Out of 50 pictures I took today, most of them came out looking like crap. Either they were blurry, too dark, grainy, or had some weird effect like I was moving the camera around and I was getting trails of light.

The camera is a Kodak EasyShare C433.. 4 megapixels with 3x Optical zoom blah blah blah.

Can someone give me some tips on taking clean shots? VERY few of my shots are "perfect", they all have some problem with them.

I am rarely moving when I take pictures. I take the picture, wait for the picture to come up on the screen, THEN move. Flash pictures at night make the picture darker than if I didn't use the flash.

I've never used a digital camera before to take good shots, but I want to learn.. so please help :(

get a tripod, and use the self timer to minamize the shaking

I've been checking out sites, and it seems my camera is switching the ISO setting to a higher one, so it keeps the lens open longer. I can manually switch to a low low ISO setting (ISO 80) and it should work. I'll test it out next weekend.

higher iso would ley you take pictures faster. ie faster shutter speed, but grainer pictures.

I thought it was the higher the ISO number meant the lens was open longer = more blurry pictures.

My camera can do ISO 80 all the way up to ISO 800

The Kodak C series cameras don't get very good reviews, and yours may be defective besides. If it won't take a decent picture even when set to the default automatic setting under reasonable light and held steady when you shoot, then consider replacement. Go for whatever Canon digital camera you can afford; you won't be dissatified.

iso is the speed of the film used, back in the day the photographer used a certian speed film based on his subject he was shooting. so whats good about digital is you dont have to change rolls of film according to what your shooting.

so...
a low iso say 100 would have the least amount of grain
but iso 200 would be twice as fast, but with a little bit of grain
iso 400 twice as fast as 200, 4 times as fast as 100 and alot more grain.

you can use higher iso in the night but would see alot more grain. faster iso are usually for sports, and other fast moving things. so if shooting at night dont go all the way up to 800 iso, go to about 400 and use a slightly slower shutter speed.

imho its not worth taking pics of your car at night. pictures are gonna come out dark either way. unless you want to get artsy and park under a light pole, but with a point and shoot camera your best bet is a tripod or something to put your camera on so it doesnt move.

*tips on good pics during the day
shoot with your back to the sun
best time of day is 12 noon, cause the sun is at its highest point in the sky.
postion, getting really low to the ground or even climbing a ladder can result in a really cool photo

i think that's the same camera i have. check all of your setting, and flash settings as well. can make a huge diference.

The Kodak C series cameras don't get very good reviews, and yours may be defective besides. If it won't take a decent picture even when set to the default automatic setting under reasonable light and held steady when you shoot, then consider replacement. Go for whatever Canon digital camera you can afford; you won't be dissatified.

yea canon cameras are great. i have 2, a canon rebel (the original) and a p&s sd630< takes just a good a picture as the dslr. although i dont have any L glass, those lens are expensive. dont get a nikon, thats like switching over to the dark side. lol

I got this camera as a gift for Christmas, and it does take pictures fine indoors.. so it has to do with the user, I bet. [:)]

I'm far from being a "good" photographer, but I've found that the following helps to get good pictures:

1. You need good light to get good pictures, simple as that. If it's getting dark you will have a hard time getting good shots unless you have skills and/or a really sweet camera. Keep in mind that the flash has a very limited range.

2. Buy a tripod. You can get a cheapo one for like $10 and it makes a world of difference. As incubus625 said, you can also use the self-timer to avoid shaking the camera as you push the button down.

This is all I do. I use a tripod and try to go out to take pictures when it's sunny out.

my car (http://www.image4u.org/jonstyles/carputer/thumbs/DSCF0002.JPG)
Here's a decent picture I've taken with my crappy Fujifilm Finepix S2000 3MP camera. It's cheap camera, ~$200 and I used the "Auto" setting.

This weekend I'm going to be taking more pictures.. hopefully they come out good with the tips you guys gave me.

[thumb]

Some tips here: http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/digitalimaging/tp/newbiemistakes.htm

You need good light to get good pictures, simple as that. If it's getting dark you will have a hard time getting good shots unless you have skills and/or a really sweet camera.

Yes. Light makes a world of difference, photography is all about light entering the camera. With a camera that automatically chooses the ISO, the more light you have the less "noise" there will be, because it will choose a lower ISO. As mentioned the tripod helps, especially at night or in low-light situations; if the camera allows manual control, the tripod would allow you to choose an ISO like 50, 80, or 100 (whatever is the lowest on your camera) and capture a relatively clean night image. But as mentioned trying to get "pro" images using a point n' shoot can be tough.

And what's wrong with Nikon?? I use Canon cameras mainly, but I don't have anything against Nikon - I even have an old Nikon F2AS 35mm SLR, which is regarded (as is pretty much the whole Nikon F line) as one of the best SLR cameras ever made, and although I haven't used it in years, when I was using it I was completely pleased.