This summer, we’ll be exploring some tips to help you shoot, preserve, and share, your shots, whether you use a point and shoot camera, or a DSLR.

This series will post every Monday and Friday.

Thanks to Dave S. for suggesting this series!

We keep looking for the best, easy to digest, learning tools for you. When we bought our first Digital SLR, we also purchased a DVD to help explain it all.
Nobody wants to read that inch think manual. BUT make sure you do study it at some point. The fine points of your camera are all there.

The tips we are presenting are real world things we use. All the time. We hope they help.

Shooting on the beach:

1. be VERY careful of the sand; your digital camera is a bit more sensitive to the grainy stuff.

2. Bring along a plastic bag to keep the camera in WHILE it is in a proper camera bag.
Protect it from high heat I.E. sitting in the sun.

3. Try shooting with the fill-flash feature. On the beach, the chances of heavy shadows on your subjects face are pretty great. If you shoot closer to sunset, this feature will help give a dramatic light while still exposing for the beautiful sunset.

4. If you camera has a black and white setting, you may find this gives you a different look from the standard beach shots. Take a look and see if it is an effect you like. You may want to shoot the photo in normal color and then use photo-editing software to convert to B&W.

5. Try using your panoramic stitching feature to cover a nice wide view of the scene. If there was ever a place to try it, this is it. Basically it requires you to shoot image after image, moving the camera either left or right to overlap the previous shot.

Take you camera out of the bag for the photos and then put it back in. Simple advice, but it may save your camera from any environmental damage.

Next up on Friday: Tips for traveling.

The give-away this week is an invaluable tool that should find a place in everyone’s camera bag. Make sure you sign up on the mailing list to be eligible for this complimentary item.