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HELOISE: Taking the best photos you can

Friday, February 25, 2011

Dear Readers: Here are some hints on how to take the best pictures you can:

Make sure that your lens and LCD viewer screen are clean. Do not use a tissue to clean. Instead, use a microfiber cloth or eyeglass-cleaning tissue. Also, there are lens-cleaning products on the market.

In low-light situations, your cameras shutter will stay open longer, so try to be as still as possible. Otherwise, your picture will come out blurry. If you know you are going to be taking a lot of photos, bring a tripod to steady the camera.

When taking outside pictures, try to position yourself so that the sun is behind you. This will help to prevent your subjects from looking washed out, since you are using natural lighting.

What are your photo hints? Send us your favorite photography hint. You can send an e-mail to Heloise@Heloise.com, mail to Heloise, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001, or a fax to 210-HELOISE (210-435-6473).

Heloise

Dear Heloise: I bought a new dishwasher, and I really like it. The problem is, it beeps three times every 30 minutes or so after washing. It continues to do this until I open the dishwasher. When telling a friend, she told me there should be a way to turn it off if I looked in the owners manual. There was! Thought some of your readers may have the same problem.

N.F., via e-mail

Well, yes! This is why it’s important to read the manual on any new appliance! It takes only a few minutes of your time.

Heloise

Dear Readers: A lot of overnight packages and boxes come to Heloise Central. The boxes are very sturdy, so we turn them inside out and reuse them to send out packages. Just think how much cardboard could be recycled if offices did this just once a week!

Heloise

Dear Heloise: I used to be constantly walking up and down the stairs to take things to the kids’ rooms. I tried leaving stuff at the bottom for them to take up, but they never do it. I have come up with a simple solution: I put two baskets at the bottom of the stairs (one for each kid). They take them up first thing when they get home from school before eating their snack.

Erin in San Antonio

Dear Heloise: When applying masking tape before painting, after placing the tape, run the blade of a putty knife firmly along the tape to seal it. By doing this, the paint will never “bleed through.”

Jack W. in Columbus, Ohio

Dear Readers: If you store lawn and garden supplies in your garage, line the shelves with heavy aluminum foil. This will help to keep the shelves clean, contain oil spills, and they easily can be wiped off.

Heloise

Send a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, fax it to 210-HELOISE or e-mail it to Heloise@Heloise.com.

King Features Syndicate