Many people seem to feel that the only setting on a digital camera is the  Auto setting and that everything else is just so much technical stuff they don’t need to bother about.  While the  Auto setting will produce pictures of a reasonable quality, there are times when things like shadows, faded colors and the like can spoil what should be a great photo.  It pays to be able to take control of the camera when you need to and these few simple digital photography techniques will help you to do that and once you have mastered these, there is a lot more to learn that will make leaving the  Auto setting off a lot of fun.

Colors that lack warmth are a common problem with digital cameras the white balance (the balancing of the colors) is the cause of the problem.  When the white balance is set on auto the camera adjusts the balance to what it is programmed to think are the best color tones and this can cause problem when shooting in bright sunlight when the camera tries to prevent over saturation of the colors.  Try changing the setting from auto to  cloudy as this will program the camera to accept deeper tones, especially for oranges, yellows and reds and give more life to your photos.

Those who do a lot of landscape photography will benefit from the use of a polarizing filter that will increase the contrast resulting in sharper images most digital camera accept a filter and make any adjustments that may be required automatically.  The filter will also increase the color saturation and produce crisper colors something you will immediately notice in the blueness of the sky.  Polarizing filter work best when the sunlight is falling directly on the subject so try and take photos with the sun over your shoulder.

Dark shadows entering an otherwise bright outdoor photo are another common problem and a solution to this is to use the flash.  Using a flash in bright sunshine may seem odd, but digital cameras will automatically adjust the flash to compensate for the dark areas caused by the shadows.  Since the flash will not work if the camera thinks that it will result in over exposure, this is a problem you do not have to worry about.  And if your camera does not have automatic flash compensation, you should still try to use the flash outdoors as an experiment and once you see where it can be used to reduce the effect of dark shadows, you will find yourself using it more and more.