Seriously
i have been looking some really nice photos here that ppl has taken
and i never really realized how bad my pictures looks side by side to them

is it about equip? or what?
My camera is Sony Cybershot dsc-w55 (7.2mpx 3x optic zoom)


this is just 1 example



taken like 2weeks ao from my backyard
there isnt really any depth in this picture

If you mean by creating shallow depth of field with blurred background all you need is to use a large aperture (low F-number) in combination with a long focal length.

Here is a tutorial about how to create a shallow depth of field:

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm

It's not all about equipment... it helps a lot if you have the right stuff, but you can still manage to do the same without "the best". I think you just need to know the camera and read up on the features and what the basics mean.

What do you mean by depth in the picture?

For that picture id underexpose it, to get some great colours on that sky. You will find an exposure compensation on your camera which will range from -x to +x. By moving the slider to -1 or more if necessary you will bring out the blues in the sky, as well as darkening the trees. Its not a bad picture as far as point and shoot cameras go. But i belive underexposing will help.

If you would like to get that kind of pic better you would need to underexpose the sky only and you cant do that well if you dont use raw format and i could bet that your camera cant shoot raw. Circ pl filter darkens the sky, but you cant get one in point and shoot. There are huge limitations on point and shoots, either you just live with it or you spend hunderds on dslr.

@doyleo
If you underexpose that everything else than sky will get way too dark(and they allready are too dark). To get even that much color in the sky in finland at winter your being lucky.

i disagree ive used that trick pretty often and it works even if objects in the foreground are of a correct exposure.

I think if you want to create "depth" in your picture you need to find a main subject first and then try to focus on it. Well if that's what you meant by getting depth with your camera.

tech wise a higher aperature is going to give you greater depth a lower will focus on a subject and blur alot of the background

i would have taken it from behind that group of sticks or bush w/e sticking out of the ground ... just an idea

be creative get down low dont be afraid to try things

This post was edited by jmw3407 on Feb 17 2009 06:47pm

what i mean is that all of my pictures i take looks more like 2d shots then some of your ppls crazy artistic pictures

Well. We also have better cameras. And Jmw3407 says something important.