Learning Photography: 5 Tips to Get You Started Right Away
- By Autumn Lockwood
- Published 01/29/2010
- Articles
- Unrated
Autumn Lockwood
Autumn Lockwood is a writer for Your Picture Frames.com and loves taking pictures. Your Picture Frames offers a large selection of sizes in 5x7 frames and 8x10 picture frames and many other frame sizes. Shop online to see our entire frame selection now.
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While you can't of course learn everything in one article about photography, this article provides 5 tips on the basics. Whether you have a point and shoot camera or are the proud owner of an SLR, there are a few basic concepts that once understood will get you on your way towards taking excellent photos. Here are five important and easy to use tips that you can put to use right away.
1) Resolve to Have Enough Resolution
Yes, a low resolution setting saves space on your memory card, but it doesn't make for suitable prints. You can easily resize and make a picture smaller in free programs like Picasa ("resize" is hidden under "export") but making an image larger rarely looks good. When you enlarge the photo, the pixels that make up the picture are spread thinner.
If you like printing your images, choose medium or high resolution. Depending upon your camera, 3 mega pixels should give you a high quality 4x6 image and possibly even a nice 8x10 image. For excellent quality 11x14's go for 6 mega pixels.
2) Let There be Light (but Make it the Right Kind)
Natural lighting is usually best, so don't worry if you don't have a fancy flash and reflectors. If your only flash is built-in, that's even more reason why you should use natural light. Built in flashes can make a subject look flat. That's why the pros use an external flash and bounce light off the umbrellas. There are tricks you can use like wearing a white shirt or taping foil to the camera to bounce the light off the ceiling, but if you want an easy way to get professional quality photos without the equipment, go outdoors.
When shooting outdoors, consider the position of the sun. The lower the sun in the sky the better, except for sunrise and dawn. Noon brings the harshest shadows. Unless the sky is part of your photograph, bright overcast days produce the best light.
3) Compose a Perfect Picture
Getting a great snapshot without any thought mostly depends on luck. But by learning how to compose a picture first, you have more creative control and you will end up with more photographs suitable for framing. The pictures you take will look more like what you had in mind when you clicked the shutter release.
There is a lot to learn about photo composition, but for starters, here is the number one rule. Fill the frame. First, decide on what is the most important subject in your photo and then move close enough (or zoom-optical zoom is best) to fill the viewfinder with the subject. For example, if the subject is your grandmother watering her petunias then that's the subject not her entire yard. Many make the mistake of losing their subjects in the landscape.
4) Steady Now
It doesn't take much camera movement to create a blur, in fact most times, you'll never even notice the movement until you see the blurry picture. For sharp pictures, keep your elbows down, feet apart and firmly planted and hold the camera steady while pressing (not punching) the shutter release. Continue holding still until the light indicates the camera has finished taking the picture. When you are taking a photo that needs a slower than usual shutter speed, like a fireworks display, use a tripod to steady the camera. You can also use other items as props to set your camera on as long as you have a remote shutter release. A good rule of thumb: use a camera support for shutter speeds slower than 1/60.
5) Share Your Creations
If your photos are digital, use a photo editor to bring copies (save originals) of your photos down to the appropriate size for your website, email, photo album or picture frame. You should use photo paper that is compatible with your printer model for best results. If you are using a film camera now but want to email pictures or post them on a website, use a quality scanner or have a CD made when the film is developed.
Save your best photos for hanging on your wall or displaying on a table. A framed photograph also makes a very welcome gift, especially when the subject is a portrait. Remember a portrait can be of a single person, family, multiple friends or a beloved pet...the portrait can be of anyone and can make a lovely framed gift.
By using these 5 tips you'll help to expand your photography knowledge so you can continue to take even better looking photographs.
1) Resolve to Have Enough Resolution
Yes, a low resolution setting saves space on your memory card, but it doesn't make for suitable prints. You can easily resize and make a picture smaller in free programs like Picasa ("resize" is hidden under "export") but making an image larger rarely looks good. When you enlarge the photo, the pixels that make up the picture are spread thinner.
If you like printing your images, choose medium or high resolution. Depending upon your camera, 3 mega pixels should give you a high quality 4x6 image and possibly even a nice 8x10 image. For excellent quality 11x14's go for 6 mega pixels.
2) Let There be Light (but Make it the Right Kind)
Natural lighting is usually best, so don't worry if you don't have a fancy flash and reflectors. If your only flash is built-in, that's even more reason why you should use natural light. Built in flashes can make a subject look flat. That's why the pros use an external flash and bounce light off the umbrellas. There are tricks you can use like wearing a white shirt or taping foil to the camera to bounce the light off the ceiling, but if you want an easy way to get professional quality photos without the equipment, go outdoors.
When shooting outdoors, consider the position of the sun. The lower the sun in the sky the better, except for sunrise and dawn. Noon brings the harshest shadows. Unless the sky is part of your photograph, bright overcast days produce the best light.
3) Compose a Perfect Picture
Getting a great snapshot without any thought mostly depends on luck. But by learning how to compose a picture first, you have more creative control and you will end up with more photographs suitable for framing. The pictures you take will look more like what you had in mind when you clicked the shutter release.
There is a lot to learn about photo composition, but for starters, here is the number one rule. Fill the frame. First, decide on what is the most important subject in your photo and then move close enough (or zoom-optical zoom is best) to fill the viewfinder with the subject. For example, if the subject is your grandmother watering her petunias then that's the subject not her entire yard. Many make the mistake of losing their subjects in the landscape.
4) Steady Now
It doesn't take much camera movement to create a blur, in fact most times, you'll never even notice the movement until you see the blurry picture. For sharp pictures, keep your elbows down, feet apart and firmly planted and hold the camera steady while pressing (not punching) the shutter release. Continue holding still until the light indicates the camera has finished taking the picture. When you are taking a photo that needs a slower than usual shutter speed, like a fireworks display, use a tripod to steady the camera. You can also use other items as props to set your camera on as long as you have a remote shutter release. A good rule of thumb: use a camera support for shutter speeds slower than 1/60.
5) Share Your Creations
If your photos are digital, use a photo editor to bring copies (save originals) of your photos down to the appropriate size for your website, email, photo album or picture frame. You should use photo paper that is compatible with your printer model for best results. If you are using a film camera now but want to email pictures or post them on a website, use a quality scanner or have a CD made when the film is developed.
Save your best photos for hanging on your wall or displaying on a table. A framed photograph also makes a very welcome gift, especially when the subject is a portrait. Remember a portrait can be of a single person, family, multiple friends or a beloved pet...the portrait can be of anyone and can make a lovely framed gift.
By using these 5 tips you'll help to expand your photography knowledge so you can continue to take even better looking photographs.