Adjusting Your Digital Camera’s Light Sensitivity by Changing Its ISO Setting

Many digital cameras offer a choice of ISO settings, which indicate the light sensitivity of the camera’s imaging sensor. The higher the ISO number, the more quickly the camera reacts to light. A high ISO setting increases light sensitivity, but it can also add noise to the picture. This figure shows four images taken with a different ISO setting for each shot: 200, 400, 800, and 1600. For some shooting scenarios,...

How to Take Black-and-White Landscape Photos

Ansel Adams captured wonderful landscapes using black-and-white film. Your camera captures color images, but that doesn’t mean you can’t follow in Ansel’s footsteps and create black-and-white photos. The only difference is that you have to convert your photos to black and white in your digital darkroom. In Photoshop Elements, you can convert an image to grayscale, but you don’t have the control needed to get...

Tips for Composing Better Photos

Before working with Photoshop Elements 10, you need to take photographs that are interesting and well composed. Some of these tips overlap and contain common concepts, but they’re all free; they don’t require any extra money or equipment. Find a focal point for your photos One of the most important tools for properly composing a photo is establishing a focal point — a main point of interest. The eye wants to be...