10 Great Digital Camera Tips And Tricks

By David Elrich | Digital Crave – Mon, Apr 30, 2012 1:41 PM EDT

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Nikon Mode DialDigital cameras have been around for years yet even

those on their first—or fifth—camera will take better photos and videos if they follow these simple
pointers.

Check Your Settings Before You Press the Shutter

No matter if you have a basic point-and-shoot like the Canon PowerShot 300 HS or an
advanced Nikon D7000 DSLR, the first thing you absolutely must do is check your camera settings
right after you press the "on" button. The last time you used it might've been at night or indoors and
you left the settings for that type of shot. Or your kids/partner/whomever was using it and fiddled
with the buttons and dials. This can ruin your next series of shots if the conditions aren't right,
perfect for a Homer Simpson D'oh! moment.

Make sure you start off in Auto/intelligent auto then make the changes you like—if any at all. Many
of today's newer cameras have very sophisticated intelligent auto settings. Make sure you use them to
avoid "shoulda coulda" moments.

Speed Up Your Camera

One of the biggest camera complaints—especially for affordable compacts—is speed or lack of it. You
can't turn a Focus into a Ferrari but you can enhance shot-to-shot time so you aren't twiddling your
thumbs waiting for the camera to take another photo.

First find the "burst" or continuous mode in the menu system and engage it so the camera
automatically clicks as fast as it can. Then make sure you disable the Review Photo setting which
automatically puts your last image on the LCD screen for you to check out. These two changes will
make you feel like you have a new camera. And while you're at it, make sure you have a "speed rated"
memory card which will also improve response as it takes less time saving images to the card. Since
they're so affordable, look for Class 6 or greater SD cards.
Great Portraits—Almost Every Time

Flash up with Canon 260 HS

Your camera's built-in flash should be used for more things than indoor birthday parties. The next
time you're taking a portrait, make sure the flash is set to "Fill Flash" or "Forced Flash," depending
on your specific model. Now the flash will fire when you press the shutter and evenly illuminate the
targeted face, eliminating any shadows.

Also use this setting when you're outdoors at the beach or a picnic, especially if there's strong
sunshine and harsh shadows. Simple but it works like a charm.

One of the Biggest Things To Avoid

Digital Zoom. Although you can extend your camera's basic zoom using this feature your pictures will
look awful. With a digital zoom a center portion of the view screen is enlarged, adding loads of yucky
digital artifacts especially at extreme ranges. Make sure it's turned off.

Battery-Saving Tricks

There's nothing worse than a dead battery at the critical moment. Obviously, charge your camera
overnight before you hit the streets. However there are ways to squeeze some extra life from your
battery if you see a warning. If your camera has Wi-Fi or a built-in GPS, turn them off completely.
Also if you have optical image stabilization, turn that off too. You may get a shaky shot but at least
you'll have something.

Turn down the brightness of the LCD screen too. Remember that Review Photo setting mentioned
earlier? Make sure that's turned off as well. Don't turn your camera on and off in hopes it'll last
longer—it won't as you use more juice booting up your camera. Also most cameras have a sleep
mode; cut the time to around a minute.

Turn This On

Grid Lines are hidden on many cameras and they're well worth using. Typically when you're framing
a shot on the LCD screen, you should keep the horizons straight but it's hard to do properly. With
grid lines--typically a white tic-tac-toe pattern overlaying the screen—you can do it easily by lining up
the horizons. Landscapes, group shots and vertical images will look much more professional.

Always Shoot Best Quality

You would think manufacturers set cameras at best quality as the default for stills and videos but
unfortunately this is not always the case. Make sure image quality (resolution or pixels) is the highest
available then check compression, if it's available. Here you might see a number of stars, or words
like Good, Better, Best. Always choose the highest level since less compression means fewer digital
artifacts--in other words a more accurate image. The same holds true for movies.

Remember it's always better to have a high-quality original and downsize it using your own software
after the fact. Social media sites will automatically re-size your shots for quick uploads so quality isn't
super critical here but if you want to make big prints for an album or scrapbook, it's important to
have as many pixels as possible.

Don't Be So Sensitive

Manufacturers love to brag about the sensitivity of their cameras, claiming they can shoot in very low
light. In some cases this is true but in most it's not. Sensitivity is measured by an ISO rating, ranging
from 100 to 16,000 or more. When a camera is in Auto, it'll pick the ISO setting and in low light, it
will use the highest number. For many models, particularly point-and-shoots, this is a recipe for
disaster as digital noise—speckles—are introduced to the image and color shifts so it's barely
recognizable.

If your camera has an ISO limit, set it to a maximum of 400 or 800 since your results will be much
more pleasing. If you're feeling adventurous, I suggest you do some informal testing of the various
ISO settings indoors without the flash. Review them on your monitor and see where the quality falls
off. I've used cameras where 400 is the limit, others where 3200 or 6400 is solid.

Hollywood Tips
Hollywood DPs (Directors of Photography) work for years perfecting their craft but you can capture
clips that are just fine for YouTube and the family HDTV. First, keep your camera horizontal at all
times, set to best quality and with image stabilization engaged (if available). Resist the urge to
quickly zoom in and out and do not abruptly move it from side to side. If you want to pan a nice
landscape, always move the camera from left to right and do it slowly.

Play Is Good

The beauty of every digital camera is the simple fact you can take hundreds of shots almost instantly.
You can press any combination of buttons you want and even if your photos are ready for the Delete
pile, just erase them and start all over again. Cameras are very forgiving, even if you think they'll
never work properly again.

Press Menu, go into Setup and hit Reset All if you're really lost in the digital woods. Your camera will
now have the manufacturer's defaults and you can start all over again. And in the rare instance your
camera freezes up, take out the battery, pop it back in again and hit the power button. Things should
be as good as new.

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