Marge Litvinskas's blog

Digital Cameras seem to be one of the gifts of choice this year for Christmas if the questions in my inbox are anything to go by.

As so many new camera owners are starting out with photography in the new year I thought I’d compile a list of photography tips and techniques that new camera owners might like to work through in the coming weeks.

Some are very basic while others go a little deeper - but all have been selected from our archives specifically for beginners and new camera owners. Enjoy.

Introductions to Useful Modes and Settings on Your Digital Camera

1. Digital Camera Modes Explained - I spoke with a family friend recently who had just bought a new point and shoot camera. She came up to me with her camera when no one was watching and embarrassedly asked me if I could tell her what all the little icons on the dial on top of her camera meant. This article explains what each of these most common digital camera modes means and does. Knowing them can take your shots to the next level.

2. Aperture and Shutter Priority Mode - this introduction talks you through these two very useful settings that can be found on many digital cameras. Aperture and Shutter Priority modes take you out of Automatic mode giving you more control over your images - but don’t thrust you fully into manual mode - they are great settings to explore and master.

3. Introduction to White Balance - one of the most common problems that I see in beginner photographer images are shots with incorrect color. We’ve all seen them - portraits where your subjects teeth and eyeballs (and everything else) has a yellowish tinge. Learn what causes this and how to combat it with this tutorial on White Balance.

4. Understanding Histograms - ‘histograms are scary’ - this is what one reader said to me recently when they discovered that they could view these little graphs or charts on their camera. While they might seem a little technical it is amazing how simple a histogram is to interpret. Know what you’re looking for and with just a glance you’ll know if your image is under or over exposed. It’s a useful tool to master.

5. Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB) - this feature is another of those often unexplored settings that many cameras have built into them that will allow you to get well exposed shots in even the trickiest of lighting situations.

Other Basic Camera Techniques

6. How to Hold a Digital Camera - this beginner tutorial covers a topic that most camera owners skip over without realizing that it is a foundational lesson in photography. Get this wrong and it can impact the quality of your shots.

7. Shutter Release Technique - another ‘basic’ or ‘beginner’ type tip that many do intuitively - but which can drastically improve your photography if you don’t do it.

8. How to Use Focal Lock - yet another beginner technique that many of us take for granted yet which is at the core of how all digital cameras focus automatically. Get this wrong and you’ll take a lot of shots of out of focus subjects and in focus backgrounds!

9. How to Take Sharp Digital Images - ‘my shots are fuzzy’ - it’s a common problem that we’re asked about at DPS so we wrote this tutorial to refer people to to help them get the sharpest images that their camera can take.

10. Shooting with an In Camera Flash - flash photography with an in built flash can lead to some terribly blown out images - here are a few tips on how to avoid them. On a similar topic - here’s 7 Strategies for Avoiding Flash Blow Out.

11. How to Get Shallow Depth of Field in Your Digital Photos - a great technique to learn if you’re into many types of photography (portraits, macro etc) is how to control the depth of field in your shots and make your main subject ‘pop’ out by making your background nicely blurred - this tutorial talks you through how to do it.

12. Understanding Exposure - this post talks new camera owners through the three main elements of Exposure. Once you’ve read it also check out our introductions to ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed.

Camera Care and Maintenance

13. How to Avoid a Dirty DSLR Sensor - one of the fastest ways to ruin every single shot you take with your new DSLR is to end up with a dirty image sensor. This tutorial gives some basic tips on how to ensure it stays as clean as possible.

14. How to Clean a DSLR Lens - as much as you try to protect them - lenses tend to get a little grimy over time. This tutorial shares some basic tips on how to clean them up so that your shots will be as clear as possible.

15. 7 Digital Camera Predators and How to Keep them at Bay - this tutorial talks you through 7 of the most common ways that digital cameras get damaged - what to look out for and what preventative action to take to avoid them.

Composition Tips

16. The Rule of Thirds - whether you know it to follow it or break it - it’s something you should at least know about.

17. Points of Interest - an image without some visual point of interest in it is unlikely to hold the eye of anyone viewing it.

18. Getting Horizons Horizontal - the perfect way to ruin that lovely sunset or landscape shot is to make it lean to one side. Get your Horizon Horizontal!

19. Fill Your Frame - this is not applicable to every shot you take but many photographers could drastically improve their photography by getting in close to their subject and filling their frame.

20. Getting Backgrounds Right - the background of your shot can make or break your image. This tutorial talks you through a number of things to look out for and techniques to use to get them just right.

21. Adding Randomness to Your Photos - learn how to set your images apart from everyone else’s by injecting creativity, variety and a little randomness into your shots.

New Year’s Just Ain’t New Year’s Without Photo Resolutions. Happy 2009!

We didn’t do any of our resolutions from last year, did you?

The problem is, we always pick stuff we ought to do, not stuff we want to do.

Here’s the thing- if it’s not fun, you won’t stick with it. Our advice is, pick ONE resolution that really sounds awesome, and do that one. Why commit to a whole bunch of things that you don’t want to do?

Need help picking that single resolution? Have a look through our humungous list of 22 photo possibilities* for the upcoming year.

(Although one resolution is the strict limit, we invite you to dabble frivolously, irresponsibly and noncommittally with anything else on this list.)

22 Photo New Year’s Resolutions for 2009

*Three more than last year! Holy mackerel!

Photo credit: włodi.

Get Organized

The great thing about digital photography is you can shoot as much as you want. The downside is that you end up with way more pictures than you need. Clean out what you don’t want and organize what you have.

1. Weed out the chaff. Go through your photos and get rid of the ones you don’t need: the blurry ones, the multiples, and the ones you just plain don’t like. You know how nice it feels when you get rid of clutter around your house? Same deal.

2. Clean up your act. While you’re messing around in your library, put photos into albums, sets, or files. Then give them names and/or tags so you can find them again. Dates, events, and subject matter are all great ways to organize your photos.

3. Back up! Yeah, we know we’re always saying this, but we really really mean it. Back up your photos often, and back up the back-ups. Use Time Machine if you have a Mac, or add a monthly appointment to your calendar so you don’t forget. We’d be so sad if you lost your photos!

Show Off

You know you’ve got a ton of amazing photos hanging around your hard drive. Get ‘em out of there and show them off properly!

4. Put more photos up. Make it easy to display your photos so you can put different ones up every month. Build yourself a photo wall or put up a couple of magnetic photo ropes.

5. Make a book. Making books online is crazy easy because of DIY publishers like Blurb, Lulu, or MyPublisher. Make a book of your favorite recipes with pictures to match, or document your road trip to Kalamazoo.

6. Enter some contests. We know you’re great. It’s about time everybody else did too. Check Photocompete to see what contests are running at any given time.

7. Share your pictures online. Get those photos out where everybody can see them. Save time by sending everything at once to all of your photosharing sites.

Try Something New

Ruts: they ain’t no good for nobody. If you’ve gotten into one, here’s how to get out of it.

8. Use a new technique. Experiment with something you’ve never done, whether it’s pinhole photography or shooting with a plastic camera. Or try some post-processing effects like cross-processing or tilt-shift.

9. Switch teams. If you’ve been shooting only in digital, play with film for a while (and vice versa).

10. Borrow some new gear. Rent that fancy lens you’ve had your eye on, or borrow a friend’s camera and try it out. Changing your equipment can shake up your routine.

11. Get a different perspective. Shoot from up high, down low, or from the hip (without peeking at the viewfinder!)

Do Some Good

Say you suddenly got superhero powers: you’d use them for good, right?

Well, you sort of already have them. You know your way around a camera, so why not use your talent to help somebody out?

12. Donate your old gear. If you’re not using it anymore, give your old camera to somebody who needs it, like kids, conservationists, or folks on Skid Row.

13. Volunteer your talents. Follow in Traer Scott’s footsteps by taking portraits of shelter dogs that need help finding homes, or volunteer to document an event for your favorite local charity.

14. Teach somebody what you know. If you’re good at photography (and we know you are), pass on your knowledge. Go speak at a local school, or teach a friend’s kid how to use a camera.

Challenge Yourself

“In theory there’s no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.” -Yogi Berra

If you want to get better at photography, you have to keep practicing and pushing yourself. Just like everything else in life.

15. Go on assignment. Assign yourself photography tasks to complete. Important: make ‘em fun. Here are a couple to get you started:

• Photograph five different birds on the same day.
• Take a picture of the back of your head.
• Take a photo lit only by flashlight.
• Take a walk until you see your favorite color, then take a picture of it.

16. Do something difficult. Practice photographing subjects that don’t come easily to you, like animals, tiny objects, or people you don’t know. It gets easier, we promise.

17. Brush up on your history. Every time we unearth a stack of old photography books, we fall in love all over again. Read up on Julia Margaret Cameron, or Mary Ellen Mark, or dive into The World History of Photography. No room on the bookshelves? Check out this handy timeline instead.

Start a Project

The shiny new year just begs for a new photo project. Start something up, be it year-long, month-long, or just for a day.

18. Start a year-long project. Project 365 has a brand-new Flickr pool starting January 1st. Or give 52 Blessings a shot (hee hee) if you want to build a picture (ho ho) of the things you’re grateful for.

19. Pick a new project every month. Not up for a year-long commitment? Try something different every month. Play Mission 24 or Guess Where? for a month, or make up your own themes for each month. (January is National Soup Month!)

20. Start a new tradition. Do something new this year, like going to a photobooth every Friday or taking the same portrait once a year.

21. Make a time capsule. Leave a message for your future self with a disposable camera, or by hiding photos somewhere where you won’t find them for a long time.

Take Your Camera Everywhere

We just know you’re wondering what Photojojo’s resolution for the year is going to be. And we like your looks, so we’re gonna tell you what it is:

22. Bring your camera everywhere you go. Even if it’s just a cameraphone, make sure you’ve got a camera at all times. Slip it in your pocket or your backpack or in the hidden compartment of your prosthetic leg. You never know when the perfect shot will present itself.

Happy New Year, everybody!

Using the Hell out of your Digital Camera - 10 Tips for Digital Camera Owners