Digital Camera tips ^_^

I was thinking about how we take pictures of our PYOs and Windstones fairly often and how it can be difficult to photograph something close up even when using a digital camera. So i thought maybe it would be a good idea to share some tips on how to get some nice clear photos of your PYOs and Windstones, feel free to add points to mine!

First is about focusing – i know for a fact this is true of Canon cameras but i am pretty sure that all digital cameras have a “trick” to adjusting the focus to specific points rather than letting the camera decide where to focus (and it’s usually wrong). One way to pick where the camera will focus is to hold the shutter button down halfway and the camera screen should have a little square pop up near the center of the screen that shows you what part of the image the camera is focusing on. A good way to use this function is to pick a spot on your object that is good “middleground” to focus on, like the front of a dragon or gryphon. Move your camera so this part is exactly centered in the shot because that’s where the camera will pick it up better. Once you have pressed the shutter halfway and the little square appears on the body, keep the shutter button half-pressed and THEN you can move the camera sideways (not closer or farther) as needed to include what you want to include. For example, if you focused on the shoulder and you want to make sure you include the feet – the camera will “remember” what your chosen focus point will look like.

Also, another way to help the camera focus is to look for a symbol that represents the “macro” setting of the camera – it’s a setting that gives the camera greater scope of focus in terms of being closer to the camera (on normal settings, the camera has a limit to how close you can get your camera to the object). On my camera, this symbol is a little flower and it may be something similiar on your camera. Once you turn that function on, it will be easier to get closer to the smaller Windstones or PYOs using the above-mentioned focusing method.

And a brief thought about lighting – your eyes are SO MUCH BETTER at seeing light than a camera, so if you think a room is bright enough, you’ll probably get much better results if you drag another lap in there to make it a bit brighter. Whether you prefer the stark one-direction lighting of the flash or more even lighting of turning off the flash and just using the room’s lighting is up to you 🙂 Room lighting tends to be better for showing off sparkles or iridescence.

I hope some of that made sense ^_^

I have a simple Canon Powershot a75 but even it has some manual features and i’ve found it to be a very useful and versatile camera ^_^

Plus Canon has a good reputation for lens quality and clarity 😀

LOL sorry Ski, i didn’t meant to single you out, btw. I’d been meaning to write these little tips out for a while now ^_^