Source: Personal experience, I take lots of pictures.
By Karen from Arnold, MO
This page contains the following solutions.
If you have a camera, you can save lots of money by taking your own portraits. Here's one of my son when he turned 6 months. We didn't have the money to get professional photos taken, so I did my own session!
Use a soap container to carry your camera in. I bought one at the Dollar store for mine, it fits perfectly. It's easy to carry it around in your purse and there is less chance of breaking it.
When you are on vacation, taking pictures of family/friends or just scenery you want to save, remove the memory card from your camera when going through the airport security check points and put it in your purse.
Why spend alot of $ at the photo studio when you can take pictures like this with your own camera! This is my 13 month old daughter Maggie Mildred.
Remember those photos many years ago where the subject was so far away you could barely tell who it was? Get your shot ready in your camera screen, then take a couple steps closer to your subject, making sure you still have the subject totally within the screen.
Don't let photo ops go by unnoticed. One of my son's friends came by to show us his new car. He had just got back from Iraq the day before.
Diffuse the flash on your camera with a coffee filter to soften the brightness. You can also try putting coffee filters over lights or lamps to lessen the harshness when taking indoor photos.
Photography - It isn't about the background, but more so about the subject, so fill your contents with the subject of the photo. If not, the subject might get lost in the background.
Camera memory cards can be misplaced easily or stolen. To insure return of a memory card, a person can make a computer business card with pertinent information regarding their name, address, phone number, email address, etc.
When taking pictures, watch the foreground. If you can place trees, branches or some other object in the front of the picture, it "frames" the photo. Also taking pictures before/after a storm gives you cloud formations, lightning effects, and taking pictures at the level of a kid (get on the floor!) is better than from up high.
An excellent published professional photographer once told me that it's often best to do outdoor photography on cloudy days. Colors of flowers and leaves look much more vibrant on overcast days and there are fewer shadows to deal with.
If you have no pencil with which to write down information, take a photo with your camera phone.
When going out to take photos, don't take the camera case with you. This is like putting up a "Steal me" sign. I use one of the soft padded containers people use as lunch boxes.
Always keep your camera with you on walking or bicycling trips. The point and click automatic digital cameras over five megapixels, create near professional quality photographs.
A great background and lighting makes a big difference in how your portrait photo turns out. I love taking photos outdoors because there are so many scenes to choose from and the lighting changes depending on the time of day.
Usually I am ranting against the use of flash with digital pictures, and that flash should only be used for pictures of mother-in-law and police mugshots, with very few exceptions.
Protect your camera from the rain, sand, and elements (at the beach, etc.) by putting it in a plastic bag such as a Ziploc bag.
Flash Over Exposed One Third. This photo was shot on program with the flash over-exposed by one third. This highlights the flowers.
My tip is to use a digital camera with a 256 mega-byte card and click away using auto focus, at anything that catches your fancy...then load the pictures into your computer. Now, fix them one by one. Those that are blurry, delete. Those that you decide are not worthy of keeping, delete.
When picture taking outside, I noticed the pics looked really dull. So I always get the kids to dress up in bright colored clothes or use bright back grounds.
Ingredients: One Willing Subject, One Camera, One Special Moment.
When trying to capture a 'stop-action' photo, take multiple shots as fast as you can to raise the possibility of getting a good shot. By Aginghippie
I took this picture as we were driving down the street in Tinley Park, IL. My tip when taking pictures in a moving vehicle; steady your arms against your body to eliminate movement.
When you take a photo, don't just make sure the person is smiling and looks good. Make sure you have a nice background. A simple background works best, be it a plain white wall or a dark green couch, or even your full length curtains.
Taking professional style photographs at home with your digital camera... and some old sheets.
When taking pictures keep your chin at a 60 to 90 degree angle to your neck and turn your head slightly to your best side. Keeping your chin above a 90 degree angle is unflattering....
Recently, we've been taking advantage of the weather to update our photos of some of the local monuments. The metro Washington, DC area is one of the top places for monument photography, but many places have their memorable monuments. We thought this month we would suggest a few tips for monument photography.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
How do you take a black and white picture with a digital camera?
By Carol S from Greensburg, KY
Some cameras offer the option in the menu. If yours does not, then you have to manipulate it to remove the color in your computer. If you do not have software to do so (it often comes with the camera), you can download Picasa for free from Google. It is really a nice program (recommended to me in a photography class), and not hard to use.
Check your camera instructions. Piknik is also a great site for working with digital pictures, including making them b/w from color shots, adding focal color to b/w, etc. (see pix for example).
Check out these photos.
Make fine art from the most mundane objects! Here I photographed a common cheese grater, on a counter top in my kitchen. I can see this on a gallery wall.
Getting the right angle, and composition in a picture isn't easy, but when my son was skateboarding with his friends, he took this shot, and I was blown away by how well it came out.
