pan, rotate or throw the camera. (Ed. Note—
Don’t try the last technique unless you have
great hands or are contemplating buying a
new camera.)
Zoom while shooting. Get a sense of
movement in your shots by keeping the
camera still but zooming in or out with
your lens while taking the shot.
Shoot from the boot. Put your camera
on the ground and take shots from that
angle to introduce a completely new and
often random point of view. You’ll see the
world from a different perspective, add interesting foregrounds to shots and even
capture surprising subjects along the way.
Over- or underexpose your shots.
Experiment with different exposure levels to
create interesting color ranges.
Use monopod extenders. Get
your camera up high and shoot
down on situations.
Try multiple exposures. Take
pictures of the same scene at different focal lengths or holding the
camera at a slightly different angle. This is particularly effective on
shots with a repeating pattern.
Go grainy. Grain adds an element of mood to an image. Override the camera’s ISO settings
by using the maximum number
available. The higher you go, the
more noise, or grain, you’ll get.
This is especially effective in black-and-white shots.
Adjust the white balance.
Experimenting with various white-balance settings on a camera can inject different
color casts into your images. You can really
warm up or cool down an image and get
some lovely and creative pictures.
Master the bulb setting. At the slow
end of many digital camera shutter-speed
settings is one labeled B or Bulb. This allows
you to keep a shutter open for as long as you
press the shutter release. Bulb is great for
capturing light trails (e.g., moving traffic at
night) or low-light scenes—but use a tripod.
For more tips, and details on the ones
here, visit the Digital Photography School,
www.digital-photography-school.com/blog/.
The Costco Connection
A wide variety of digital cameras,includ-ing models with image-stabilization features (as detailed on page 47), camera
accessories and photo processing are
available at Costco and costco.com.
