I reviewed the Panasonic LUMIX camera a few months ago, and as much as I love it, the photos I take are often only as good as the photographer (sigh). Our friends at Panasonic recently invited me to an informative session with a professional photographer on how to take better pictures, and I loved some of the tips I came away with.
I challenged myself to use a few of these tips on my recent visit to DisneyWorld and the amazing new Disney Fantasy cruise ship with Jen and her daughter, and I’m happy to share the results with you.
1. Tips to Use if Room is in Low Light
Here are the girls enjoying breakfast with Donald Duck at Cape May Yacht Club. As you can see, the room has fairly low light so to capture this I’ve manually adjusted the standard pop up flash on my LUMIX GF3X camera to control the brightness and reduce the glare that can sometimes wash out faces or backgrounds.
Another tip I’ve used here is to alter the depth of field which brings subjects in the forefront, like faces, into focus and blurs the background. I’ve done this on my LUMIX using the peripheral defocus setting in Intelligent Auto Mode. Fore more tips check out www.pictureitbetter.com.
2. Outdoor Pictures and Panoramic Shots of the Landscape
Here are a couple of pictures that really capture the magic of Disney; the majesty of the Disney Fantasy in the one above, and the beautiful grounds of the Animal Kingdom Lodge in the photo below. How did I do it? At the Panasonic event I was taught the “rule of thirds” – which literally breaks a photo down into three sections vertically and three sections horizontally so that you have nine equal parts. By placing items of importance in the intersections or along the vertical/horizontal lines my photo instantly becomes more interesting.
Zooming also allowed me to frame my photos and capture the shot I want. My LUMIX GF3X comes equipped with a retractable power zoom lens that makes increasing or decreasing the zoom quick and easy.
3. Auto Focus for Quick Moving Kids
The girls were in and out of the pool most of the day, but usually moving much quicker than the average camera could catch them. The Auto Focus tracking followed the girls on the large LCD screen of my LUMIX GF3X. This camera has AF technology that is among the world’s fastest so it was easy to capture spur of the moment action shots. I also used the AF tracking mode which locked onto the girls as they jumped into the water and ensured they were in focus with the correct exposure until the photo was taken.
Again, to find tips like these and more helpful hints to help you improve your photos, check out www.Pictureitbetter.com.