Photo Basics for Fathers

Over the years, I'm afraid I have proved more often than not that my picture-taking skills leave a lot to be desired. While I have some great ones in my collection, I also have a lot that are poorly lit, badly centered, and that just miss the moment I wanted the picture to be taken. So I have collected here some of the best advice I could find from experienced photographers about taking family pictures, including candids, action shots and portraits. And I have also collected tips on archiving your photos for posterity.

Photography Tips and Tricks

So You Have a New Camera
Whether you just bought the newest and hottest digital camera or purchased your first single lens reflex film-based camera, you can benefit from the advice of About Photography Guide Peter Marshall about getting acquainted with the features and capabilities of your new camera.

Photographing People
In this article, Peter shares ideas about taking successful photos of people—how to select the right camera and film, posing, selecting themes, taking a variety of shots and finding inspiration for those great shots of people.

Taking Children's Portraits
About Cameras Guide Michael Carr shares some great insights into taking a portrait of your own child, including how to deal with a reluctant subject. I wish I'd known these tips years ago when my kids were younger and I could never seem to get a good photo of a wiggly or rowdy child.

Taking Action Photos
Some of my worst photo disasters were at soccer games, track meets or baseball games. I always seemed to get the shot at the wrong time, missing the critical moment of my child's performance. This article from Digital Photography for Dummies offers some excellent tips on sports photography and even offers hints on success in photographing different sports.

Taking Vacation Photos
Some of our best family photos have celebrated our vacations—theme parks, camping, sightseeing or visiting relatives. Michael Carr offers some great ideas on taking memorable and interesting family vacation photos.

Taking Holiday Pictures
Every year at Christmas, I am tempted to find that perfect photo by the Christmas tree or surrounded by presents. Author Ron Nichols provides eight very helpful ideas for setting up memorable holiday photographs.

Preserving the Photos

Saving Your Family Photos
If your family is a little older (like ours), you probably have a lot of photos that are only on photo paper and are not in a digital format. About Printer and Scanner Guide Melissa Beckman offers some great tips on scanning your older photos for digital conversion and storage.

Organizing Family Photos
Once all your photos are in a digital format, you will need a strategy for storage. Michael Desmond of PCWorld Magazine has some great suggestions here for getting the images organized, choosing software tools for photo storage and retrieval and choosing among storage media alternatives.