One free photo tip you want to incorporate into your set of photography skills is the use of background when taking pictures. We'll use photos taken by shiroibasketshoes for this educational tip.  You want to emphasize your subject in the photo. Try and avoid background that is distracting. You don't want poles sticking out of people's heads, or wires going through their ears.

We'll look at a few examples using four photos from shiroibasketshoes. In the first digital photo, the background contains a distracting set of shades. Your eye is drawn away from the subject.

See what happens when the girl in the nurse outfit, in the 2nd photo, is shot combining the photo tips of getting close and using less distractng background You see her, and not the shades.

Use a plain background when possible. It's difficult not to notice all the automobiles in the third picture. Notice how nice it is to view the pretty girl on the beach with the plain sand as a background.

It may seem obvious and simple, but using background appropriately, can really enhance the quality of the photos you take. Have fun with your photography, but keep those photo tips handy.

The Sony Cyber Shot DSC-T10 has a Review on it done by Imaging Resource where they state, 'Compact digital cameras often trade off performance and responsiveness in an attempt to wring a few extra minutes of life out of their tiny batteries. The Sony T10 was a refreshing exception to this trend, offering very nimble performance as well as surprisingly good battery life for such a tiny camera. Shutter lag was particularly impressive, but shot to shot speeds were quite good as well. The only timing parameter that seemed at all sluggish was its continuous-mode speed, at just over one frame per second, for up to five frames in sequence. All in all, an impressive performer for such a compact model!'

The group at CNET has a review on the Canon Powershot A710 IS where they write, 'Once again, Canon has delivered a great value with it's A series in the form of the A710 IS. With its addition of image stabilization, you should be able to shoot a couple of shutter-speed stops slower than you normally would, making the long end of the zoom lens even more convenient, and the camera's usable ISO 800 setting will let you capture images in situations when IS is not the answer. Plus, for average situations, the camera's image quality is quite good for the money. Most casual shooters and simple snapshooters will find that the A710 IS is plenty of camera for their needs, and its versatile controls make it a nice spare camera for more advanced shooters, as well.'

There's a great preview of the Canon Powershot SD800 IS by CNET where the group writes, 'The 7-megapixel PowerShot SD800 IS sits at the top of Canon's ultracompact PowerShot SD-series of cameras, shoulder to shoulder with the higher resolution but less feature-rich PowerShot SD900. The SD800 IS's biggest feature is its lens, an image-stabilized 3.8X zoom lens with a 28mm-equivalent wide-angle shot that offers far more flexibility than the SD900's narrower, unstabilized lens.

The SD800 IS's sensor can boost as high as ISO 1,600, giving the camera an even greater edge in low-light and action shots. It also features a movie mode that can record VGA videos at 30fps, or QVGA (320 x 240) videos at 60fps for slow-motion effects. Finally, the SD800 IS features Canon's new Digic III image processor, which Canon claims improves performance, image quality, and battery life. We'll have to see whether or not their claims hold up in our labs.' Be watching for that review!

The 10 megapixel Canon Powershot SD900 has been Previewed by CNET where the write, 'The Canon PowerShot SD900 sits at the top of Canon's PowerShot SD-series of ultracompact cameras, shoulder-to-shoulder with the lower-resolution but more feature-rich PowerShot SD800 IS. With a 10-megapixel sensor that can hit as high as ISO 1,600 sensitivity, the SD900 can shoot large photos even in low light. Unfortunately, it lacks the SD800 IS's optical image stabilization or wide-angle lens, potentially making the higher-resolution camera a bit less flexible in practice.

The SD900 uses a rather narrow 37mm-to-111mm-equivalent lens that's not as flexible as the SD800 IS's 28mm-to-105mm-equivalent version. It also lacks the SD800 IS's optical image stabilization, giving it less of an edge in low light. That said, its 10-megapixel resolution is supplemented by Canon's new Digic III image processor. Canon claims that the Digic III processor improves image quality, performance, and even battery life on their cameras, but we'll have to see what our own tests reveal. Finally, the SD900 has a movie mode that can shoot VGA videos at 30fps, or XGA (1024 X 768) videos at 15fps.'

A review of the Sony DSC-T30 was done by Megapixel where they write, 'The imaging capability of the T30 is actually quite remarkable. The SteadyShot stabilization is very effective, and in combination with good optics, yields images that are so good that anyone would be hard pressed to attribute them to a such a small and compact camera.' 'In fact the DSC-T30 is remarkably easy to use. The body, although small, is well designed, and once one gets used to the position of the lens — at first some shots get ruined by the dark shadow caused when a finger strays into the lens' field of view — the camera is surprisingly user-friendly.' 'The fact that the DSC-T30 has good optics is revealed by the absence of distortion at any point throughout the focal length of the zoom.'

The Fujifilm FinePix Z3 has a review by ThinkCamera where they write, 'Be careful when you read this review - the Fujifilm Z3 is a fantastic camera for low light but it's also a “pretty good” camera for all round use. If you are looking for a camera that you will use for low light social pictures and you like the “girl friendly” styling then go and buy one. If you are looking for a general purpose camera then you may want to check some of the other options around. It's very possible you'll come back to the Z3 though because it doesn't really do anything badly and it does the hard stuff very well indeed.'

One photo tip to keep in mind if you're taking a picture of a subject smaller than an automobile, is to zoom in on your subject as close as possible.  We'll use photos taken by gabu-chan for this educational tip.
The characteristics of the thing you're photographing may have details that are missed by shooting it too far away. Some people have a tendency to try and fill the frame with the whole body of the subject, rather than take a portion of the subject to fill the frame.

Here are two photos of the same couple by Gabu-chan. Compare the first photo with the second. Both are fun pictures. Do you prefer the second photo though? The characteristics of these two come alive when they are a little closer. Imagine just two headshots in the frame. Even better?

Of course, you want to vary your photographs by not having every one look the same. Just don't forget to take those close-up shots.

Remember to get close to your subject. A tip is to get near enough as to not blur the subject of the photo. That's usually around 2 - 4 feet.

A review of the Panasonic-DMC-L1 has been done by Megapixel where they write, 'The DMC-L1 uses a sensor developed by Panasonic called Live MOS, the same sensor as is used in the Olympus E-330, a type of sensor that combines the advantages of a CCD with those of a CMOS. In addition, the DMC-L1 is equipped with Olympus' Supersonic Wave Filter, which vibrates off any dust that may have settled on the sensor each time the camera is turned on.'

'Specific to the DMC-L1, however, images are processed with the new Venus Engine III.'

A review of the Nikon Coolpix L4 has been done by Imaging Resource in which they state, 'The Nikon Coolpix L4's performance ranges from average to slightly slow, depending on what you're doing. Start-up time is a little sluggish at 2.7 seconds, and shutter lag at wide angle and telephoto is on the slow side of average. "Prefocus" times (half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure) are fast, though not as fast as I've seen, with a shutter delay of 0.219 second. Shot-to-shot cycle times are also sluggish, at about 2.91 seconds for large/fine JPEGs, and the camera captures frames continuously at this rate. The flash recycle time is about average at 7 seconds after a full-power shot, however. Connected to a computer, download speeds are fast enough, though definitely not the zippiest on the market. Bottom line, while the L4 is clearly not intended for sports photography or really anything that moves too fast, it should handle travel and most standard photo opportunities well.'