(Continued from page 3)

By Karin Beuerlein

3. Composition

If you consider composition carefully, your friends won't make up excuses to avoid your post-vacation slideshow. Be creative with what you put in your viewfinder!

• "Most amateur photographers capture their images horizontally with the subject dead-center in the frame," says Hawkins. Bo-ring. Try moving your subject slightly off-center or tilting the camera at different angles.


• Posing by the World's Largest Gas Pump is okay for history's sake, but have your subjects pose at an angle rather than straight ahead. Better yet, aim for plenty of candid shots, which create an especially pleasing effect with young children. The subject doesn't have to be looking into the camera.


• A shift in perspective always helps. A literal one, that is. Get above or below your subject instead of taking the picture at eye level. For example, if your child is at the bottom of a playground slide, click the shutter standing atop the ladder.


• Be conscious of detail. Amateur pictures of landmarks and natural scenery tend to be dull when they don't include people, usually because the photographer sticks the focus object directly in the middle of the frame. Or worse, doesn't focus on anything at all (the infamous "view from my hotel balcony" shot). For a different approach, look at objects with the intent to catch something out of the ordinary. Instead of taking a picture of an entire waterfall, why not focus on the water spilling over a single, glistening rock?

Finally, take advantage of the digital technology that dear old Dad never had. Take plenty of shots. You can delete the headless, lifeless and pointless photos, and keep only the jewels for posterity.

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