Confessions of a Compact Camera Shooter: Get Professional Quality Photos with Your Compact Camera

Chapter I. Compact Camera, Pro Results

I thought I'd start of this book will some pictures that illustrate the whole point of it. And that is: compact cameras can take pictures that rival those taken with digital SLR cameras.

So let's play a guessing game. Can you tell which pictures were taken with a compact camera and which ones were taken with a pro digital SLR camera?

You'll find the answers on the last page of this chapter, the page with the palm tree. No skipping ahead!!

People Pictures

Clockwise from top left: Marco Sammon, Croton-on-Hudson, New York; performer, Mongolia; holy man, Nepal; and Marco as a child, Upstate New York.

Animals

Hello compact camera friends! Here are a few people shots and a few shots of some fine feathered "friends." The guessing game continues. Guess which pictures were taken with my pro SLR and which ones were taken with my trusty compact camera.

While you're trying to figure this out, consider these tips on photographing people:

• Set your white balance to the existing lighting conditions to ensure good skin tones. (Find out more on white balance settings in Part VII.)

• Focus on the eyes.

• Your subject does not always have to be looking at the camera.

• The background ...