Before you press the shutter release button (take the picture) stop and look at what you can see through the view finder or what you can see on the screen on your camera.

Are there any distracting objects in view?

Are there any bright areas of the image that will distract the eye of the person looking at your image, away from the main point of focus?

Is everything in focus?

Could the picture be improved by moving a little?

Training yourself to stop and think for a few seconds can help you produce much more pleasing images.

Always take 2 or 3 shots of your subject from different angles or positions.

As taking digital pictures is essentially free, it’s worth experimenting as much as possible. So if you see something that you think will make a good picture, try taking several pictures of it. Move closer in, or further away. Choose different angles, maybe a lower or higher viewpoint.

This will help you learn more about composition, one of the most important things to learn in photography.

If you are considering buying a new digital camera, or you just want to know what types of digital camera are available then hopefully this will help you.

First there are the Compact Cameras which are the smaller (as the name compact suggests), pocket or handbag sized camera that are very popular as they usually come at the lower end of the price range. These cameras usually have everything built into them including some form of zoom lens, a flash and a screen to view what you are taking a picture of. There will also be two or three buttons and maybe a dial to enable you to access the settings of the camera.

Next comes what is known as the Bridge Camera. These are usually larger and their shape is a lot more like what you would expect from a camera. The zoom lens is still built in, but you are likely to get a larger zoom range than on a compact camera. The flash may still be built in, but it maybe a popup type flash and you may get the facility to connect a separate flashgun to the camera too. There are likely to be more buttons and dials and the amount of options you will find in the menu system will be more than you are likely to find in a compact camera as bridge camera are generally more advanced than a compact would be. Why is it called a bridge camera? Well, simply, it’s because it bridges the gap between a compact camera and a Digital SLR camera.

Finally we have the Digital SLR, or DSLR as it’s commonly known. SLR stand for Single Lens Reflex. With the compact cameras and bridge cameras you may have a view finder or digital display, you cannot actually look through the lens and see exactly what the camera is seeing. With a view finder on a compact camera it may be an offset viewfinder that will give you an idea of where you are pointing but won’t be 100% accurate as it’s slightly offset from the lens. A bridge camera may have a digital viewfinder but it’s still not a direct view through the lens. An SLR uses a mirror to allow you to look directly through the lens. This is not so important right now, but will be explained in more detail in another post.

One major difference of the SLR is that the lens is detachable and you can buy a whole range of lenses to suit your particular photography interest and choose the most appropriate one for the conditions at the time. This is where photography can get more expensive as buying good quality lenses isn’t cheap, and quite often the lens will cost a lot more than the camera did.

The SLR, or DSLR, will give you the maximum amount of control for your images. They may seem very daunting at first, but with just a little knowledge and some experimentation you can soon make the most of the options this set up gives you.

There are other types of cameras, such as Medium Format and Large Format cameras, but they tend to be used by the experienced and pro photographers and are more of a speciality piece of kit.

In order to allow you to post any images related to this site I have create a group on Flickr, a fantastic online photogaphy sharing community, which I will run in conjunction with this site.

For those of you who haven’t tried Flickr, and want somewhere to display your images, this is the place I’d recommend.

The Photography Basics group can be found here: Photography Basics on Flickr
You can see some of my photos here:  My Photos

The short answer is no.

The slightly longer answer is no, but with higher spec cameras you will get more options to adjust the camera settings and you may get better quality components such as the sensor which can result in a better quality image.

If you know nothing about photography, going out and buying an expensive camera with all the gadgets and gizmos will be even more confusing. Of course if you want to pursue photography as something more than just taking snapshots then buying a camera that will allow you to learn and experiment with more advanced features, as you learn about them, might be a good idea. We’ll look at the different type of cameras and the advantages and disadvantages they have at a later date.

Think about what you want to achieve too. If all you want is a pocket sized compact camera for taking on holiday and to family gatherings, then don’t expect to get all the features of the larger cameras with interchangeable lenses for instance. If you want to print your images out and frame them then you might need a slightly higher spec camera to give you enough image quality to get large prints. More on that later.

With digital camera prices dropping all the time and technology advancing at the rate it is, you can still get excellent quality cameras that can produce great quality images for very budget friendly amounts.

There’s a good article over at the Digital Photography School Blog that gives you some help in picking the right digital camera for you. Just remember that with the rate digital cameras are becoming more high spec, any recommendations may not take into account the latest cameras.

For the last few years I have been a member of South Manchester Camera Club and have run their web site for them. I get lots of emails via the web site asking if there are any photography courses for beginners, so there is a need for that information. Rather than limit it to people around the Manchester area I thought I would work on a web site so the information could be shared to anyone that’s interested.

I have also taught the basics of photography as an evening class, which I got good comments about so hopefully I can translate that information to a useful resource on the web.

After some time thinking about it, I have launched this blog as a way to allow people to learn the basics of digital photography in easy steps. The site is purely for those people who have a camera but don’t know how to use it apart from just using the fully automatic option.

I intend to have a regular newsletter and other things to help you learn in easy to understand stages, and I will be available to answer any questions that you may have.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be adding content to the site, so bear with me, it will be worth the wait.