Simple Macro

When taking photos close up, have you found that they come out really blurry? I took this in my last art lesson before Christmas, that's why its a Terry's Chocolate Orange ;)

This is because you need to set your camera on 'macro', it's normally a little flower symbol like this...

 

Once you've done that, your camera should focus on the close up object. Normally, if you hold down the capture button half way it focuses before actually taking the photo.

Flash!

When i use my little camera, it always puts the flash on automatically, but i hate flash!
okay, hate is a strong word - but most of the time, i don't like using flash..

I did a photoshoot with my lovely friends down the park a few months back and so i'm going to use a few of the photos from them to give you a few tips about flash!
We found this wonderful tree that was hollow, and so Rebecca stood inside it...

As you can see, the photo is really over-exposed. This is because the flash has gone off and the camera has taken in a lot more light than needed for the photo. I saw on the back of the camera that it was too light, and so i turned the flash off...

The next photo had a much better exposure. You can see more of the detail on Rebecca's face and in the tree trunk. Unfortunately Rebecca had changed position and her hair is covering one of her eyes.

Anyway, if you're taking photos and wondering why they look like the photo above, then it's your flash! Do a bit of experimenting with the flash though, its often a good thing to add light into your photo, but go without flash for a more natural look.

Off camera flash is also a great photography tool, but i'll save that for another post :)

Any questions, tweet me - graceclaydon :)