Publishers of technology books, eBooks, and videos for creative people

Home > Articles > Apple > Digital Photography

This chapter is from the book

This chapter is from the book

Shooting Great Photographs

Take Lots of Photos

One of the best qualities of a digital camera is that it takes photos instantly—a 21st-century Polaroid Instamatic. You snap pictures pretty much the way you always have, but you can look immediately to see if the shot came out the way you hoped. And because no film or processing is needed, there's really no additional cost involved in shooting lots of pictures.

Taking lots of shots gives you the opportunity to work the way professionals do. It used to be that you'd take one shot of something and hope it worked. But now you can shoot 1, 10, even 50 shots if it's important that you get that perfect snapshot. And like a professional, you can peruse all the pictures you took, throw out most of them, and keep the cream. Without changing anything about your photographic abilities, this technique alone will improve your photo collection.

Read Your Camera Manual

It wouldn't be possible for this book to describe the specifics of how your model of digital camera works. Suffice it to say it has a shutter release button (the “snap button”), some automatic and preset exposure controls, and an LCD screen for viewing images. It also has a jack under a flap somewhere that lets you connect the camera to your Mac's USB port with a cable, which usually is included with the camera. Spend some time with the manual that came with your camera to familiarize yourself with the basics of shooting and exposure.

Get the Exposure Right

As a rule of thumb, keep light behind you (not your subject) when you're shooting. Backlit subjects can be interesting once in a while (that hip silhouette look is very arty), but you'll probably miss the details you may want in your subject.

There's a fair amount of light in Jennifer's ceramics studio—it comes from skylights, from spot and task lighting pointing at the tables, and through the front window as ambient light. Shooting photos in the studio can be tricky because if you point the camera towards the front door, anyone you're shooting is going to have the bright daylight from the window behind them. If you can't get the light behind you, and you don't want a silhouette, your only option is to force your camera to flash even though it thinks there's enough light (after all, it sees plenty of light). Using a flash in this way is known as a fill flash. Any flash should be considered a last resort in photography—try instead to get a more naturalistic look through proper exposure.

Autofocus and autoexposure technologies are pretty advanced, and taking pictures in automatic mode will likely produce the best all-around images. As your skill and comfort expand, using more manual controls (like forcing the fill flash) will enhance your range and options as a photographer.

Create Interesting Photographs Through Composition

Often the only difference between boring photos and stunning ones is the way you frame your subject—what photographers call composition. When composing your photos, consider not always centering your subject, a technique that can make your photos more appealing and dynamic. You also may want to move in closer than you normally would, cutting out space around your subject to keep attention from drifting. This technique often reveals more detail and emotion as well.

It can be tempting to photograph subjects in rigorous, rather clinical ways. If I say, “Take a photo of these three objects,” many people will line them up and shoot them, from eye level, getting all three of the objects completely in frame.

This kind of photo has its place and, once in a while, mixed in with other dynamic snapshots, is fun and important. Still, many people's scrapbook snapshots are always framed like this and are just about this interesting: everyone lined up, looking at the camera, pausing from whatever they were doing for a photo. Giving your subject the freedom to move naturally while you take candid snapshots is important. Composing scenes with some people close to you and others slightly obscured will allow for more naturalistic photos.

Once you're comfortable with a more relaxed style, try changing your vantage point. Taking shots from different angles, including from above and below, is another key to creating interesting photos. Too many pictures are shot from the photographer's point-of-view, just standing around with camera to her eye. Using a camera with a flip-out screen (which today's camcorders tend to have) allows a wider range of positions, from holding it over your head to setting it at ground level, without having to keep your head behind the camera.

Also, try moving closer to your subject, allowing the camera to see only a part of the object or person you're shooting. Letting the camera do some initial cropping like this is a great compositional tool. When you're photographing someone's face and want a very close shot, it doesn't look unusual even if you crop off the top of the head a little—the eyes are the important part.

Getting closer to subjects and cropping tightly as you frame a shot can be effective in giving your snapshots a professional look. An important rule of composition is called the “rule of thirds”—which says, in effect, don't put your subjects in the center of the frame, but rather a little off center (up/down or left/right). When you frame a snapshot, mentally create a grid of thirds across the screen, making sure your primary subject is located along one of the imaginary lines.

Similarly, feel free to leave objects in the foreground of your shots, probably out of focus, and use them to frame the rest of your image (while still using that rule of thirds). Foreground objects (window frames, door frames, people in profile, and so on) do not need to be immediately recognizable to add to the composition of the frame.

Finally, think about the background behind your subjects: You don't want it to compete with the subject too much. If it is visually “busy” or does not contrast with the subject enough, it can dilute the impact of your image.

Ideally, the background will be simple and will have some basic contrast with the foreground object.

Summary Tips

  • Get close to your subjects.
  • Use foreground objects to frame your shot.
  • Change your position to shift your point of view.
  • Select the right background: less busy and more contrast with your subject. You don't want to have to hunt through a picture to find the subject.

Peachpit Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from Peachpit and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about Peachpit products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites; develop new products and services; conduct educational research; and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email ask@peachpit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by Adobe Press. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.peachpit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020