Photography is equal parts science and art, with skills and vision playing crucial roles in the final results. Whether you are content with an amateur’s level of photographic skills or you aspire to be the next Ansel Adams, these tips will take you one step further in understanding the process.
Try using a tripod to take your photos. This will reduce or completely remove your movement’s influence. It’s incredibly frustrating to have lined up a perfect shot only to discover that your hands were shaking a bit and completely blurred the photo. This is especially important if you know you don’t have extremely steady hands.
Make sure you’re holding your camera properly to get the best photograph. You want to make sure you have your arms tucked against your sides and one hand should be under the lens to support it. This will help reduce any movement and insure that you’re able to get good photos.
If you are planning to take photos in a new country go straight to the postcard rack. Postcards can help you gain new ideas of the scenery that is unique to the country that you are in. Use these photos as ideas for the spots that you want to visit.
Be sure your photo has a solid focal point. Without a good focal point your photographs will end up looking empty, leaving the eye with nowhere to rest. Your viewers will be more appreciative of a photo that has a clear focus, even if you are shooting a landscape or other wide setting.
A good photography tip is to try and be helpful when you’re offering criticism. Don’t just tell someone that their photograph is nice, or that you like it. Tell them specifically what you like about it, and why you think it makes the photograph strong. The same goes for what you don’t like about the photograph.
Use a rather low ISO. A good ISO is around 200. Using this range of ISO will make your pictures look dark in certain situations, but you can easily change the contrast and light on a computer. If you use a higher ISO, you will get a lot of noise on your picture, which makes editing harder.
Be careful when shooting with the ISO feature set at a high setting. It will allow you to capture photos in low light settings but it opens the door to noisy pictures that may look grainy. Ideally you should keep the ISO set low or increase it very slightly to capture the low light photos.
Use your camera to capture every detail of your travels. 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. Street signs, bus tickets and the currency of the country that you visit can make for great photographs and memories.
Try to plan out all of your shots. You should plan out everything from the subject, to the angle, to the lighting in the area where you will be shooting. Taking a bit of time to plan all of this out, can lead to much better and more interesting photographs.
To help a wedding album convey the personal atmosphere, take some close-ups of small items belonging to the bride or groom, or details of decorations. You can take these photos before the ceremony begins as a warming up exercise. You might be able to capture some very special moments in the meantime.
Become aware of the immediate area around you when taking photos. You need to be aware of what is around you, as there may be more you can add to a shot or even a better shot available if you turn around. Sometimes the best shots lie right behind you.
Contrarily to popular belief, wearing white to have a picture taken is not good. Most photographs will use the auto-focus setting and let the camera interpret what is in the frame. If you are wearing too much white, you can end up looking washed out in your photographs.
Purchase a DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex) camera if you want to take professional-looking photographs. When you are shopping for a camera, do not worry about how many megapixels the product has; instead, focus on the image sensor. Most professional photographers buy full-frame DSLR cameras, which take incredibly clear pictures of your subject matter.
Move in closer to your subject. When you spot something you’d like to take a picture of, snap a shot. Then move in closer and take a better shot. If you have your subject fill the frame, it will help the viewer appreciate and understand your photo. When taking the picture, continue to move closer until you are sure your picture will represent the subject.
Now that you have a more clear vision of photography through the tips presented, you are well on your way to a deeper understanding of how to use your camera to achieve your goals. Take the time to actually try each of these tips to see how they can positively affect your photographs.