Taking a picture is as easy as pushing a button, but taking a beautiful photograph is a work of art. You can take great photos with a simple, point-and-shoot camera or get lousy shots with the most expensive, top-of-the-line camera. It is not the camera that produces wonderful images, it is the photographer. To help you take great photographs, here are some helpful tips.
In order to produce the best and clearest photographs, you should use a tripod. A tripod allows you to stabilize the camera, so that your photos are in better focus. This is especially important if you are using a high-zoom lens or shooting at night, since small changes in the camera’s position will result in major blurring.
An important photography tip to keep in mind is to always make sure there’s a clear focal point in your photograph. Without a focal point, there won’t be much there to keep the viewer’s interest. Their eyes will just wander and they’ll quickly move on to the next photograph.
Learn how to use aperture on your camera. It indicates how much of the stuff that is seen in your view finder will be in focus. Low aperture means that only the foreground will be in focus and the background will be more blurred. High aperture means that everything will equally be in focus.
Know your camera. If you have recently purchased new equipment, or if you have had yours for a while, but never taken the time to know it’s ins and outs, then do so. Read the manual, or play with the functions extensively until you understand it. Knowing what your camera can do will give you better pictures as you can adjust to changing light and circumstances.
While taking a photograph, many factors come into play that will determine if the photo comes out well. If there is too much light when the picture is taken, your photo will come out with a glare. If your camera isn’t focused, your photo will come out blurry. And if your camera is tilted the photo will come out tilted as well. This is why it is always a good idea to take multiple photos of your subject while adjusting with your camera’s settings in order to be sure that you have at least one proper photograph.
Create narrative with your photographs. They need to be able to express and tell a story to the viewer. This can be entirely dependent on what you decide to shoot, but do your best to express a story behind whatever it is. You need to especially make sure that this happens when you have people as subjects.
Just like it is recommended for an artist to keep some paper and a writing utensil on them at all times, a photographer should always keep a camera on them too. You never know when a photo opportunity will present itself, so you need to be prepared at all times.
While many believe that white is one of the best colors to wear in photos, it’s actually not a good choice. If a camera is set on auto focus, it will try to analyze all the nuances and shades and most cameras will not be able to distinguish enough shades on a white shirt. With white clothing, the camera has a hard time adjusting to keep the whites looking good, while preserving detail on peoples’ faces, and photos can turn out looking under or overexposed.
Now that you have some helpful tips, you will be able to start taking more great pictures. With this knowledge and some willingness to make some easy adjustments to your shooting techniques and your camera, you can get some pretty amazing shots from any camera that you are using.
