Whether you take one picture every few years or take dozens a day, you may be wondering how you can make your pictures more impressive. Here, we’ll give you a handful of suggestions to make your pictures stand out more, be more clear and capture exactly what you’re seeing and want to capture on film.
Take your pictures quickly. The longer you hesitate, the better the chance that your subject will move away, break their pose, or become tired and stop smiling. Start taking shots as quickly as you can, and don’t worry about getting the camera perfect before the first shot. The faster you shoot and the more photos you take, the better your chances are of getting a good one.
Change the direction of your camera’s flash to avoid the appearance of red eye. When a flash goes off directly in line with someone’s eyes, the result can be red eye. Reducing red eye will improve the quality of your pictures and give your subjects a more realistic appearance.
Play with the shutter speed setting to get shots of both slow and fast-moving subjects. Slow shutter speeds are great for objects that move very slowly, such as streams. Fast shutter speeds, on the other hand, allow you to get a clear shot of a subject that is moving very quickly, such as a race car.
Use a tripod for maximum camera stability. For random shots of your kids or buildings, a bit of camera shake isn’t a big deal, but for once-in-a-lifetime shots that really matter, a bit of camera shake can ruin a perfect memory. If a tripod is not available, try setting the camera on a flat surface.
Keep the arms close to the body and the hands around the bottom and along the sides of your camera when you hold it. This helps prevent blurry photographs by keeping the movement of your camera to a minimum. Additionally, by cradling your hands around and under the camera, it will prevent accidental dropping of the device.
When taking a picture, try to take one at a medium distance and then take one closer. You may decide later on that a picture would have looked better had you taken it a little closer. Also, try to make sure your subject is toward the center of the picture.
Keep your photo subject simple. The busier the subject is the more difficult it is to capture something that is going to be interesting. Keeping the backgrounds simple will make it easier for the eye to focus on the subject that you are capturing. Keeping it uncomplicated seems simple, but many forget to do it.
Many cameras allow you to set the white balance. This setting tells the camera which colors to see as highlights. When shooting in artificial light (indoors) set the while balance setting to the “artificial light” mode. It will make your photos look as if they were shot in natural light.
A good photography tip is to remind yourself that less is more. Don’t think that by adding more stuff to your shot that you’ll make it more interesting. If anything, more stuff will only confuse your viewer. Simplicity is something you should keep in mind when composing photographs.
Remain completely immobile when it’s time to click the shutter to get that ultimate photograph. Even a little bit of movement on your part can cause a ruined photo. Take a spare second, right before hitting the shutter button, to hold your breath and get a straight shot.
Make sure to set up your compositions so that vertical lines are truly vertical. Tilting the camera backwards to capture a tall building, for example, can cause the building to appear as if it is falling backwards out of the frame. Photographs in which buildings are not vertical often appear unnatural.
A good photography tip is to not underestimate knowing the fundamentals. If you want to break the rules, you should at least know them first. Without knowing the fundamentals you’re doing yourself and your work a great disservice. You can learn about photography simply by searching the internet.
If you set your digital camera to the lowest setting, you will be able to fit more images on your memory card, though you will also be sacrificing the quality of the pictures. The lower setting should only be used for images that will be shared via computer and not in print.
With these suggestions in hand, start looking at your most recent photographs and see if these tips would have made the pictures even better. If you start noticing that there is a suggestion or two that would greatly improve a few of the photographs you’ve already taken, try finding a way to incorporate that suggestion into every photograph you take from now on.
