The digital camera makes it so easy for beginners to just walk around taking loads of pictures of random subjects with no concern for what’s actually in the photograph. Well, here’s some basic digital photography tips that might help you to slow down and think before you shoot.We have all seen it before or maybe we are guilty of it ourselves. I recently went on a short break to Venice in Italy and for anyone that has not been there before I cannot begin to describe the volume of people that is on every street, no matter where you are in the centre of Venice. So, as you can imagine, the opportunity to grab yourself a really good shot is difficult in such a beautiful location. Time and time again you can spot people getting caught up in the trap of ‘point and shoot’ photography. They just stop, point the camera, shoot and walk. Some of the people don’t even stop, they just shoot the frame as they’re walking. At the end of the day, when they return home and upload the pictures onto their computer, all they have is lots of pictures. Actually what you’re left with is lots of pictures that show you were in Venice but nothing worth showing your friends.This leads me on to the main error of this ‘point-and-shoot’ technique. When taking a picture hold the camera firmly in both hands and point the camera lens at the subject of your photograph. This should cut out all the blurry or shaken pictures that you would normally have to delete from your camera. Another problem is the constant use of the LCD when taking pictures. The LCD is only a few inches wide on most digital cameras and sometimes doesn’t give a true representation of the shot. So maybe when shooting once off shots you could take the picture using the viewfinder. You will be surprised how this will slow you down and help you think before you take a picture.Digital cameras come with many and various modes built into them. As beginners, we have all been guilty of setting the camera to the auto mode and just leaving it on auto for years. I would say that most people’s early pictures have all been taken on auto mode. The auto mode is a white balance mode which can sometimes leave your shots feeling a bit cool or empty. A small tip would be to take the same picture in a few different settings, view them on your computer and learn the level of differences between the modes. The cloud setting on your digital camera will add more red and yellow colours to your pictures. This will give them slightly warmer and more colourful tones. The level of difference in modes will vary from camera to camera so get out there and practice using the different modes.I hope these few short and basic digital photography tips will help you to cut down on the number of frames you have to delete at the end of each vacation. Make sure to practice with the different modes and slow down.