Special Features

Many digital cameras now come packed with some interesting special features. Examples can be found in the ability to take short QuickTime clips and record sound annotations.

Some cameras will even let you experiment with special effects like shooting in black and white or sepia toned images. Focus on the basics before you dive into special effects.

Remember that some of these effects such as black and white or sepia toned images can be created without the camera. Photoshop can transform a color image into black and white in a few simple steps. Basically, if you can do it easily in Photoshop, focus on taking a top quality color photo behind the camera and take care of the special effects without it.

But still try out other special effects. One example is to pan you camera to track a fast moving car, the car will be in sharp focus while the background will be blurred for an interesting photo.

Or try out the opposite by focusing on a stationary object such as a group of bright flowers or a child reading on the front steps and allow a speeding car to enter the frame. The result will be a sharply focused center of attention with the added feature of motion.

Silhouettes are another nice special effect. Try taking a photo with your subject in shadow, eclipsing a brightly-exposed object in the background. Now try the reverse, a brightly exposed subject against a dark background. Although different, both can be interesting. Getting a good silhouette with film is expensive: you shoot a lot of frames with little or no reward. With a digital camera, however, the only cost is your time and patience, and your patience will be rewarded.