They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but that doesn’t mean those words are good ones. A poor photo will have people focusing on its quality rather than the memory it was intended to capture. So what can you do to take better looking photos? Here are some tips to get you started.
Be selective when taking your photos. Find exactly what you want in that photo, and remove anything else from the shot. If you’re trying to take a picture of a flower, you don’t want a bunch of other flowers or trees in the shot. Get as close and focused on the subject as possible to get the best possible photo.
Compose your photograph carefully. Sometimes you might have to actually move things around to get the proper contrast or light you want. If you are taking pictures of objects, turn them to get the proper angle. As you progress, you will learn how to make a scene look natural when you compose it.
In photography, it is very important to vary the amount of angles that you use on your subject. Shoot pictures from the front, side, and back, which will help to give you an elegant collage instead of just one angle. Move around as often as possible to optimize your results.
Make sure you hold the camera correctly. Holding the camera correctly reduces the chance that an inopportune movement ruins your shot. Hold the camera with your arms close to your body and the palm of your hand under the camera to prevent the camera from falling or shaking.
A good photography tip that can help you is to not be afraid of getting your work critiqued by other people. Putting your work out there can leave you feeling vulnerable, but it’s very valuable to know how other people perceive your work. It can help you improve a lot.
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.
A great photography trick is to incorporate texture into your photographs. Textures are very interesting to look at because we can imagine what they feel like. You can adjust the focus of your camera to make sure you’re able to capture texture in a areas that you want it in.
When composing a shot, keep in mind the artistic axiom “less is more.” You should not add too much to your pictures, or you will run the risk that they will look cluttered. The art of innocence is really wonderful, so try to keep the shots you take simple.
A good rule of thumb when it comes to choosing settings on your camera is to choose the higher quality settings that take up more space on your memory card. The lower settings will not allow for quality printing, especially if you want to enlarge them. When shooting at a high resolution, you can always lower it later for sending via email or displaying online.
Improve your photography by paying attention to the light. Lighting should usually be behind the photographer rather than the subject. A subject being backlit will create a silhouette. Be careful when the light is behind the photographer though, if it is too bright it might cause the subject to squint.
When photographing people, try to avoid having anyone that they know standing on the sidelines and watching the photograph being taken. It will almost always lead to feelings of self-consciousness if your subject knows they are being watched. This will, in turn, lead to unnatural, posed images that nobody will like.
When taking pictures with your camera avoid any unnatural cropping. It looks sloppy or strange when pieces of heads, entire heads, hands or feet are cut off. Remember photos should include the subjects main features.
Any time you take a photograph, you want to be sure it’s a good one. In today’s age of photo editing and digital cameras, anyone can take a high quality photo. It’s just a matter of learning how. Thanks to the advice in this article, you should be taking better looking photos in no time.