Today on Be a Better Photographer I'm going to talk about the cameras I love to hate. The point and shoot digital camera. Everyone has one of these things and there are a few tricks that you can learn that can really improve your snap shots. I am not necessarily talking about cell phone cameras or video cameras that take stills, but real dedicated small cameras that fit in your pocket and have a flash.
I do own a bunch of theses, mostly Canon brand, although most of these cameras have a similar feature set. A good resource for looking up the different makes and models is at http://www.dpreview.com If its not on their site, it probably doesn't exist.
What to look for when buying a point and shoot. This is the number one question I hear form people in social situations, once they find out I'm a photographer. Actually they usually want an exact model recommendation, but I really don't know much about the exact models, there are so many, and I don't use them except in my photobooth (shameless self plug warning http://www.fortunephotobooth.com ) And in the photobooth I use almost none of the features except the flash.
But I do know what to look for in these cameras. There are two features that will make you a better photographer. Hopefully you won't actually have to read your manual to figure out how to use these features. I know everyone hates reading.
Feature #1. A point and shoot that will be really useful will have an ISO setting of 1600 or higher. Shooting anything moving indoors with a point and shoot is almost impossible without a high ISO setting. Most people leave their point and shoots in full dummy mode. This will get you the same photos as any other dummy using their point and shoot. I suggest trying something called "P" mode or "program" mode. This will give you a little bit extra control over the cameras settings and allow you to take better photos.
I was recently photographing a Tennis tournament at my local tennis club, and a friend of mine asked why his pictures were so blurry, was there anything he could do to make them. I said "I doubt it.'" but I took a look at his camera just in case I could figure something out. better (This is all without flash, Sports mode turns off the flash which is its best feature since you would probably be removed from the sporting event if you use your flash)He must have read some of his manual, because he didn't have the camera in complete dummy mode, he was in the "sports" mode, which you would think would try to capture movement with as little blur as possible. But Sports mode is just some variation on the dummy mode. It's dummy mode for people looking at sports, and he was getting the same dumb pictures that everyone else was. I did two things, 1. I switched to P mode, when in P mode extra settings came up when the menu button is pressed and one of those was ISO! Eureka! This little camera (a Canon by the way) had ISO 1600 as a feature. I set the camera to ISO 1600, left it in P mode and Wow! He was getting pictures of tennis players serving indoors that didn't look like an interpretative underwater Swan Lake dace recital. I was able to reduce the blur a bit more when I turned the Camera to AV Mode and set it to the cameras widest aperture (The widest aperture is the smallest number, Why largest = smallest ? This small fact has probably discouraged more budding photographers than anything else, It was probably a plot by professional photographers to keep away the competition.)
Anyway try it you might like it. You just have to remember to turn the ISO back to "auto" when you are done, or the pictures of your family at the beach will look like you all have the Swine Flu. The real downside of ISO 1600 is the noise you will see in your images. But getting the picture (in my mind) always out weighs how much noise it has. Try this at home with indoor lighting. You can also combine this with the cameras built in Flash and you will see how much extra light your camera will let in. Stick your camera in P mode, turn on the flash and use ISO 800 and see what happens.
Feature #2. Get a long zoom. Its ok to have a camera with a 3x zoom, but you'll never get that creative with it. Get one with a 10x or 12x (or more) zoom. These cameras have the drawback of being slightly bigger, but this article is about taking better pictures, not more convenient ones. If the camera has to fit in my shirt pocket I prefer to use my phone. I use the iPhone which has a pretty mediocre camera and no flash but I always have it on me and it takes decent pics in normal light. I feel that cameras will keep getting better in cell phones till the tiny point and shoots will almost disappear, just wait and see. The big advantage of a small point and shoot over a cell phone is the more powerful flash.
Now that you have your point and shoot in hand here are two more tips for using it.
Tip #1. Learn how to turn off your flash! Start using P mode instead of dummy mode, and for most situations auto ISO is fine. P mode allows you to turn off the flash if you want. If you are in a well lit room and your subject isn't back lit, then turn off your flash for a shot and shoot a few natural light shots. Turn the flash back on and see what it does. Which do you like better? Natural light shots are often more natural and more pleasing, but as the light gets brighter or the light gets too dark, a flash can really help. In darker situations try the high ISO settings without a flash, and also try to turn the flash on. If the shots are too blurry without the flash then you need a tripod or table to stabilize the camera, but you can add some awesome variety to your shots if you learn to turn off that flash!
One thing I touched on above I kind of glossed over, so here goes again. As conditions get bright and sunny a flash becomes useful to reduce shadows on peoples faces. Bright sun almost always calls for a flash. Try it out. Dummy mode seems to turn the flash off in these situations. Go to P mode and turn on the flash, Of course your flash will do nothing for landscapes and distance shots, but it will really help your portraits. If it's too sunny find some shade, put your subject in the shade and turn that flash off for some. If there is no shade, turn the subject so their back is to the sun and turn the flash back on. Go ahead, try it.
Tip #2. This is my favorite tip for people who don't know how to work their cameras and may solve the number one complaint of point and shoot users. The complaint is... "when my subject is moving it takes too long for my camera to take the picture after I press the button." There is a work around for this problem. The shutter release button on almost every camera has 3 positions, 1/2 way down and all the way down, and all the way up. There is no way to just mash the button from all the way up to all the way down and get the camera to respond quickly. Don't be a button Masher!
What you need to do is anticipate the action a little bit. You see your cat crouched on the edge of the chair, ready to pounce! You see your spouse asleep on the floor beneath the cat with their hair blowing gently in the breeze from the open window. You can imagine the great photo you are about to take, you can feel it. The expression on their face will be worth reading this article on how to capture it! "Don't be a button masher" you say to yourself. So here is how you do it. You first focus on your spouses face by pushing the button 1/2 way down, and HOLD IT! WAIT, WAIT... The cat Jumps and lands on your spouses face. And you then PUSH THE BUTTON DOWN FURTHER! Eureka! You did it. The camera takes the picture exactly when you pushed the button.
OK, it didn't work, the picture is of the back of your spouses head, after the cat has been thrown out the door. What happened? If you did exactly what I said then it is your fault, you were too slow, not the camera. I have no cure for timid finger delay, only camera delay. So what happened? What happened was that you must have pushed the button down 1/2 way, waited, but your next move was critical, never let the button go back all the way up until you are done, go directly to the down position and collect your $200. If you ever let the button back up the plan will not work, you must push the button half way down which sets the camera up and locks it into ready position., then when you need the camera to fire, just finish pressing the button down all the way. I repeat, Never let the button back up after going 1/2 way down, go ahead and mash that button down. It takes practice, but have someone run by you back and forth over and over until you can get that camera to fire right when they are in the center of the frame every time. You can do it!
OK, there goes another segment in the Be a Better Photographer series. Remember. Don't be a button masher, and if you have any question comments fears or concerns, let me know about it. Feel free to email me at soren@fortunephotobooth.com or explore our website at http://www.fortunephotobooth.com I'll try to work on cutting down my run of the mouth sentences as the series goes along. Who needs punctuation....,,,??"!
Cheers!
Soren Coughlin-Glaser
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