Further your photography knowledge in order to help make your pictures look a lot more professional. There are a few tricks that can keep you from falling into the trap of common photography mistakes that cause missed or poor photos.
Get professional equipment if you are serious about photography. Look for a digital camera with a dSLR feature. This allows you to get a better idea of the frame of your picture. What you preview actually looks like the picture you are taking. With a good sensor, you should be able to take much better pictures.
The “S” stands for shutter speed. Use low shutter speed to get sharp pictures when capturing moving objects. Set the shutter speed to higher speeds for creating a more experimental picture. This is a cool feature to use when getting photos of fireworks or tail lights on a car. It is an easy way to get artistic features in your photos.
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.
Move in close to your subject. Nothing is as bad as taking a photograph of something that is not close enough to see well. Make it easy for yourself and your viewers to see a subject clear and vividly.
Be ready to take a picture at all times. This does not mean you should have your camera in hand, this means you should be in the proper state of mind all the time. Look at the world as if you were seeing it through your camera. When you see something interesting, take a picture.
A great photography tip is to keep a folder of your best images. This can be a great way to look back and see the highlights of your work without having to dig through piles and piles of photographs. Update the folder as you take more and more pictures.
Play with lens distortion. Most photographs use portrait lenses or zoom lenses to focus on an object, and use a wide-angle lens for landscapes and such. By using a lens for a different use than its intended one, you will get a very original photograph. Do not let this become your style: learn when you can use an original lens.
One of the best ways to take better photographs is to master the exposure levels and modes of your camera. Modern cameras have a wide range of preset exposures and scene modes that are specificity designed to take photos in different situations. Learn how to use those first and then work your way into learning how to manage manual exposures.
Don’t just rely on straight on flash from your camera for your shots. That only guarantees a burst of frontal lighting. Get a little more creative and try to create soft lighting conditions. How do you do that with flash, you ask? You can do that by bouncing your flash off of a wall or ceiling.
For an interesting photograph, play around with the focus. You can increase the clarity of the main subject and blur the background by reducing the f-stop number. This technique is great for portraits or close ups. Increasing the f-stop will make everything in the photograph in focus, foreground and background. This would be fantastic for landscape shots.
Enhance your photograph with a silhouette. Most use the sunset for a silhouette, but there are other ways to accomplish this too. To create a silhouette, you just need to ensure that your background is much brighter than your subject. You can effectively create a dramatic silhouette with the use of an off-camera flash or a brightly lit window located behind the subject. Occasionally, this type of shot might have a face or body outline that is less than flattering.
Sometimes you need to take a picture of a picture. This can be a bit tricky, especially if it is a digital picture, such as a JPEG. Your camera does come prepared though. Try using your camera’s white balance presets to get the best light for these types of images.
Most people purchase digital cameras never use them to their full advantage because of the number of features, and what they all do, can be absolutely overwhelming. To make the most of your digital camera, no matter if it is a basic model or bordering on the professional, check out a local community college for a digital photography class. These classes are usually very inexpensive, offered for just a few nights, but can put you in touch with an instructor who can give you some great advice and instruction.
As you see, taking better photos is not as hard as it seems. It only requires researching, practicing and trying to improve your skills constantly. Your time investment and hard work will reward you with some great photos now and a lifetime of others to come.
