Tip #5

Bulb mode?
What is it? Well if you have ever seen the photos of the sky and it looks like the stars are circling the sky. That is Bulb mode majority of the DSLR's have Bulb mode it can simply be found in your camera's "Manual" setting. Bulb mode is best used during night shoots with a tri-pod and a remote shutter release to avoid and eliminate all movement of the camera. Bulb mode lets you get creative with your exposures and lets you decide when the shutter time whether it 5 seconds or 5 hours and anything in between. Now go out there and get creative. Send me your photos and ill gladly post them.

Tip #4

This one is for you point and shooters. If your gonna buy a point and shoot buy one with a rechargeable battery. They may cost more but not by much, but they are going to save you money guaranteed. Point and shoot cameras drain batteries faster than you think. You will be spending money on AA's like crazy, if you take this route you will spend more money on bateries than for the camera itself. Now if you get one with a rechargeable battery great, now, there are ways to conserve battery life. Point and shoots typically have large screens that eat up battery power, now if you are constantly reviewing photos after you take them your battery life will suffer. My advice is to dim the backlight, and use that screen as little as possible. Another key factor in battery conservation is the flash, suprisingly the flash can eat up battery power. This is something you cannot avoid when shooting in dimly lit areas just make sure sure the flash is set to auto that way your camera will sense when the flash is needed and so it does not go off on every photo.

Tip #2

Start up time.
-Camera start up time is important when purchasing a camera. A fast start up time will allow you to take the shots you would normally miss with the slow delay and shutter lag. DSLR's have a start up time of under anywhere from 0.18-0.50sec while point and shoot cameras can be anywhere from 1-5+sec. Again its all in preference dont let start up time deter you from buying a camera its just one more thing to consider when making the big buy.