Ever since I started really taking my photography seriously, I’ve had countless friends and family come to me and complain that they’re incapable of taking good photographs because all they have is a simple point-and-shoot camera. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is many of today’s point-and-shoot cameras are perfectly capable of taking outstanding photographs. On the flip-side of this are people who do go out and drop a significant amount of money on a low-end DSLR but never take the camera off Auto shooting mode. And, yes, they still wonder why they end up with snapshots instead of photographs. I love helping people take their photography to the next level and I’m tired of sending them elsewhere. So, I’ve collected a few tips that may help you produce incredible images without spending a ton of money on a new camera.
I hope my experienced readers will bear with me for this post while I cover some of the basic basics. Remember… we were all there once, wondering “What does f/7 mean?” If nothing else, the next time a friend or family member compliments you by saying they could never take photos as good as you, you can say “Sure you can!” and point them here! It might get you out of being the family photographer for a little while! 
Read the instruction manual
This may seem like common sense, but it isn’t, as I’m sure many of you know. I had my Canon Powershot for over a year before I opened the instruction manual. When I finally did, my photography improved almost immediately. That doesn’t mean you have to spend hours reading through pages and pages of technical jargon. It will literally take you only a few minutes. For example, the first time I opened my camera manual, I was sitting in a diner with a cup of coffee, my camera, and the manual. Within minutes, the camera made a lot more sense to me. I learned enough that I could start experimenting outside of Auto. I immediately went downtown and took a bunch of photos of the Vietnam Memorial that are still among my favorite shots.
But… since you’re probably not going to stop and open the instruction manual, I’ll point out some of the basics.
Aperture
The aperture is the hole through which light passes in the lens of a camera. In a camera, this opening can be adjusted. Its diameter is described by numbers like f/1.4, f/2.8, f/11.
All you really need to remember is this:
- The lower the number (f/1.8, f/2.8), the wider the opening. The wider the opening, the more light will enter the lens. In addition, your depth-of-field (the amount of your image that will be in focus) will be shallower. This means that, if you focus on one subject, the background will be more and more out of focus. Portraits are generally taken with a wide aperture to make the subject stand out.
- The higher the number (f/11, f/22), the narrower the opening. With a narrower opening, less light will enter the lens. Additionally, your depth-of-field will be deeper. This means that you will be more likely to get more of your image in focus. Landscapes are generally taken with a narrower aperture so that the entire landscape is in focus.
See the following illustration from Wikipedia:
Shutter speed
Shutter speed is exactly what you probably think it is. It describes how long the shutter will be open. Shutter speeds can range from 30 seconds or more (for dark, night shots), up to 1/4000 of a second or faster (for high-speed subjects and/or sports). And, again, just as with aperture, your shutter speed will determine how much light enters the lens. A faster shutter speed means that less light enters and vice versa with a slower shutter speed. As your shutter speeds decrease, though, you’ll start to introduce camera shake. No matter how steady you think your hands are, when you start dipping below shutter speeds of 1/20 of a second, you’ll notice considerable blur.
ISO
ISO is numerical description of how sensitive your camera’s sensor is to light. The lower the ISO, the less sensitive your sensor is to light. As the number increases, your sensor becomes more and more sensitive. In point-and-shoot cameras, it’s often measured as 50, 100, 200, 400. DSLRs often can increase the ISO up to 6400. Using a higher ISO, will enable you to get faster shutter speeds in lower light. This helps if you don’t have a flash and/or a tripod. However, you should be warned that the higher the ISO, the more noise and grain will enter your photo. On a point-and-shoot, this can be considerable noise even at ISO400. See the two photos below for a comparison. Both were shot with a Powershot A520:
Click on each for a larger version…
As a rule of thumb, I only increase the ISO if it is necessary to increase my shutter speed. If I’m shooting a fast-moving scene, I might increase the ISO even if it’s a bright day. Why? Since the sensor will be more sensitive to light, the shutter speed will also increase. This will help freeze the action. Conversely, if I want a slower shutter speed (for night photos or to blur moving water), I’ll lower the ISO as far as I can to also force the shutter to slow down.
Camera modes
Most likely, your point-and-shoot camera has multiple shooting modes. These are often depicted by tiny images. I’m not going to cover these in this post. I’m only going to cover the ones that are denoted by letters. On my Canon Powershot, those are:
P
Av
Tv
M
P: Program Mode
Program Mode is similar to Full Auto Mode in that you let the camera decide what the aperture and shutter speed should be. You do have more control than Full Auto, though. In Program Mode, you can adjust the focus, light metering, and ISO. In Auto all of these things are chosen for you. Consider Program Mode to be one step away from Auto and it isn’t a bad choice for most snapshots.
Av: Aperture Priority Mode
In Aperture Priority Mode, you can still set the focus, metering, and ISO, but you now have control over the aperture. You set the aperture to what you think is best, and the camera will adjust the shutter speed accordingly. Since the aperture affects the focus of the camera more than anything else, many photographers spend a lot of time in Av Mode.
Tv: Shutter Priority Mode
In Shutter Priority Mode, again, you still control metering, focus, and ISO but this time, you control the shutter speed. Once you set the shutter speed you want, the camera will adjust the aperture appropriately. This is effective for shots where you know you need either a fast or slow shutter for a particular subject.
M: Manual mode
In Manual Mode, you have control of everything. You can manually set focus, metering, ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. This is particularly useful if you feel the camera isn’t making the best decision. This is extremely helpful in difficult lighting conditions where the camera isn’t metering the light the way you would like it. This allows you the most latitude to experiment with different settings.
Get a tripod
I can’t stress this enough. Seriously. If I could possibly narrow down the moment when my photography improved the most, it would be the moment I bought a tripod. You can buy a decent tripod in Best Buy for less than $20. And, in a hobby as expensive as photography, it will be the best $20 you could spend. Having a tripod will enable you to do long-exposure night shots. How many times have you, or people near you, taken shots of something, like a city or monument at night, on Full Auto? I see it all the time in DC. People stand on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at 10pm, aim at the Washington Monument and shoot. The flash goes off and they quickly inspect the LCD only to be disappointed. Those shots are not possible without a tripod and a multi-second exposure. The day I bought my tripod, I went downtown and spent three hours taking night shots of the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument. I still love those shots. Get a tripod. Tonight.
Lose the flash
Not completely. Obviously, there’s always a place for flash in photography. But try to use it less. I see so many people take photos where a slight change in aperture or ISO would completely remove the need for a flash. The flash on point-and-shoot cameras tends to suck color out of an image and “flatten” it. Try and take some shots without it. I bet you’ll like natural light better on many occasions.
Get up close and personal
This is probably my number one pet peeve. Let me describe a scenario… You want to have your photo taken with some family members or your significant other. Since you can’t necessarily bring your brand new tripod with you everywhere you go, you have no choice but to hand your camera over to someone else for the shot. You frame the shot, focus on the rest of your family, zoom in appropriately, hand the camera to someone else and tell them “You don’t have to adjust anything, just aim and shoot.” Then they’ll make some comment about how big your camera is and they’re afraid to touch anything because it looks so expensive. You assure them it will be OK and they immediately lose their fear, zoom back out, and take the shot.
Memo: You don’t have to get the entire body of everyone in the frame!
When you’re taking a photo of someone, try and get in a little closer. Get just their faces in the frame. Chances are, you’ll end up with a better portrait.
Get a new perspective
Most people take photos while they’re standing straight up and putting the camera up to their face. You could probably browse through your aunt or uncle’s photo albums for hours and not find a single photo taken from a different perspective. Try something new! Get down on the ground, put the camera on the floor, stand on top of something, put the camera behind a plant, tilt the camera at a weird angle… do something different!
Post-process your images
This is huge. Photography doesn’t stop after you put down the camera. Most photographers probably spend more time post-processing their images than they do actually taking the photos. That’s not to say you shouldn’t take your time and take the best photo possible, but you should spend at least as much time post-processing it. Go browse through Flickr and find the best photos you can find. I would bet my 5D that the original, out-of-the-camera image is not nearly as compelling as what you found.
I’m not suggesting you should go out and drop $650 for a copy of Photoshop. In fact, you don’t have to spend any money at all! I’m not talking about complex edits with layers and palettes. I’m talking just simple adjustments in sharpness, contrast, color saturation, and cropping that will dramatically improve your photos. There are numerous online photo editing sites that will allow you to edit your photos for free. Below is a list of just a few:
FotoFlexer
Picnik - This site is actually integrated with Flickr
Aviary
Photoshop Express
Don’t print your own images
Friend of the blog, Mike Palmer pointed out in the comments, that new photographers should not print their own photos:
“…the only thing that I would add for a novice to get great images is that they do not print at home - there is no color management. Most labs do the basic corrections for you. Most shot and print at home with an uncalibrated monitor, no icc profiles, cheap paper etc…”
You can get prints from a quality commercial printer like Mpix fairly cheaply. I would highly recommend it!
Conclusion
This, of course, isn’t the definitive source for everything you need to know to take great photos with your point-and-shoot… I still haven’t covered focus and metering modes, white balance, JPEG vs RAW, lighting, etc. But, if you learn and follow the few things I covered in this article, your photography will improve so much that you’ll want to learn more.
I hope this was helpful…
NOTE: All the photos featured in this post were taken by a point-and-shoot camera: the Canon Powershot A520, which is now a few years old. Your camera could probably do even better!
Tags:
aperture,
beginner,
canon,
editing,
iso,
point-and-shoot,
shutter-speed,
tips 
