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Tips for Using a Point & Shoot Camera
Where this pays huge dividends is in family shots. You simply cannot compose great
shots of kids. You have to take them when and where they happen.
P&S is great for that in that your grab camera, set up and shoot time is minimal. Digital
is great because you can point and shoot and not cry over the waste when the kid
suddenly runs out of frame between the press and the click.
Besides, do you really want that hugely expensive SLR anywhere near mud coated, sugar
encrusted, water flinging, tantrum throwing littles?
Even just for pure experimentation, the digital is fun.
-- John Carter, April 20, 2001
I have mainly taken pictures with point-shoot cameras (whether using 35mm, APS or
digital; and whether equipped with a zoom lens or not) and I find that you cannot just
"point and shoot" your pictures. When I take pictures with these cameras, I make each
shot a four-stage shot. First I make a "rough composotion" of what I want to capture.
This is when I would operate the zoom control and, if using an APS camera or other
"multi-aspect-ratio" camera, decide what aspect ratio suits the image I want to capture.
Then I make sure that one of the key features is in the centre of the viewfinder. At this
point, I then press the shutter release halfway and make sure that the "ready" lamp glows.
Then I revert back to my original composition to finally take the picture.
Some people think that using anything other than an SLR with total manual control
offends creativity and "proper technique". But these compact cameras encourage users to
concentrate on what they are to photograph, rather than spending time fiddling with the
camera.
There was also a time when I attended a wedding and took plenty of pictures with my
Canon SureShot Zoom S compact camera. One of the shots that I thought about setting
up was one of the bride about to climb into the wedding car (a mid-1970s Jaguar)after
the ceremony. The professional photographer who was hired for this job didn't think
about this as a possible wedding shot. But I organized the shot and he and I took it on our
equipment. Later on, after the big day, I had the negatives from the wedding scanned to
Photo CD and showed what I took of the wedding to the bride and I didn't realise that she
was totally dissatisfied with the pictures taken by the professional photographer. She
realised that I had some of the best pictures and I organised reprints of those pictures.
Another good example was the one that I took of the "giving away the bride" procession
with her with her father. She preferred my shot over the "official" shot; and I printed this
shot off the Photo CD master using my computer and printer.
http://www.photo.net/learn/point-and-shoot-tips (31 of 35) [5/15/2002 7:15:46 PM]