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Photography is not just about pointing and pressing a button; it’s a decision-making process. One of the best reasons for working photography into your activities and projects is that it helps people better understand the media images they’re bombarded with every day. Photography is also just plain fun, and it’s a wonderful foundation for community-based projects. If you introduce photography properly, it helps you look much more carefully at the world around you.

One has to be very careful when handling a camera, otherwise you can leave fingerprints on the opics of it. The problem with fingerprints on the optics is that your pictures won’t turn out as clear in some parts as they could. In order for peak performance, and clear pictures, make sure you clean your camera all over reguarly with the right cloth and solution. Not all cleaning products work on the optics, such as tissue paper, fingers, saliva, or household cleaning solutions. Only use what you can get at a camera store.

Most cameras with autofocus provide a two-step shutter release. Depressing the shutter lightly half-way locks the focus; depressing it fully takes the picture. This two-step shutter release allows you to select the part of the picture you want to be in focus (especially if it is not in the middle — usually the focus zone — of the screen), depress the shutter release half-way to lock the focus, and then reframe the picture. Your main subject, even if it is not now in the camera’s focus zone, will still come out in focus in the final picture. When depressing the shutter, do it gently, not with a jerk. Do not hammer it down with your index finger. Place your index finger on the shutter, and let it rest gently there until you are ready to take the picture. Then depress it gently half-way to lock the focus. Reframe, hold your breath, and then depress it fully, but still gently, to take the picture. This helps you maintain your composition and keep your horizon level.

When you look at a picture where there are objects in the foreground and in the background, you may notice that, besides your main subject, some objects in front of your main subject and going all the way back to behind your main subject are also in focus. This “zone of sharpness” is called the depth of field. The depth of field is dependent on the aperture you are using, the focusing distance, and the size of the projected image. The depth of field decreases as you open up the lens, i.e. as you move to a larger aperture. It decreases as you move closer to your subject. And, at a fixed image size, the depth of field is the same irrespective of the focal length used. You would want to use a shallow depth of field to isolate your main subject from its surroundings, as in a portrait. You can accomplish that by moving in close, by zooming in (again, because it makes the background appear larger and more out of focus) and/or by using a large aperture.

Pictures don’t just come out looking right. If you look at some of the pictures you especially like, you will notice that the way the picture was composed probably has a lot to do with it. What we mean by composition is how you place your subject(s) on the blank canvas that’s your 4×6. If you mentally divide your screen into three horizontal and three vertical sections, where the lines intersect are focal points. Focal points are what the eyes naturally seek out when they look at a photograph. It therefore stands to reason that a focal point is a good place to position our main subject. It’s not a hard and fast rule, so don’t go bonkers trying to place your subject right at a focal point.

To take a successful landscape picture, you want the whole thing to be in focus. You’ll want the focal length to be as short as possible, to create a greater depth of field. You can use the rule of thirds to create a balance between land and sky. Also, having a subject, such as an object in the foreground, might give a better sense of dimensionality. When photographing water, you will want to use a slow shutter speed, giving the impression of water flowing, and when photographing the sea, add a polarizing filter and give the water a transparency effect.

In order to take a panoramic picture, you must have a tripod. Set your camera on the tripod and make sure that it can swivel smoothly only left and right; you don’t want it to go tilt up and down. If this happens, your resulting picture will not look right. You’ll have to mentally note where the edges of your picture are, so that you can know where to overlap the next ones. Keeping the tripod planted in the same place, swivel the camera to one side, left or right, and take a second picture overlapping part of your first shot. Continue to do this until you have all the pictures you want. To put them all together, all you have to do is use a basic graphics or picture editing program to put them all in the right order, and you will have a panoramic picture!