Experiment with exposure Digital cameras usually work best in sunlight, just like film cameras. When you move indoors, or into dim light, things get much trickier — just like film cameras. So experiment.

If you can shoot your subject from different angles, with different lighting, do so. If your camera allows you to turn off the flash, try it. If your camera allows “fill flash,” try that, too. Sometimes a perfectly exposed picture is made even better with fill flash. Sometimes turning off the flash and leaving the subject somewhat underexposed adds drama.

Every once in a while, you’ll take the same picture three different ways, with three different exposure options, and get three radically different pictures — and all of them will look good. But you’ve got to experiment.

If at all possible, bracket your shots, with one shot slightly underexposed, one slightly overexposed, and one “just right.” Some digital cameras will do this automatically, but even then you need to practice. If you are expecting the camera to shoot one frame and it shoots three, there is an excellent chance the last two will look like they were taken by a very surprised photographer.

Special features Many digital cameras have some interesting in-camera special features. Some will allow you to take short Quick Time clips, some will allow you to record sound annotations, and some will allow you to experiment with special effects, such as shooting black and white or sepia-tone images. Ignore the special features until you learn the basics.

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.

This does not mean that you shouldn’t try out some of the other special effects. For example, if you pan your camera to track a car moving at high speed, the car will be in sharp focus but the background will be blurred, creating an interesting picture. Or you can do the opposite: focus on a particular stationary object such as a child flying a kite, or a freshly-painted fire hydrant and let a speeding car to enter the frame. You’ll then have a sharply focused center of attention with the added advantage 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. The reverse — a brightly exposed subject against a dark background — can be just as 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.

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