Equip yourself
Do your homework and invest in the best camera (or smart phone) you can afford that does what you want it to do. Don’t be tempted to buy a bargain camera if it doesn’t do what you need. It will make your miserable and frustrated when you can’t get the results you want. It will be a false economy. Equally, don’t be seduced into buying something expensive by sales talk… Remember the extra functionality also means more to learn and a heavier device. Compact digital cameras and smart phones will do everything most scrapbookers will need.
Don’t scrimp on quality
Digital storage is cheap and reusable, so don’t be afraid to ramp up the resolution. This will give you the greatest flexibility when editing.
Get intimate with your camera
Don’t wait until the day of the event to learn how to use your camera. Practice, read the manual and check online for tutorials for your brand and model.
Check your filetype
Check your image file type, some cameras and phones allow both JPG and RAW image types. JPG photos are easier as they are adjusted in-camera and need no tweaking. Photos taken in RAW image type are true to what is seen through the lens and are much bigger files. They allow you to use photo editing software to alter almost everything about each image. I recommend you stick to JPG, which is quite sufficient for scrapbooking unless you are very proficient in photo editing or have a lot of time on your hands!
Turn your flash off
Your camera’s flash can be very harsh, and smart phone flash capability is limited. In fact, your phone will probably take better low light photos than a digital camera in many cases. Anyway, check your manual and work out how to turn your automatic flash off, you’ll thank me for it when you see the results!
It’s a numbers game
You’ve got a digital camera or smart phone, right? Take advantage of the enormous number of images you can capture. The world’s great photographers take hundreds of photos to get the one shot they want, so why not follow their example. Get into the habit of editing your images straight after the event. If you don’t, you’ll be looking at an impossible task after a month or so, you’ll find your memory card full and a loooong day of image culling ahead of you
Backup, backup, and backup
Don’t rely on the card in your camera or your computer as your only storage. Make sure you have at least 2 copies. You can use an external hard drive (I recommend SSD) as one backup, and Cloud storage as the 2nd. You can use memory sticks or CD’s as a ultra-budget backup, but you get what you pay for, they are not as reliable
Check your background
Do a quick check before you take photographs. What’s behind the subject. Can you move distracting objects out of the frame? Can you move yourself around the subject to get a better, less distracting background?