How To Take Good Portraits with a Digital Camera

Digital cameras are quite affordable nowadays, compared to cameras just a couple of years ago. Today, you can get a ten-megapixel camera with up to four gigabytes of storage and plenty of features for just a couple of hundred of dollars. No matter how high-tech your digital camera is, however, you will still need to know great strategies to ensure that you capture the best images. After all, producing great photos doesn’t necessarily require cameras with hefty price tags: it just takes skill, a speedy reaction time, and knowing how to capture the right moment.

• Prepare your camera. First of all, you need to know all of the tricks that you can do with your camera. Even point-and-click cameras today are quite sophisticated. There are various modes and picture editing capabilities in most new cameras today, and you should know how to use each of them. This way, you will be able to make the most out of your camera, and get the great shots that you have always wanted. Also make sure that you have recently charged your camera, and that it has enough memory space.
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    Opt for natural lighting. The best type of lighting for portraits is natural light. If you want natural light, try shooting outdoors, during the late afternoon. The sunlight when the sky is about to change from day to night is particularly conducive for charming portraits that have a lot of character to it. Keep in mind, however, that this ideal natural light will only last for a couple of minutes, so you need to act fast. If it gets too dark, try adding more light with halogen lamps. If it is still too bright, try to shoot indoors.
  • Choose a good background. The background is another factor that usually distinguishes amateur shots from professional ones. The best backgrounds are those that are simple and unobtrusive, so that the subject’s face is highlighted. If you have a large piece of cloth, you can hang this and then use it as a background. Get a lamp with a soft light and let the light highlight the center of the cloth, so that you will end up with a glowing middle; this will highlight the face of your subject even more. Nature backgrounds are also perfect for portrait shots.
  • Use optical zoom instead of digital zoom. Use the optical zoom feature of your camera instead of the digital zoom. That’s because digital zoom results in pixilated images. Choose optical zoom if you really want to highlight a particular feature of your subject. Once your optical zoom feature has reached its maximum, simply scoot over to the subject. Also try using a tripod when you zoom onto your subject, to avoid blurred images due to shaky hands.
  
  
  Be sure to take as many shots as necessary. There is no need to scrimp on memory space, since you can easily transfer the images to your computer and then delete the photos that you don’t like. Remember, even fashion magazines take hundreds upon hundreds of shots before ending up with a shot that they like. With these in mind, you should be able to end up with a great portrait that you have taken using only your digital camera.