In this age of digital cameras, you have probably thought that you can just point and shoot and out will appear a great shot.  Not so fast.The fact of the matter is, you can have the best digital camera, but if you have no clue in what you are doing, you are gonna take horrible shots.

Well, I would like to share with you some great tips on improving your digital photography skills.  These tips are coming from years of experience as a San Diego wedding photographer.  These tips all involve lighting and they are going to be some of the biggest keys to your success in taking your photos.

First tip in lighting.Now if the shots you will take are going to be outdoors during the day, the natural sunlight will be some of the best lighting possible.  Now you are probably thinking, “that’s easy, when you are a San Diego photographer since it is always shiny there”, when in actuality really bright sunlight can cast harsh shadows.  Or it can wash out the details in faces if the sun is overhead.

Overall, you are going to want to take most of the shots with the sun behind you.This eliminates any harsh shawows from effecting your shot from the sun.  But there will be some instances when you want to try different angles when you are trying to get some shadows into the shots.

Now that we have tackled the day shots, what if you are taking shots at night? 

The key technique for night photos is actually turning off your flash.  Of course if it is pitch black you will need it, but for times when there is lighting, you want to use the lighting that is around, but you have to make sure you set your shutter speeds slower to let in enough light.  Also you want to stay steady when taking the shot or you will blur the photos.  Doing these couple of tricks can make a dramatic difference when taking night shots. 

The final tips to using lighting for great shots is using the golden hour.There is this time that photographers like to call the golden hour or magic hour, and that is sunrise and sunset.

It is during this time of day when you will capture great shots that capture more warmer colors.You’ll be able to get that golden lighting that isn’t available during any other time of day.

There you have it.Probably the biggest tip in taking beautiful photos is to make use of the natural lighting around you.  Knowing what techniques to use for different parts of the day, or just scheduling a photo shoots to capture those times of day will help you become an excellent photographer.