| Easy as Point-n’-Shoot |
By
Lester V. Ledesma |
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The
tripod is your friend |
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No digicam,
no matter how expensive or advanced,
can ever fully protect you from
camera shake. In these high-tech
times, your best defense against
blurry images is still the oldest
trick in the book: The tripod.
As a rule-of-thumb, use it whenever
your meter reports a shutter
speed slower than 1/60 –
and whenever the situation permits
– to get tack-sharp photos.
Also try using the self-timer
when taking an exposure to fully
eliminate camera shake.
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Use
flash wisely |
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No,
you do not blast your
subject with flash just
because it is too dark
– the power of your
P/S’s built-in flash
unit is simply too weak
to illuminate anything
beyond ten meters. Using
your flash in these situations
gets you photos that are
too dark - a good practice
would be to turn the flash
off (look for
the “flash off”
setting in the camera
manual) when illuminating
faraway subjects (i.e.
– a church interior
or a landscape) and turn
it on (use the “flash
on” setting) when
lighting up a closer subject.
When used with Sony’s
“night mode”
and a high ISO setting
this simple technique
can produce excellent
results. On the other
hand, activate the “slow-sync
flash” mode on your
Cyber-shot and use it
with a slow shutter speed
(1/2-1/20 seconds) to
get cool, psychedelic
flash effects.
Check out the following
photos for more tips on
getting the best out of
your Sony point-n-shoot.
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| Click
on the image to view
a larger picture. |
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No
program
mode can
take the
place of
good old-fashioned
human brainwork.
Knowing
the bright
yellows
and whites
in this
scene would
cause my
digicam
meter to
underexpose,
I switched
to manual
mode and
overexposed
by one f-stop. |
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One
of the P/S
digicam’s
best assets
is its size
–
Sony cameras
like the
DSC-T7 are
so small
that you
can take
pictures
anytime,
anywhere.
Without
anyone noticing
I spotted,
framed and
captured
this market
scene easily.
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Use
a tripod
whenever
a low-light
situation
permits.
When it
doesn’t,
change your
ISO to a
faster speed.
Not wanting
to cause
a fuss in
this crowded
street market,
I left my
tripod in
the hotel
and photographed
on ISO 800. |
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Landscape
mode comes
in handy
again for
this shot
of a church
in the foreground
with its
nearby tower
in the background.
The camera
chose the
aperture
for me while
I concentrated
on getting
the right
composition. |
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To
avoid disturbing
worshippers
at a temple
in Melaka,
I deactivated
all the
function
sounds on
the digicam,
thereby
allowing
me to capture
scenes like
this quietly.
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The
sports mode
on your
digicam
isn’t
just there
for action
shots –
use it whenever
you need
a fast shutter
speed to
freeze movement,
as in the
case of
this image
of an approaching
monorail
train. |
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P/S
digicams
are small
for one
reason –
so you can
take them
anywhere
and not
have to
miss any
shot. I
came across
this amusing
scene of
sweepers
cleaning
the old
streets
of Vigan,
Philippines.
Good thing
I had the
DSC-V3 with
me! |
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Another
job for
the tripod.
Digicams
are very
light, which
means you
don’t
need a heavy
tripod to
stabilize
it during
long exposures.
A tabletop
tripod placed
on a car
roof gave
me this
offbeat
shot of
Malaysia’s
twin towers.
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| Click
on the thumbnails
below to view. |
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