos

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If you’ve always wanted to take amazing sunset photos, then here are three great tips that can help.  These are practical tips you can start using right away so you’ll be taking beautiful sunsets before you know it.

Tip #1: Never Look Directly at the Sun

This may seem like a rule you learned in kindergarten, but it’s important that you never look directly at the full sun or aim your camera at it. This can damage your camera’s image sensor and leave you with a very expensive repair. So, always wait until the sun is sinking below the horizon or wait until it is a dark red color.



Photo by Phil William


Tip #2:  Getting the True Color

With sunsets, it can often be tricky getting the true color of the sunset to come out in your photograph. Often times, that’s because the camera’s automatic white balance tones down the bright colors to make them appear more “normal.” So, here is what you need to do:

  • If you have a camera with a manual setting, you need to turn off the automatic white balance and then set it to the warm side.
  • If you have a camera with a color lens setting, or you have a SLR or DSLR, try using the red filter setting or attach one.
  • If you have a compact camera, then set your camera to the “sunset” mode. This will shift the color balance to the warmer side and help it use the best focus and exposure.
  • If your camera is none of the above, then use the “landscape” mode or “automatic” setting and use a photo editor to adjust the white balance manually.

Tip #3: Composition is Key

Really stunning sunset pictures require good composition, a lot of patience and a little luck. The most important of the three is most definitely composition. If you’re familiar with classical photography composition techniques like the “rule of thirds” then you want to put this knowledge into practice. If you’re new to photography, then here are a few tips for composing pictures (more late in a future post):

  • Look for distracting elements in the viewfinder or screen that could detract from the sunset. This could be a building in the way, power lines, tree branches, people – anything that takes away from the picture and looks out of place.
  • Identify the main focus of your sunset picture and have that take up 2/3 of the picture. For example if the main focus of your picture is the sky, then have the sky take up 2/3 of the frame of the picture.
  • Look for elements that add interest to your picture. This could be a silhouette of a palm tree, a person walking on the beach, a rocky outcropping to help frame the image or a reflection off the water.

In addition to these tips on composition, patience is always an important factor when taking pictures. Sometimes our initial response is to immediately start taking pictures, but sometimes sunsets actually get more beautiful as the sun drops. So, take some pictures at first, but be willing to wait a little bit for the truly outstanding picture. And the last thing, is to make sure you’re starting out with a good setting. Sometimes by changing your position or location it can be the difference between a nice picture and an extraordinary one. The best location for sunsets is often places over water like the beach or even places like the desert or prairie where the dust in the air can add some amazing color to the sunset.

Hopefully these three tips will help you take even better sunset pictures.

Thank you to Phil Williams for the use of his photo:

Tips for Taking Digital Pictures – How to Compose the Perfect Picture

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Learning how to compose your photographs can mean the difference between a so-so snapshot and a high quality picture. Hopefully, you’ll find these composition tips helpful for taking digital pictures.

Filling the Frame & Clearing Clutter

There are exceptions to this as you’ll see in a second, but generally filling the frame is one of the easiest things you can do to compose interesting photographs.

One of the most common mistakes is to include too much in the photo and end up with a ho-hum photo where nothing really stands out.

For example, if you’re taking a picture of your child on a swing in the backyard, fill the frame with your child  and leave out the rest of the swing set and the other kids doing cartwheels on the lawn.  Otherwise your child will be lost in the clutter and the picture won’t capture the wonderful details of your child’s gleeful flight through the air on their swing.

A nice thing about digital cameras is that after you take the picture you can check for clutter in playback mode. Right away when there’s time for a retake you can see if something looks bad or if there is something like a stray piece of litter on the ground or a lamp post that appears to be growing out of some one’s head.

Sometimes leaving lots of empty space in the photo also works very well. Something like a meadow might fill two thirds of the photo for effect. Just be sure to get a close enough shot that your subject fills at least about a third of the frame. And that brings us to another important tip….

Rule of Thirds

Most snapshots have empty (or cluttered) space on either side of the subject, with the subject dead center. This makes sense because most people use digital compacts and they’re usually in autofocus mode with a center-weighted focus.

Professionally taken pictures rarely have the subject centered in the middle because they use manual focus and use classic composition methods. If you have a digital SLR (DSLR) you can manually focus too (we’ll even look at a way for some digital compact users can use).

The “Rule of Thirds” is one of the most popular classic composition methods used in the world of art. With this method, the photographer imagines six evenly spaced lines breaking the image into nine even parts.  Some cameras have a tic tac toe grid superimposed over your image in preview mode but if yours doesn’t you’ll have to imagine it.  Using this grid, frame the composition so that the subject (whether in individual, family, object, etc.) is on one of the intersections or on one of the lines.

This may seem tricky at first but with a little practice it becomes second nature.

Focus

Now lets first talk about getting your subject focused without placing them in the dead center of your frame.

This method works like a charm for subjects that are still. Here’s what you do:

  1. Using the viewfinder’s focus point, move the camera until your subject is in the middle of the frame, and press the shutter release button half way down.
  2. Wait for the green light to glow steadily signifying your focus is locked
  3. Keeping your finger on the shutter release button so it remains pressed only half way, move the camera until you have the composition you want.
  4. Holding the camera steady, press the shutter the rest of the way.
  5. As always, wait for the green light to signal the camera’s captured the shot.

Remember to always focus on the main point of interest in your photo. And when you’re photographing people or animals, that usually means you want to focus on their eyes because that’s where people naturally look first.

And anytime you’re focusing on a subject in your picture, look for a unique angle. This could mean taking the picture while standing on a chair or lying on the ground- whatever gives you a unique vantage point that captures the subject best.

That’s it for now! Start using these tips and before long you’ll be getting all kinds of compliments on your well composed pictures hanging on the wall.

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