Quote Originally Posted by SpiritLevel
I have a digital cam and it isn't SLR, any other tricks?
A lot will depend on your camera. A few things I can think of though:

- be aware of the closest focus distance for your camera. Each camera, or lens, has a minimum distance that they must be from the subject in order to get a good sharp focus. I see a lot of out of focus pictures on this board and my guess is that people are getting right up to the subject (buds) in order to fill the frame without realizing that they'll never be in focus that way. Stay back a bit, get good focus, and then crop on the computer if necessary.

-As I think someone else already mentioned, you want your subject and your lens to be on parallel planes. So, for example, you have a bud lying on the table, you'll want to get up on a chair or something so you are looking straight down on it. Or, like Iseekthetruth and I have done, find a way to get the bud to stand up straight.

-Good exposure is key so be aware of your cameras metering abilities and what can thow it off. Many cameras want to "see" grey. So, if you have something on a white back ground the camera will want to turn it grey and your picture will be underexposed, too dark. If it's on a black background it's likely to be overexposed, too light.

-pick up an inexpensive book on photography, there'll be tons of other useful tips