There’s no better place to start your photography endeavors then here, with this list of helpful picture taking tips. This collection should help the novice photographer become a professional.
Try not to capture a gray sky in your pictures. Your pictures can appear dull and lifeless if they capture too much of a gray sky in the background. If you have to shoot with an overcast sky, use black and white methods of photography. If the sky outside is a beautiful blue, include it in your photos but watch the light.
Don’t go overboard with complex camera settings. Take it one step at a time by mastering one function, such as shutter speed or sport setting, before moving on to the next. Once you are very skilled with your settings, you will be able to make adjustments quickly and focus all your attention on getting excellent photos.
People often believe that bright, sunny days are perfect for taking pictures. However, you are almost guaranteed to get flawed images if you take your shots in the direct glare of the sun. It casts strange shadows and glare, causes subjects to squint, and highlights unevenly. Aim to take outdoor pictures during the two golden hours, dusk and dawn.
When you are traveling, take small snapshots of intricate details. Certain features might not seem all that interesting at the time, but when you get back, those strange and interesting pictures will frame your memory of the trip in new ways. Snap odd stuff like weird roads, currency, odd consumer products and random houses.
Spend some time taking photos with another photographer, or join a photography club. You will gain a lot of knowledge from others, but don’t let their ways rub off onto your photographs. When joining forces with another photographer, compare and contrast your photos of the same subjects, so you can get an idea of how images of identical objects can vary in appearance when taken through the perspective of two different people.
Becoming an excellent photographer is a matter of talent, practice and skill, nothing more. You will improve as you experiment. With today’s digital format there is no need to keep all of your pictures or get them developed. You will get better and better as time goes on, taking shots of everything and judging them later on to evaluate how you might have gotten a better photo.
Fluorescent lighting requires a lower white balance for indoor photos. Different lighting needs to compensated for. If your fluorescent lights give off a blue tone, you may need to adjust for that to fix any unintended consequences.
When you are taking photos, a good rule of thumb is the idea of less is more. Do not crowd a shot with unnecessary visual elements. Keeping things simple in your photos is what catches your viewer’s attention, simplicity often creates a big punch!
When traveling, look for interesting features, monuments, and buildings to photograph. If you are looking for inspiration, take a look at some postcards to get ideas of what to shoot. Those postcards will have pictures of attractions and subject matter that you should try to add to your own photos.
When taking landscape photos, every shot should contain three things. These include a mid ground, a background, and a foreground. These same principles apply to landscape painting.
It is important that you take the time to read your camera manual, and become familiar with your camera before you begin using it. Manuals are usually large and bulky. People will shove them in a drawer or even toss them in the trash. Instead of discarding the manual, invest some time in absorbing the material it contains. By taking the time to read the manual and familiarize yourself with your camera, you will eliminate frustration and take much better pictures.
While it may be tempting to lower the settings on your camera in order to store the most possible photos, understand that you are sacrificing image quality in return. You should only apply the lowest settings if you are confident that the images will only be shown on a computer display.
Enhance your photograph with a silhouette. Many methods for creating a silhouette exist, including the most popular method of using a sunset. If your background is much brighter than your subject, you’ll notice a silhouette forming. It’s easy to create a silhouette by simply getting behind the subject with an off-camera flash. Alternatively, you could place the subject in front of a window that has light streaming through. Remember that a glaring outline may be distracting or unflattering.
Shoot pictures from a variety of angles using different sources of light. Practice these techniques before you shoot your photos so you know what results you’ll get from each.
Red Eye
Red eye in your photos can seem like something so small, but really, you will never frame or share that photo. Red eye is the result of using flash, so turn off the flash feature if you don’t need it. If the use of flash is required, try to have your subjects avoid looking directly into the camera lens. Many cameras have a special red eye feature.
A tripod could be a great improvement. If you hold your camera instead of using a tripod, you might shake it slightly without realizing it. Even the slightest shake can ruin a photograph, especially if you’re using a low shutter speed or capturing someone in motion. Investing in a simple, cheap tripod can get rid of any blur that exists on your pictures. If you purchase a solid tripod, you will have a better chance of achieving professional looking photographs and are more likely to get the results you desire.
To make your subject look more powerful, shoot pictures of them from low-levels looking upwards. If you desire your subject to project a weaker image, shoot the photo from above. These techniques are good to use when it is appropriate, and you will find out the ideal times to use them through trial and error.
Hopefully, these tips are enough to get you started taking better pictures. This collection of tips was designed to add to your knowledge base ways to take better photos and increase your overall skills.