Taking pictures of kids is one of the most popular uses for digital cameras. From time to time, we’ll present tips for taking better kids pictures.

Get Down Keep in mind that kids’ faces are closer to the ground than an adults’ face.
By taking photos from an adult’s viewpoint, you’ll be pointing the camera lens downward and you may miss the expression on the kid’s face as we can see in the snapshot on the left.	In this snapshot, we’ve lowered the viewpoint to that of the child and can see that her expression is quite different from that on the left. Kneel down and you’ll see the world differently.

Most of us have scrapbooks filled with landscape photos. These pictures are a great way to extend your vacation memories and to show off your worldly travels. Taking great landscapes is not magic. While there are no right or wrong ways to take pictures, below are a few tips that suggest alternative ways to frame your landscapes.

Step Up Here’s an indirect landscape shot.
In this example, the photographer has made the tree into the main subject while the mountains are still clearly visible.	To further make the tree more interesting, he moved closer to exaggerate the large tree root. The red mountains are still visible.

A common belief among users of digital cameras is that if an image isn’t captured perfectly, it can be fixed with software. Yes, there are plenty of competent software packages that can perform magic on images that are in need of help.

I’ve been “saved” more than a few times by Photoshop (or Photoshop Elements, PaintShop Pro and Picassa too). But the idea that I can “fix it in Photoshop” should not be a license for me to practice lazy camera techniques.

Today’s digital cameras have a vast array of adjustments for capturing quality photographs under a wide variety of lighting conditions. Adjusting the camera for the best capture produces a better image than a sub-optimal capture that has to be fixed by software post-processing. Starting with a properly exposed image directly from camera should be the goal, even if you choose to enhance the color, tweak the contrast or lighten the shadows with software afterwards.

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