Would you like to shoot like a pro and have your photos come out ready for print? Well I can’t promise that, but I can help you get closer to that point if you follow a few basic rules when you’re taking pictures.

First, you must know your camera. There are several websites that offer a detailed review of most of the cameras on the market today. Even if you’ve already bought a new camera, or you’re shopping for a used one, you’ll find these reviews helpful because they often describe the idiosyncrasies of the model, and provide some information on settings that will improve your ability to take a better photo.

For instance, after reading Phil Askey’s review of the Canon 10D I decided to set my exposure compensation to a negative value when shooting in bright light. This pulls the exposure back from pure white, and avoids the loss of highlight detail. I might have learned that on my own, through trial and error, but that would have meant that some of my photos would be less than optimum.

Just the same, you can increase the exposure value in low light. This is advantageous if you do not have a tripod handy, or your subject is moving. You probably know that your digital camera, like film, has an ISO rating or setting, and you can think of the EV or exposure value as an intermediate value, or a means of fine tuning the ISO.

The best way to insure that your color photos are well balanced is to manually set the white point with a gray card. Now that’s a bit confusing isn’t it? Well consider that it is very difficult to find anything that is pure white - even paper has a tint - so the standard is instead a precise level of gray. 18% gray cards have been used for over a half century, though some recommend 12% gray for digital.

The main thing is that you have a color neutral surface so that you can register the light source. This sets the camera so that it captures the colors without the tint associated with artificial lighting. You can buy gray cards, and even lens cleaning cloths in gray, from any decent photo store. By taking this simple step you will insure that you’ll get the best color rendition that your camera offers.

To do this you’ll want to enter the menu and select Manual White Balance, and then meter the card. There is a difference between incidental light, meaning that which falls on the subject, and the reflected light coming from the subject. While the camera only meters reflected light through the lens, you’ll get your best results by placing your gray card so that you can meter the light as it falls on the subject. In some cases they’ll be the same, or very close, but it’s a good idea to understand the difference if you’re going through the trouble to set the white point or balance your color using a gray card.