eSchool - Digital Photography, September 10th, 2007
Like modern film cameras, digital cameras offer a series of picture-taking modes for situations such as candid portraits, scenes, night shots, action shots, and so on. However, there are things to keep in mind now working with a digital camera:
One important function of digital cameras is its use of white space. The human brain adjusts the color of light for you so you perceive sunlight, fluorescent light, incandescent light, and other types of illumination in a similar manner. Many digital cameras enable you to set a custom white balance, allowing your camera to evaluate an object, such as a piece of white paper, and then save the values as your standard white.
Cameras utilize white space with different light and filter settings to help you create a perfect picture; this includes: sunny and cloudy daylight, snow and beach settings, among others.
Digital cameras also have light sensors that enable you to change its ISO (International Standards Organization). You may be familiar with the term ISO from buying film for your traditional camera. A great way to learn about ISO settings is through the auto setting on your camera. Most digital cameras indicate which ISO is automatically set depending on the available conditions for each photo.
Many digital cameras offer editing controls enabling you to adjust the sharpness of your photos, or you can turn it off to obtain a softened effect. The sharpening control works by increasing the contrast between adjacent pixels when a sharp boundary exists.
On some digital cameras, you can view a histogram of a photo you've just taken. This is a graph displaying the pixel count as a function of brightness.
When using your digital camera, experiment with different white balance settings, especially when photographing a sunset. A more effective way of composing a photograph is to locate the center of interest (such as the subject's eye) at one of the third points, which are one-third of the way in from any corner of the picture space.
Additional compositional elements that help you achieve pleasing photos include various shapes, patterns, and textures. Look for shapes such as circles and triangles.
