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There are some really simple and easy things that you can do to improve your digital photography. Follow these few small things and watch your digital photos come to life. (by Stan Pontiere)

1. Locate your subject off center in your photo. Nothing is more boring than static composition. By having your subject off the center of you picture, you will create a more interesting photo.

2. Eliminate distracting elements. Sometimes it is as simple as picking up a piece of trash in the foreground. Other times you may have to change your camera angle to eliminate distracting elements in your shot. The most common distraction that I see is having a tree or telephone pole growing out of the subjects head.

3. Stop shooting everything from eye-level. This is another thing that makes pictures boring. You can always climb a ladder and get a bird’s eye view or on the ground and get a bugs eye view. You can also turn the camera on it’s side and create a vertical rather than the horizontal view that is so common. By trying different angles, you may create a much more interesting photo.

4. Use flash in the sunlight. If your subject is in deep shadow, you can use your flash to fill-in those dark areas and bring out detail. It is a simple technique that professional photographers use all of the time to create a balance between the highlights and the deep shadow areas. It will give your photos a professional touch. Sometimes the pros will carry a whiteboard or a reflective umbrella to create the same effect. The advantage of a reflector is that you have more control over the amount of fill light that you are using.

5. Back in the day, I was a newsphotographer and we had a saying-film is cheap. Well, with digital cameras, memory is even cheaper. Take lots and lots of pictures. Photograph your subject from every possible angle and then keep shooting some more. You can never be sure when you have gotten just the right angle and just the right expression on your subject’s face. The thing that makes this really easy today is that you can immediately review your photographs and delete any that are less than perfect. You don’t have to worry about the cost of film so shoot away and give yourself a chance at making a really great photograph.

6. Carry a tripod. Sometimes, you may want maximum depth of field (both the foreground and background in focus) this requires a very small aperature and often a very long exposure. If you don’t want the picture blurry, the tripod will save you. Also, if you are using a long zoom lens, camera shake is multiplied by the length of your zoom. In order to prevent blur, a tripod becomes an absolute necessity. It holds the camera firmly and your photos won’t suffer from camera shake.

Try these few tips out, they are ones that the pros use everyday and they are really simple things to do.