These days almost every digital camera on the market comes equipped with a zoom feature and a wide-angle feature. Both have their advantages, but you’ll find your pictures will benefit if you know which to employ at the appropriate time.
Zoom. There is a basic rule my photography teacher drilled into me that I have never forgotten: zooming in flattens the depth of the photo, so the foreground and background are basically the same size.
Wide-angle. In contrast, a camera’s wide-angle feature will expand the depth of the photo, enlarging the foreground and shrinking the background.
Many times people zoom in to eliminate unwanted clutter in the background of a shot. I’m all for getting rid of extraneous and unwanted background “noise,” but if at all possible you should try to avoid unwanted objects in the background by moving your subject. For example, if you are shooting in the middle of a busy city street and that big red stop sign appears to be growing out of your son’s head, take a second to examine the entire frame, and recompose – find a new angle or clean up the scene to eliminate background distractions. Zooming in won’t completely eliminate the unwanted object, which means you are still diverting attention away from the main subject of your photo.
Which brings me to my next tip: Don’t settle for just one shot. Unless you are shooting in perfect conditions you likely won’t get the ideal shot in just one take. Remember, with digital cameras you aren’t using film so don’t be shy about shooting until you get the shot you want. Take as many shots as you can, especially if you are shooting a composed photo. Take your shot, examine it, adjust what you need on the camera or with the subjects, and reshoot. Don’t stop until you get it as perfect as possible. Obviously, this tip doesn’t apply to those spontaneous “now or never” shots photos, but if you practice good photography habits then they’ll become second nature and will be easily employed when you need them for those unplanned Kodak moments.
Finally, don’t forget to delete the test or bad shots to save space on your memory card. Some people wait until their cards are completely full before they go back and eliminate unwanted photos. You’ll save time by deleting bad shots immediately after you’ve take them versus three months down the road when you have to shuffle through dozens of recent shots to get to the bad ones.
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