Frustrated! Tips please

[hnj9503]

I currently have a sony cybershot dsc-w50 and am getting frustrated with the lack of clarity in my shots. What are some tips from others shooting similar p&s cameras? Or are we restricted to distant, landscape shots?

[xystren]

While I am not familiar with the DSC-W50, I am familiar with the DSC-V1, from the outside they look very similar.

The first thing I would ask is what are you photographing and upload a picture or two so we can see what your referring to.

Some other helpful things to know would be: Distance from the subject, ISO, f-stop and shutter speed.

Lack of clarity could be from motion blur (to slow of a shutter speed), too little depth of field (aperture setting), or a high ISO setting. Hard to really tell without seeing a sample photo.

One other thing you may want to check is ensure the lens is clean.. My g/f on her point and shoot happened to touch the lens after she had just put some hand cream on, and then later couldn't figure out why all her pictures seem blurred. Even worse, it took me about 2 dozen pictures to figure it out

Show us some samples and then we can better suggest what direction to look.

[Greg McCary]

If you are having trouble shooting low light macro stuff I suggest a tripod, but seeing a picture or two would help.

[Photo-John]

Last year I wrote an article on getting better pictures with point-and-shoot digital cameras. The article details some very simple techniques that will make a big difference in the quality of your photos. And like the other guys said, showing us some samples photos would help us to give you more specific advice.

Point-and-Shoot Digital Camera Tips >>

I use point-and-shoot digital cameras for all kinds of photos. I have found that the more you understand how your camera works, the more versatile and powerful your camera is. So I recommend reading the article I linked to as well as your camera manual. One of the biggest problems people have with compact digital cameras is expecting them to do things they just can't do. Once you understand what they can and can't do, you can work around and with their limitations.