My buddy Ed was showing off one of the first pictures from his 2-day-old digital camera. What was supposed to be a butterfly looked like a speck of dust.

Digital cameras are great. But if you want pictures to make you proud, you need to know some things. Today, I'll show how your digital camera can give you better pictures of butterflies, birthday parties and special moments.

We'll start with butterflies. My family and Ed's family were at the Callaway Gardens butterfly habitat last weekend. (Hey, I live an exciting life.) But there's a lesson in Ed's failed shot.

He ignored a rule as old as photography: Fill the frame. Don't rely on cropping or zooming to save you later. Blowing up a tiny part of the frame results in lousy quality. Take the picture you want right in the camera.

Make sure that you move in until your subject fills the frame. With some subjects like the butterfly you'll need to use the camera's close-up setting, or even add an accessory lens. But in most cases, filling the frame is as simple as zooming in or getting closer.

With film, for instance, it's important to use the right film speed for the task at hand. High-speed films or the digital equivalent, changing the speed rating electronically allow you to take pictures in low light without a flash. Use lower film speeds when the light is good.

This is an area where digital cameras shine. With a film camera, speed rating changes involve removing the old roll of film and loading high-speed film. With a digital camera, you can adjust the digital equivalent of film speed with no fuss shoot one frame at a low rating and the next at a high speed rating if you like.

When shooting outdoors in bright sunlight, settings of ISO 200 or even 100 do a good job. Go to 400 for indoors. And while many digital cameras can be set at ISO 1600 or higher, such speeds should only be used for special effects.

Great photographs capture the peak of action. That action can be as simple as puffing out birthday cake candles. If you miss the moment, you have a picture of smoky candles and a kid with a puckered face.

The first digital cameras had a problem called lag. You push the shutter release and hear only strange whirring noises as the camera adjusts itself. Only after a pause is the picture taken. In that fraction of a second, eyes blink, smiles turn into weird frozen expressions and the final picture is different from the one you saw in the viewfinder.

The latest cameras are almost lag-free, and most can take a series of pictures as fast as you can push the button. Take advantage of that ability by taking a series of shots, starting just before you expect the action to peak and continuing until it's over. You stand a good chance of having the perfect shot somewhere in the series, and you can simply delete the others.

Finally, almost any digital photo can be tweaked in the computer. I use Adobe Photoshop CS, but its retail price of more than $600 and complexity make it a poor choice for beginners. You can pick up the junior version of the program Photoshop Elements for about $100. Or you can use software that came with the camera. Storage programs also usually have their own editing tools.

Whatever program you choose, practice using it. Before long, you'll be able to brighten colors and make dark shots look perfect. Pay special attention to a feature usually found under the Filter menu called sharpening. Unlike film photos, digital cameras produce a picture that is intended to be sharpened during the editing process. Using this feature can make prints from your digital images stand out.

Vacation time is coming. So spend some time practicing shooting and editing now. You'll come back with perfect pictures of butterflies or anything else that catches your fancy.

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