Free Photography Tutorials

In our last tutorial we talked about how to make your pictures come out nice and sharp. Today we are going to learn about proper focus. What I mean by proper focus is that in most situations your camera will not render the entire scene in sharp focus, so you will have to choose what to focus on before you take the shot. I am going to start with the most photographed subject in the world, people. When you are taking a picture of a person you have to take special care to focus specifically on the eyes. The way to do this is to place your subjects eyes in the center of the frame and gently press the shutter button halfway down, you should hear a beep which confirms that focus has been attained. Then just recompose the shot while keeping the button pressed halfway down then gently squeeze the button to take the picture. you should now have a nice portrait with the eyes in sharp focus. Anytime you are composing a shot you have to decide what your subject is and then what part of your subject has to be in sharp focus. Using the mode dial on your camera to select the type of scene or subject your are going to shoot will help to set some of the settings in the camera to help decide how much of the shot will be in sharp focus. For example in a portrait you want a very small portion of the scene in focus and on the other end for a landscape you want as much of the scene in focus as possible. Play around with focusing on different parts of the same subject and then download them to your computer and look at the differences in each shot.

In all of your pictures you should use the above technique of pressing the shutter button halfway to achieve focus on your desired subject and then recomposing the shot to finish your shot.

Coming up next in Digital Photography 101: How to make sure your exposures are correct.

Published by: Gene Fetty http://www.freephototutorials.com ©2008

This is the section of FreePhotoTutorials.com where we are going to teach you the basic fundamentals of digital photography. We will cover a variety of topics, starting with becoming familiar with your new camera, taking nice sharp pictures, how to make sure your exposures are correct, getting the pictures from your camera to your computer, storing and editing your photos, and getting your pictures printed.

Before you start with this tutorial, make sure you have read our If you just got your new camera tutorial.

Once you have become familiar with the basic workings of your camera it is time to learn the basics of good photography. There are many things that can make a photograph great. One of those things is taking a nice, sharp photo.

In order to make a sharply focused picture you have to make sure that the camera doesn’t move while you are taking the picture. There are several ways to stabilize your camera. Arguably the best way to make sure the camera doesn’t move is to place it on a very sturdy tripod and then use the self timer to take your shot. That way, you (and your trigger finger) are no where near the camera when the photo is being shot. However, I know that carrying a tripod and being able to set it up is not always possible, but it definitely is the best way to help insure a sharp shot. If you can’t use a tripod or don’t own a tripod you can always look for something stable to set the camera on. ie… a table, the roof of your car, a railing or even just the ground. NOTE: please use good judgemet when placing your camera on something. If you break your camera I can’t very well teach you much about photography!

Depending on the situation you are in or the subject you are shooting, the only thing you can do is to shoot handheld. Holding and using the camera properly are two additional ways to maximize sharpness in your photos. The proper way to hold your camera is to use both hands, pull your elbows into your body and then gently rest the viewfinder against your face. Now I know you’re saying, “But I don’t use my viewfinder, I just use that big, beautiful LCD on the back of my camera.” And I am going to tell you that when you hold the camera out in front of you with your arms extended you are asking for camera shake which shows up as blur in your final image. The last technique for today is learning to squeeze the shutter button instead of just PUSHING it. If you push the shutter button too hard or too fast you will literally move the camera. To prove this, zoom all the way in and then push the shutter button just a little harder and faster than you think you have to. Then look at the image and notice how it jumps when you do this. Now try the proper technique. Take your finger and kind of roll it onto the button, squeeze it half way down to let the camera focus, then squeeze the button all the way. If done correctly, there should be almost no movement when you use this technique.

Those are the best tips that I can give you for getting a sharper photograph.

If you have a nice sharp image to start with, any post processing that you do will look that much better and if you are lucky good enough to capture that once-in-a-lifetime moment, you’re golden.

Published by: Gene Fetty http://www.freephototutorials.com ©2008