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PHOTOGRAPHER TIPS & TRICKS
COMPACT CAMERAS
- make sure you remove the lens cap before shooting, and that nothing is obstructing the lens.
- If your compact gives audible warning, make sure these are not likely to disturb your subject.
- An automatic compact is ideally suited to situations where you have little time for fine adjustments.
- Do not try to use a compact for most night photography. Often the longest shutter speed available is only 1/8 - too brief for all but twilights shots or shots of strongly illuminated scenes.
- One or two small specks of dust on the lens are far less serious than grease or scratches. Do not clean lens glass surfaces obsessively.
- In your camera bag always have a blower brush, lens tissues, a small can of compressed air, and spare batteries.
FOCUS CONTROL
- No autofocus system is foolproof. You must make sure that the main subject is lined up in the focus measuring area. Most, but not all, cameras allow you to lock focus at this particular point and then recompose your picture without the subject being dead center.
- If your camera focuses by zone or distance scale, practice judging and pacing out distances. Learn how large a head looks in the viewfinder at set distances.
- A split-image focusing screen dividing the image horizontally helps you focus vertical lines. For horizontal subjects, twist the camera briefly.
- Take care with autofocus that you position the main subject correctly for focusing.
APERTURE AND DEPTH OF FIELD
- Close subjects always have shallowest depth of field, but sometimes you can change your position to make important picture elements more equal in their distance from the camera.
- Depth of field normally extends farther behind where you focus than in front of it. This is worth remembering when prefocusing for candids.
- Cameras with programmed exposure settings give greater depth of field the brighter the subject.
- If your camera has an automatic shutter priority system, to increase depth of field select a slow speed. This will force the camera to set a smaller aperture.
- I would recommend that a tripod be used for all long exposures over 1/60 of a second and preferably "all of the time" but I realize that this is not always convenient.Try and find something to support the camera on and use the "Self Time control" if you have one.
- Depth of field viewed on an SLR focusing screen always looks slightly greater than on the final enlargement.
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