How to Use Your Digital Camera

Starts below. Scroll down to start the course.

While it may sound simple, holding a digital camera take a little practice because digital cameras are smaller than we're used to with film cameras.

With your right hand, grip the right hand side of the camera. Your forefinger should sit above the shutter release and your other three fingers should grip around the front of the camera with your right thumb resting on the back of the camera. Your camera may have a grip to show you where your fingers should go. Use a strong grip with your right hand, but not too tight or you'll shake the camera.

The placement of your left hand will depend upon the style and design of your camera but it should support the weight of the camera and will either sit underneath the camera or under the lens if you have a DSLR. (digital single lens reflex)

If you're using the view finder to line up your shot, you'll want to have the camera close into your body in order to add extra stability. If you're using the LCD screen, make sure you don't hold your camera too far away from your body. Tuck your elbows into your sides and lean the camera out just a little from your face.

There will be times when you'll want to add extra stability by leaning against a wall or tree, or by sitting or kneeling down. If you have to stand and don't have anything to lean on for extra support put your feet shoulder width apart to give yourself a steady stance.

A tripod is an inexpensive and helpful tool to have.

Next . . . Shutter Lag. See below.

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Digital cameras, especially those in the lower price range, are prone to shutter lag. Shutter lag is the period of time between fully depressing the shutter-release button and when the picture is taken. Shutter lag times vary from digital camera to digital camera. Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras have little or no shutter lag, and newer consumer digital cameras have shorter shutter lags.

Shutter lag can be frustrating, especially for those taking sports or action photos, but there are ways to overcome this effect.

If your digital camera has shutter lag, follow these suggestions to help decrease the lag time.

* Use the two-step shutter release button. Hold down the shutter release button half way. The camera will focus on the subject. Then press the shutter release button down completely.
* Make sure you're using fully charged batteries
* Anticipate the moment or track the action: Lock focus and then press the button fully down.

Next . . . Using the Flash. See below.

In automatic flash mode, the sensors in your digital camera evaluates the amount of ambient light in the scene you're shotting and fires the flash if the amount of light on the scene is not high enough. There are limitations to the cameras automatic sensors, resulting in either firing the flash when it is not needed or not firing when it is needed.

Sometimes, using the flash can result in poor digital photos. For example, when the subject is too close to the digital camera, the flash light will be too strong and the subject will be washed out. Another example is when the flash creates unwanted shadows in the digital photo, or an exaggeration of details.

A digital camera's flash unit has a limitation on its effective range. Internal flash units usually have a shorter range than external flashes. If the subject in the photo is outside of the flash range, the flash will not be effective and the object will be dark. If this happens, you should turn off the flash and use slow shutter photography, using a tripod. If your flash units allows you to set the distance to the object, make sure that it is set correctly to prevent washed out objects.

In some cases, there will be enough ambient light to take a digital photo but without the usage of the flash the digital photo quality will be very poor. In this case, if the camera is left on automatic flash mode it will not fire the flash. An example of this is daytime photography of a subject that is in shadows. Setting the flash to manual fill-in mode will force the flash to fire and the flash will light those shadowed areas.

Next. . . Camera Modes . . . Scroll down

Automatic mode tells your camera to use its best judgment in selecting shutter speed,ISO, aperture, white balance, focus and flash to take the best shot possible. Some cameras let you override flash or change it to red eye reduction. Automatic mode will give you nice results in many shooting conditions, but you need to keep in mind that you're not telling your camera any extra information about the type of shot you're taking so it will be guessing what you want. Some of the following modes might be more appropriate to select because they give your camera a few more hints about the shot you're trying to take.

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Program mode acts very much like the auto mode, but gives you the ability to override some of the settings, such as shutter speed, aperture size or exposure compensation.

In shutter priority setting, you choose the shutter speed you want the camera to use. The camera then sets the proper aperture in order to provide the correct exposure, given the shooting conditions.

For example, if you were shooting a moving subject, you might want to choose a fast shutter speed in order to freeze the motion. You could also choose a slow shutter speed so that the moving subject is blurred.