Tips for Taking Pictures Indoors Part 4: Some Quick Tips and Tricks

July 17, 2012

For the last entry in our series on shooting pictures indoors, I would like to share a number of quick tips and tricks that I’ve learned over the years.
 
1: Try shooting in black and white. The picture of the cat you see above was taken inside with no flash. Before taking this picture, I’d taken several others in color, and none of them were turning out right. On a whim, I set my camera to shoot black and white and finally managed to get a good cat head shot.

Some cameras have the means for you to switch from color photography to black and white. However, if your camera doesn’t have this ability, there is photo editing software out there that you can use to change pictures from color to black and white.

2: Automatic Aperture: The Aperture setting is what you use to determine how much light you want to come through your lens. It can be one of the hardest things to adjust when you are trying to set your camera to take a difficult picture. Some cameras will allow you to set your camera so that it will automatically set the aperture for you, but you will have control of all other picture settings.

The photo you see above is an example of an indoor picture taken with the Aperture setting.

3: Experiment with the settings: If none of the tips mentioned above work for you (or even if they do), experiment with your camera settings as much as you can. For example, if you can change the white balance, try a setting that is normally used outside for an indoor picture. If you picture turns out bad, you will have learned what settings don’t work under the circumstances that you were shooting under.

Above all else, have fun.

There are plenty of resources on photography in the Library system’s collection for you to check out. The Excelsior Springs Branch also has a recurring Photo Fun program, which will meet next on Tuesday, August 7th at 6:30 p.m.

Robert F
Excelsior Springs Branch