t’s always very frustrating! You have a great shot lined up, and press the shutter button. But your camera takes an extra second to think about the photo before it opens the shutter. By the time the photo is actually taken, your prefect shot has vanished! Little Johnny has left the frame and you end up with a blank photo!

When set to auto, some cameras can take a while to adjust for white balance and focus. This is the 2-3 second delay between when you first push the shutter button, and the shot actually being taken - so called Shutter Lag.

If this happens with your camera, try presetting these by holding the shutter release half way down to tell the camera to focus before you need to take the shot.

Then, keep your finger held half way down until you get the perfect shot, or use your camera’s ‘lock exposure’ feature to keep the exposure settings locked until you find the right time to shoot.

Presetting your exposure and focus can REALLY help out when taking shots of children. They tend to not sit in one place waiting for you to adjust your camera, so the best shots are taken when you are prepared for a candid moment - eg when the child is engrossed in a task.

I go into a lot more detail about exposure and focus in my "Digital Photo Secrets" book. Learn all about White Balance and how to adjust your camera settings manually to get that perfect shot.. plus much more!

Next Time : A technique for ensuring that with every group of photos you take, you'll always have a couple of great ones.