Smile!

These tips will help you take better pictures with your digital camera.

Bouncing off the ceiling

When shooting with a flash indoors, you may wind up with a snow-bright foreground while the background fades to black. To even out and soften the lighting, you can "bounce" the flash off the ceiling. If you can tilt your flash, aim it up at an angle toward the ceiling. If you can’t do that, hold a small mirror or other shiny object like a credit card or CD in front of the flash at a 45-degree angle. The reflector will direct the light up to the ceiling, where it will spread more evenly over the objects in the room. Or, you can tape a piece of opaque paper (tissue paper works well) over the flash or create a "paper box" to place over it that will soften the highlights of your shot.

Just my size

You can always crop a photo later, right? Right, but you will lose image quality if you crop, then enlarge the picture. For the best photo quality, you should zoom in as close as possible before snapping the shot.

Fill in during the day

Even in full daylight, the flash can sometimes be your friend. Especially when taking a shot with a subject in front of the sun, the flash will help illuminate the shadows created by backlighting.

Stay cool

Add your digital camera to the list of items not to leave in your car during hot weather. According to Kodak, when the thermometer tops 104 degrees, any shots you take and the camera’s LCD panel will be black. If this happens, the camera should start working again after it cools down.

Photo © Corbis Images.

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