Maybe you got a new camera for Christmas or you have always wanted to get better photographs from your camera. I bet anyone would say that their camera keeps giving them the same kind of photographs. They would also say that they seldom, if ever, take their camera off of automatic. A fallacy of photography is that the camera is what controls the quality of the photography. Modern cameras do produce better quality images but whether you get a good photograph has more to do with the operator than the camera. As long as you let the camera do all the thinking for you it will continue to do what it is designed to do, produce average photographs.
I’m not saying that you can’t obtain a really fine image from a point and shoot camera just that these cameras are made for a wide variety of photographers and diverse photography situations. Most people will never take the camera off automatic and, because of that, the camera's designers know that they have to build in safeguards for common photography mistakes. This compromises the camera's ability to record any more than an average and ordinary photograph. Even though most cameras have the ability to produce great photos you have to learn a few things and get beyond the constraints of automatic pilot. Composition and lighting aside, in order to get much more than an ordinary image from an automatic camera you must use another setting other than automatic. The more creative you want to be, the more you need to control what the camera does.
So now I do admit using automatic features in my camera. I can never focus as fast and accurately as it can with my aging eyes. Even though some of my work is taken care of with my camera's technology it is still up to me to put the feel into the image from my experience of learning what will work, photographically, and what won’t. Most of the images you see that make you go "Wow" are made by stretching the limits of the camera. Whether it is focusing very close, slowing down or speeding up the shutter, or using selective focusing to isolate something important, it is something that the photographer has decided to do that makes the image unique. Most cameras let you switch from a variety of shooting modes to manual for creative photography.
I obtained this smooth water effect by putting my camera on a tripod low to the ground and using a slow shutter speed. Because of the slow shutter speed I was able to use a small aperture (f stop) and gain a great deal of depth of field. This kept everything from the water to the background trees in focus
The more you know about your camera’s features and photography in general the more of an idea you will have to make an intelligent guess as to what to do. Your camera may warn you of impending photography doom with beeps and flashing lights but try another photograph anyway. Experiment and see what happens. Also, try and figure out why you got the results you did. The instant feedback with digital cameras allows you to instantly see what you did wrong and, perhaps, what you need to do to improve the image. Many good images I get are when I am doing something I don’t normally do.
We are creatures of habit and are hardwired to keep doing the same thing. If you are bored with your photography and it has become stagnant it is because you are not doing anything different. Creative people have the ability to see things in different ways. Their brains are not satisfied with the ordinary, with what they have seen before. They seem eccentric because they are naturally different from the rest of us. If you consider great artists you will notice that they did not live ordinary lives. They are struggling artists not only because the world does not value art but also because their lives are far from ordinary.
So, if your New Year’s resolution is to improve your photographs learn how to switch your camera from automatic to manual and start experimenting.
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