Picture Quality Settings:

• Imagine capturing a great shot of your child – on the LCD display it looks fantastic but when it's enlarged all you see is a blurry array of colored squares. This is because the quality of your photo is too low.
• The quality of your photo on the camera is determined by two factors: How many megapixels your camera is capable of and how many photos you want to store on your memory card.
• The resolution of your photo is determined by the number of megapixels (how many million picture elements) your camera has.
• To work out how many megapixels you need for different sized prints you take the desired print size and multiply the two dimensions (5 x 7 = 35). Then multiply this by 0.04 for minimum resolution and 0.09 for best resolution. For example: 35 x 0.04 = 1.4 which means 1.4 megapixels are enough for minimum resolution or 35 x 0.9 = 31.5 which means 3.2 megapixels are enough for best resolution.
• Although your camera may be capable of taking 3 megapixel photos if don't have your camera set to store your photos in best quality you will end up with lower quality photos that cannot be enlarged as well.
• Because the photos are compressed to enable you to store them on your memory card we refer to this as the compression setting. If you have your camera set to store the maximum number of photos the quality will be lower than if you have it set to store medium or large files.
• Usually there are 3 compression settings: good, better and best.
• We recommend you have your camera set to store your photos at best quality as this will give you the most flexibility, allowing you to crop and enlarge your photo.

The quality of your photos does not just depend on the quality of your camera. Your photo also needs to be visually appealing. The following tips and tricks will give you some ideas for composing great shots.

Digital Photography Tips: Horizontal versus Vertical:

• The human eye naturally looks at a photo from left to right which is why we recommend taking your shots horizontally.
• Also, display media such as TV and computer screens and digital photo frames are all horizontal.

Digital Photography Tips: Less is (almost always) More:

• Especially if you are making photo gifts with your photos, it is better to zoom in on your subject filling the frame with what's important. This creates visual impact. Too many unwanted objects in the background only distract from what you are trying to focus on.

Digital Photography Tips: Lighting Effects:

Photography is actually the art of recording light. How the light falls onto your subjects and how the camera records this determines how these objects appear in our photos. Different types of lighting can be used to create different photographic effects such as romantic, serious or dramatic. Bright light causes sharp and harsh contours which creates drama. Indirect or diffuse light creates less shadows and has a softening more dreamy effect. The following guidelines will help you choose the right lighting for both your indoor and outdoor photograpy to help you create the mood you want to obtain.

Outdoor Photography: Natural, outdoor light cannot be controlled - all we can do is make the best of it.

• The midday sun will cast harsh, unflattering shadows on your portrait photography . A face half cast in shadow can seem mysterious or sinister!
• For a more even light source choose an overcast day, or place your subject in the shade and use fill in flash.
• The most flattering and softer natural light is found either in the early morning or early evening hours.
• Shooting into the sun will cause your subject to appear as a black silhouette, shoot with the sun in your back to capture more detail.

Indoor Photography: Playing with light to get the desired effect.

• Diffuse / Indirect Light: Bouncing light off a ceiling, backdrop or reflector softens the light before it reaches your subject and eliminates shadows. This has the effect of smoothing lines and wrinkles and is most often used for portrait photography. If you have a separate flash gun for your camera experiment with bouncing the flash off a reflecting umbrella or the ceiling. Remember, if you use diffuse light your subject will take on the color of the reflected object.
• Direct Light: If you want to create dramatic shadows and play with dark and light contrast, use bright light from above, or shine a light on your subject from in front. This type of lighting is great for provocative photos and character studies.

Light is one of the most versatile and fun aspects of photography. Experiment with it and see the different effects you get. Follow the rules or break them to draw attention to your photos. The next prize winning photograph could just be yours!

Creating Depth of Field with Varying Levels of Focus:

• The aperture or F-Stop setting on your camera refers to an adjustable opening inside your camera lens.
• The aperture setting determines how much light is recorded by your camera which in turn determines how much of your photo is in focus.
• As the size of the aperture changes, the angle of light recorded also changes. It is this angle change, much like eyeglasses change the angle of the light, that creates changes in depth of field.
• A small aperture number (f/2) is a large opening which lets in a lot of light and gives you a small depth of field – only certain areas in your photo will be in focus – be careful taking photos of people with big noses – this setting will take just a clear picture of the nose and everything else will be out of focus.
• A medium aperture (f/4-f/8) will increase what is is focus but you will still have some blurry parts to your photo. This is great for keeping your main subject focussed and keeping a distracting background blurred which makes ideal photos for photo gifts.
• A large aperture number (f/11-f/22)is a small opening which lets in little light and gives you a large depth of field – meaning everything is in focus – great for landscapes.
• As a rule of thumb remember a little number means little will be in focus, whereas a great number means a great amount will be in focus.
• When only parts of your photo are in focus you automatically draw more attention to these parts which may well be just the effect you are looking for!

Color versus Black and White Photography:

• Black and white or sepia photos add a touch of class or nostalgia. Color photograhy has a more realistic effect. Chosing the right color for your photograph will depend on the style of photo you want to achieve.

Digital Photograpy Tips: Framing your Photo:

• If you don't want to spend hours editing out the background of your photo it is important to position and frame your subject right from the start.
• Make sure no distracting objects like telephone poles and trashcans are in the background. A natural background like greenery, the ocean, or a sunset is very popular.
• Next, divide what you see through the viewfinder into thirds horizontally and vertically like a tic-tac-toe board. Make sure the important elements of your photo (e.g. the eyes) are at these intersections.
• Having a natural diagonal line that crosses through the intersections, e.g. an outstretched arm, a diagonal row of boats or houses, automatically guides the eye to a certain point in the photo adding a sense of action and creating perspective.
• Place your subject within a natural frame like a doorway or archway or use a tree with overhanging branches to frame your subject and stop the viewer's eye from wandering to unimportant parts of your photo.
• Experiment by taking photos from different angles such as below, above, from the side or the back of your subject to create a unique view point and tell a different story.

Digital Photography Tips: Avoid Digital Zoom:

• There are 2 types of zoom: Optical zoom and digital zoom.
• Optical zoom uses the lens to bring the subjects closer.
• Digital zoom simulates optical zoom by enlarging a portion of the image. This means that the image is cropped then enlarged back to the original size. In doing so image quality is lost. Therefore, it is better not to use digital zoom but rather to crop and enlarge portions of your photos later, using editing software.

Watch a video with basic photography tips featuring photographer Erin Manning