Digital Shutters

Yesterday I talked about the preparations and some etiquette for taking pictures at school functions. Today we will touch on your camera settings, first and foremost check your user manual as to the manufactures recommendations for the type of photos you’ll be shooting; indoor, outdoor, etc. Get at the subjects level. If you are taking photos of children kneel down to their level, the shots will be better in the long run.
Indoor shooting:
• While it is recommended to use manual settings for indoor shooting to keep the room and people warm you may not have this liberty so choose your manufactures recommended auto settings.
• You will need your flash to avoid the yellowish tints that can occur from indoor shooting. Use your external flash and try and avoid the built in flash as this can cause red eye. If you do not have an external flash and need to use your built in flash, try and find the brightest spot in the room if possible to take your shot.
• Get as close to your subjects as possible, Try not to use your auto zoom if possible, since this may result in grainy pictures.
• Remember the darker the room the slower your shutter speed. There is a possibility for camera shake, although it will be hard to use a tripod and most of your photos will be hand held, find a table, or stable object to brace your arms on, or even put the camera on. Kneel down and use your knees to brace your arms.
• If there is a lot of action set your camera to action or children settings, this will help speed up the shutter for you.
Also remember that you can correct the majority of the photos in your digital darkroom.
Outdoor shooting:
While this is the ideal setting with natural lighting and there will be less color correction in your final editing process there are still a few helpful tips to keep in mind.
• For action shots, you want a fast shutter speed to stop action unless you want a motion effect.
• Use your UV and Polarizer filters. These will sharpen the colors. If you have overcast skies, you may only want to use you UV filter.
• Most of the time you will not need your flash for out door shooting unless you have overcast skies. But it is always best to have an external flash.
• If you are at sporting events you will probably not be able to get close to the action so use your zoom feature. Ask if you can stand on the side lines to take some shots if possible. If you have changeable lens use the largest one you have.
For action shots either indoors or outside:
• Find your location and snap off a few shots before the action starts that way you can get your focusing, and camera settings to your liking.
• Anticipate where the action will be within 1 second, hold your camera there and start shooting. You may take 5 or 6 photos that are not centered in the frame to get that one that is framed.
• If you are not for anticipating the shot then follow the action with your camera.
• It is always better to have more shots than needed to get that one good photo, and remember this is digital you will not be wasting money on printing any unwanted pictures.
• Wait until the action has stopped before you start checking the pictures that you took. You do not want to miss any good photos.
Next I will talk about editing the photos you took in your digital darkroom.

REFERENCES:
Digital Photography school
Photography on the net
oreillynet