Whether your camera uses digital or film as the storage medium, you have the same basic challenge—to capture light in a way that portrays the subject the way you want. In photography, “the subject” is a technical term that means, “what you’re taking a picture of.” Use this term often in conversation and people will think you know more about photography than they do. They might start to copy you. That’s normal; they want to be as cool as you are.

Professional photographers seem to always get better pictures than the rest of us. Part of the reason is that they take lots of pictures—hundreds of photos to get dozens of good ones, and a handful of really special ones. We can’t all be professional photographers, but by avoiding some basic mistakes we can get better results when we try to photograph our families, friends, and heirlooms. We want to be thought of as cool for the content of our photos, not our conversations about them.

Flash Limits
I don’t know where I got the idea that using a flash guarantees a good photo. I understand now that it’s a big misconception. Using a flash guarantees that you’ll get a flash of light. That’s it. Most built-in flashes have a range of about 10 feet. Anything farther away is going to be too dark. Think about this before you take the picture, and try to keep the subject in range.

Light behind the Subject
Have you ever seen this happen? Spontaneous group shot time, and the person with the camera wants you to stand in front of the sunset? The resulting photo will have a great picture of a sunset, and you’ll be a dark silhouette. The light has to bounce off the faces of the people in the group picture. Let’s arrange the shot so that the great sunset illuminates their faces, not their backs. And it never hurts to think about what the background will contain—is it too light or dark? Does it distract from the subject?

Bright Sunlight
You know the idea “if a little is good, a lot is better.” Well, with light on the subject, you can have too much of a good thing. In particular, if the sun is shining directly on the person you’re shooting, they will most likely squint. Direct sun can really wash some people out, too, making them look as white as paper. Pictures of squinting relatives are okay, but you might want to mix in a few shots where their eyes are open. Think about the light before you shoot your family and try shooting in what is commonly referred to as “open shade”—which we often find near the shady sides of buildings and under big trees.

Rule of Thirds
Brains are funny; I don’t understand them at all. One of their peculiarities is that, when they look at photos, they sense a “balance” by dividing the image into thirds. Imagine a tic-tac-toe pattern on your photo, with lines dividing the image into thirds, both vertically and horizontally. There are four intersections among these lines, sort of at the corners of the center square of the tic-tac-toe pattern. Those are the four points where the most interesting parts of the photo belong.

If you are taking pictures of adults and children standing, try to position yourself so that the faces of the adults are about two-thirds of the way between the bottom and the top of the photos, and the faces of the children are about one-third of the way from the bottom to the top. If you take a picture of one person, try to position them so that their face is on one of the four points, and orient it so that the background “works”—whether you are using a desk or the sky for background.

Why does the Rule of Thirds works like it does? Why do people see the photo as more interesting and better balanced when you follow it? I don’t know, go ask your mother.

Frame the Shot
We take a lot of photos where the subject is a distant object, like a mountain or house. If there is anything close to you that you can use to establish the foreground, it might improve the picture. I like to use edges of doorways, tree trunks and branches, lines on highways, and anything else that “fits the edge” to “frame the shot.” It gives your pictures depth, and you’ll get lots of good comments from otherwise critical relatives when they look at your pictures. They might smile more when you shoot them, too.

Read the Manual
The new cameras have lots of great features. Even the inexpensive ones like mine have features like a close up, or “macro” setting, a way to make short movies, zoom lenses, night settings, “red eye” flash settings, and other features that can improve your shots. Read the manual! It comes free with the camera! I don’t think it’s important to know what every knob and button on the camera does. I think it’s important to know how to do what you want with the camera. If you own the book that has that information in it, and don’t take the time to read it, it’s not the camera’s fault.

More Information
For links and more information about basic photography, please see the RootsWorks site at: www.rootsworks.com/basicphoto . If you want to discuss your photography challenges, please drop by the RootsWorks Forums at: www.rootsworks.com/forums . Registration is free, and I'd be interested to know what kinds of issues you are facing.

Beau Sharbrough is a product manager at Ancestry.com. His articles contain his own views and opinions and do not reflect any corporate policy or statement by the company. The RootsWorks series of articles focuses on genealogical applications for generic technologies. Beau would like to hear from you. Whether you have something to add or something to ask, please point your browser to www.rootsworks.com/forums and discuss this or any topic related to the use of technology in family history. Tell us about your experiences. Please note that he cannot assist you with your individual computer problems. Visit the RootsWorks website (www.rootsworks.com ) for links to previous articles and Beau’s lecture schedule.

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