PeeWee, what I mean is how the shot looks in the viewfinder or lcd screen. It took me a while to get better at this and still it goes on! The idea is to compose(put together) a good shot in the first place. You might want to leave a little room(and many viewfinders or lcd screens do that) for cropping the image and tweeking the area of the picture you want to show.

I learned this on 'rosity, well, did it already to some extent but folks here mentioned the basic idea of seeing a nice composition in the finder before taking the picture and I practice that now, hopefully getting better with each shot. That is the idea.

If what you start with is well composed and looks good in the viewfinder, you have the entire digital file there and don't have to enlarge it too much to get a good image from all the extra stuff in the original photo. This helps develope an eye for seeing balance and pleasing arrangement of things in the picture you take. With me, there is some natural ability but much of it is practice and keeping composition in mind before the shutter is pushed. Others know much more about this than I do..but I do know it is a good basic to keep in mind. Think like you are shooting film and each frame is done once it is shot, no delete available. Then the film is develped and you pay for that! Good framing in the first place prevents many disappointments. Just get out there, have fun and try it, taking time to get the picture the best you see before snapping the shutter. : )

Message edited on: 07/06/2005 18:28