I'm spending this Fall in London through my university. I picked up a Canon SD770IS earlier in the year and have an 8GB SDHC card on the way as we speak.
Can anyone recommend good photo taking techniques or reading material? I've taken picture for quite some time, but I'm still an amateur. I want to make sure I know what I'm doing and don't end up with blury shots come December. Thanks!
Those cameras are pretty much automatic. That is why they are called "Point and Shoots". The mistakes people make are to think the camera sees like the eye sees. It doesn't. The eye/brain automatically ignores unimportant stuff. Cameras record blindly.
Don't just look at the main subject on the viewfinder. Think of the LCD screen as a print. Squint so that the screen is blurred and thin k about the overall composition, the use of color and lines and shapes. and look at the background does it support the subject? if not move (with your feet) Is there extra "stuff" in the shot, it so walk up closer.
Shoot using the widest angle on the zoom possable and get close. PPeopletend to be lazy and use the telephotosetting on the zoom. That's wrong. Think about camera location, being closer makes the subject larger relative to background objects, choose the camer location to adjust this.
Some rules to remember.. rule of thirds, objects not clipped by frame edges, get closer, diagonal lines are good, odd number of "things", get closer, use flash to soften shadows in bright sunlight, Lines that lead eye to subject are good. Get closer,....
OK you get the point. 99% of the problems are because people just point and shoot and don't think. Think about the final print and about how the different parts of the image will fill the frame. Technical stuff like s not o important. Automation handles that.
The best thing a beginner can do is get some big, over sized "coffee table books" from the library that compile many images from famous photographers. Find the ones you like then go out with the idea to copy their style.
