Zooming in on your subject can remove portions of the background that you don’t necessarily want in your photo. It also helps to draw attention to your subject. Focus on your subject and zoom in until you achieve the framing you want. Compose your shot and press the shutter button. If your camera has an image stabilization feature be sure that it’s activated to help eliminate camera shake and the resulting image blur. Keep in mind that zooming in with an optical zoom shortens the depth of field which refers to how much area is in focus in front and in back of your subject.

Using optical zoom also causes the background to become blurrier. Make sure that this effect is what you want. Lenses with optical zooms are real zoom lenses. They use the lens mechanism to change the focal length of the lens allowing you to zoom closer to or farther away from the subject. Digital zooms aren’t really zoomed. They simply enlarge the center of the scene in the camera and crop out the rest. And they can degrade the image resolution and quality.

If quality is your top priority you may want to avoid using a digital zoom. Instead consider purchasing a telephoto zoom lens or move closer to your subject. You may have to disable the digital zoom by using the menu option or avoid pressing the zoom past the optical maximum setting. Compact and point in shoot camera lenses typically can’t be detached and replaced with another lens. Slightly higher level cameras have limited options for changing lenses. They usually have a built in lens, they can’t be replaced. Digital SLR cameras have a wide variety of zoom lens options because you can easily change lenses.