Using Zoom for Camera Portraits

Video Transcript

"Hello, my name is Ed Cody and on behalf of ExpertVillage.com, I am going to talk to you a little bit today about using the zoom feature on your camera. Again, read your instruction manual that is always the best thing to do. What I would like to caution you is to over using your zoom, being to far away and trying to let that zoom do your work for you. The optical part of your zoom is the one you want to rely on and not the digital part, you will get better results. One of the techniques that I like to do is to zoom back and basically use the widest setting on my camera, getting as close as I am going to get to utilize the full frame and then from that point start using my zoom. The zoom will allow me to come in tighter and catch some of those intricate things that my child may be doing. One of the down sides is if I over zoom then it is going to get a little grainy for me or I am going to get a little too much emotion. So yes use your zoom to make it a little more personal, a little better for you but not to the point where you are over zooming and degrading the quality of your picture. So again take your camera, practice with it a little bit and I think that you will understand after awhile what you are talking about to say do not over zoom. You will be glad that you did not. "