Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Not so Secret Digital Photography Tricks

By Russell Roberds

Have you ever wanted to refine your picture taking ability, but didn't know where to even begin? Well, what if I revealed to you that in just a few seconds, you could be applying some wonderful digital photography tricks that will take your photos from all right to fabulous!

If you are anything like me, you have thrown away a lot of time and some cases a lot of money taking photographs, that are, well, not that great. After several years (too many to reveal), I finally decided to do something about it. I read a couple of books, magazines and took a couple of classes to advance my digital photography skills. What I learned is that there are a tremendous amount of digital photography tricks that are so easy, I picked them up in nothing flat and discovered sensational results.

I won't guarantee that you will be a professional from these digital photography tricks, but you will notice improvement from the very first photograph.

1. Fill the frame: One of the most basic digital photography tricks to grasp, but harder to put into practice. When you shoot a picture, how small is your subject in the view finder? When I look at old pictures I took, the subject invariably seemed to be tiny. Well, by filling the frame you highlight the object better. Also, whenever the subject takes up most or the entire frame, you are "removing" objects from the picture that might have appeared beside or around the subject. By getting rid of the "clutter", the viewer then focuses more on your subject. The practice that I now put to work is if you conclude you are close enough, your not. If you conclude you are too close, then you are probably the perfect distance, so take the picture.

2. Would you repeat that?: One more easy digital photography trick is repetition. Repeating textures, colors or items create fantastic photos! Nature is the master at repetition; leaves on trees, trees in a forest, cloud patterns. Another study that manufactures excellent photos is to find a pattern and then locate an object that violates the orderliness, like a box full of red apples with one yellow one. The unpaired apple draws the viewer's eye into the photograph and also constructs a counterpoint.

3. One of the digital photography tricks used in many pictures is reflection: The earth is chock-full of reflective objects and faces; water, glass, chrome, waxed cars and mirrors to mention a few. They alter our natural awareness by twisting the original. Whenever you take a photo of the reflection rather than the original, it will engage increased interest to your photo.

4. One of my favorite digital photography tricks is to construct a frame within the frame. I am not saying a photograph frame, I am speaking about designing a frame around your subject with objects. One illustration would be to be situated on one side of a door frame and your subject matter is on the opposite side of the door. Snap the photo so that the door frame is around the edge of the photo. It entices the viewers eye to the interior of the picture and to your subject. It may also construct more depth to the scene.

These are a few of the simple techniques that skillful photographers put to use to attain those awesome photos in magazines, books and on the web. My desire is that you will employ these digital photography tricks to enhance your picture taking talent. Happy shooting and say cheese (make mine white American) - 16651

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