Many people purchase brand new digital cameras with all the bells and whistles. Then they wonder, "Why don't my pictures look any better?"

The real answer is that it does not matter what camera you use. Most digital cameras over four megapixels should provide excellent photographs. New fancy cameras may make it easier to take a picture. But they do not guarantee better pictures. I've seen an entire photographic art exhibit where the artist used a cell phone camera and the results where breathtaking. The key is composition. Composition can be controlled by knowing what your subject is and zooming in on your subject. Also a few compositional rules can help balance the photograph.

First, know what your subject is. Your subject may be a person. If so, then make sure that the person is the only thing in the frame. Don't be afraid to get close. You can get close, by using the zoom feature of your camera, or you can just walk closer. Just get to know your cameras limitations. Try to see how close you can get and how much you can zoom before the photograph looks distorted or out of focus. Look at the results and see what works best for your camera. Your subject may be children playing. If so, then make sure to zoom in so that the only thing in the frame is the group of children playing. Don't be afraid to get down on the subjects level to make sure nothing distracting is in the frame. Or your subject may be something as big as the Grand Canyon. If that’s is the case, you will need a very wide angle lens to capture it all, but still zoom in enough that it is the only thing in the view finder. Knowing what your subject is will help you know how close to get and what your picture should look like.

Composition can also be controlled by knowing a few simple rules like leading lines, diagonal lines and rule of thirds. Leading lines are lines that start at the bottom of the photograph and lead your eye to the subject. A good example of this is a road, or sidewalk that starts at the bottom and leads to the person or thing. Diagonal lines are very powerful and make a two dimensional photograph look three dimensional. Arms can be positioned at an angle forming a triangle. Hallway ceiling lines and roads can be at a diagonal to the subject. Finally knowing the rule of thirds will add power to your pictures. The rule of thirds states that a good composition is usually divided by 1/3. The easiest way to think of this is to take a rectangle and draw two vertical lines and two horizontal lines. Anything of interest should either be on one of those lines or where two lines intersect. For example, if you want to add emphasis on the sky, then put the horizon on the bottom 1/3 line. But if you want to emphasize the ground, then make sure the horizon is on the top 1/3 line.

Knowing what your subject is and using a few rules of composition will increase the quality of your photos. The best part is that you can get better photographs without upgrading to a new camera.

By Paul Reklaitis
Executive Portraits
www.prophotoaz.com