How to Take Good Digital Pictures - Use the Right Shooting Mode

The one thing most people who are into digital photography never learn is how to properly use a digital camera and its features and settings. They settle for pictures that are just OK when taken with only the camera's automatic settings. If you want to learn how to take good digital pictures, then you will need to understand your digital camera's functions and how to use them. By learning what your camera can do and what settings you will need to make under certain shooting conditions, you can transform your digital pictures from simple snap shots to professional looking works of art.

The first thing to do is to familiarize yourself with your digital camera's owner's manual. All your camera's features are listed and examples should be given of different shooting conditions and the proper settings needed to take great digital pictures. This will give you the basic features and shooting modes and what they are used for.

One feature is "scene position" or SP on your camera. There are four scene positions on a digital camera that have pre-set settings when taken in auto mode, and they are:

Portrait - One of the better shooting modes for taking portraits. Skin tones are softened and shown beautifully. Correct lighting and the proper use of flash and red eye reduction can really accentuate the beauty of the subject. Aperture settings can be changed to either blur out the background so the subject stands out, or to have the background remain in focus.

Landscape - This mode is ideal for shooting breath taking scenery in daylight. This allows the scene to remain clear and in crisp detail. Use of a tripod is not entirely necessary, but can be useful when taking multiple shots and to keep the shots level.

Sports or Action - Good action pictures have been missed often due to using the wrong camera settings. This mode has pre-set settings for a faster shutter speed. When taking pictures of sporting events, proper shutter speeds can capture the action in great detail. For dynamic pictures of fast moving objects, learn to use your camera's shutter speed manually along with the camera's continuous shooting feature.

Night Scene - This mode is set for slower shutter speeds which are ideal for evening and night scenes. You should always use a tripod when using slower shutter speeds to prevent camera shake and a shaky distorted look on your final prints. Shooting in twilight or at night with a slow shutter speed can really create exciting and beautiful pictures of streaking lights.

Once you become familiar with your camera's SP feature and the results, you can get even more creative. Using your digital camera's auto setting may be suitable for quick snap shots, but when you want to take really stunning digital pictures, you will find that you too can easily learn how to take good digital pictures that are professional quality looking, by shooting in manual mode and by making a few adjustments to the camera's settings.

Get more tips on how to take good digital pictures that professional digital photographers use. Learn their Digital Photography Secrets and start taking professional quality digital photos with ease.