Photography Style Tips

 

1. Experiment with your Camera Position/Perspective

Shoot from different perspectives

• start from the angle you normally shoot from
• drop to your knees and repeat the shot
• now try to shoot from a higher angle
  
  Now take a look at your pictures you just took and see what the different perspectives have done for you.
  
  
• Move in close and repeat your previous photographs. By moving on close you will need to zoom to more of a wide angle view. Notice how the combination of a wider angle impacts the look of your final prints.
  
  
• Back up and use your zoom to frame the photo the same way as you did before. Repeating the previous steps and see how your photo changes.
  

Look at your various pictures and see how zooming in and out has impacted the final results. Here are some expected results:

• A wider angle lens will create the effect of adding depth to an image by separating images front to back. It will also make objects closer to the camera look larger and some lens will cause the objects on the appear wider. Your area in focus, or Depth-of-Field will be greater.
• Shooting down on objects will tend to make them look smaller. If a person has a few extra pounds the end result will help them appear slimmer.
• Shooting up on objects will make them look taller and give a person more stature. Shooting up on a person who is larger will make them look really large.
• Using a telephoto lens has the tendancy to compress images and close the distance from front to back. Your depth-of-field will also be less.

2. Look past your subject and at your background

This sounds simple until you see a plant growing out of somoene's ear. You need to learn to look at the background and change your framing or angle to remove distractions. Background objects and bright spots are two common composing mistakes.

3. Pay attention to how you hold your camera

When holding the camera you need to provide support for the camera and have access to the camera controls. This will vary based upon the size of your camera and the lens in use. If you are shooting objects far away or in low light this will become especially important.

4. Hold the Camera Level

Many digital cameras are packaged with a wide angle lens. Wide angle lens have some characteristics about them which can exagerate and un-level camera. The resulting distortions can distract from your image.

Having said that, try shooting with a wide angle lens and use camera tilt to get some special effects.

5. Get in Close and fill the camera frame with your subject.

Don't waste pixels. Use your zoom to compose your image, or move in closer. Excess backgrounds and foregrounds will be distracting in your final images. However, keep in mind that many cameras shoot in an 8x12 format. If you like to print 8x10s you must allow some room on the long end of your image for composition.

6. Take Pictues, Take Notes, and Learn from your Mistakes

Pay attention to what you did when a photograph turned out and what you did when it did not. Learning from your mistakes and never being happy with what you have shot is the only way you will improve.

7. Create/Capture a Center of Attention

Interesting photographs have interesting subjects. Photographs need a point of interest to which the viewers eye is drawn. This is often called the "focal point".

Once you have identified the "focal point", you can use camera position and composition to emphasize the Center of Attention.

8. Compose while thinking about the Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is a simple composition technique.

The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts.

 

As you’re taking an image you would have done this in your mind through your viewfinder or in the LCD display that you use to frame your shot.

 

With this grid in mind you the ‘rule’ now identifies four important parts of the image that you should consider placing points of interest in as you frame your image.

 

The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines that your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally. Studies have shown that when viewing images that people’s eyes usually go to one of the intersection points most naturally rather than the centre of the shot - using the rule of thirds works with this natural way of viewing an image rather than working against it.

 

Rules are meant to be broken and ignoring this one doesn’t mean your images are necessarily unbalanced or uninteresting. If you intend to break a rule you should always learn it first to make sure your breaking of it is all the more effective! 

9. Strike a Good Balance in your Subject Material

This applies to a vacation or any event where there is a story to tell. Since a lot my experience is with wedding photography let's talk about weddings. (See www.artsphotography.com)

 

A wedding is much more than a bride and a groom. There are decorations, a church, friends, and other activities. These all become a part of the wedding story. Learn to capture everything which is a part of the event.

10. Review Your Images with Other People

Don't take pictures in a vacum. Seek the counsel of others and ask them to ask what they like and don't like.

12. Focus Lock

Focus lock is where you tell the camera to focus on a particular part of your image and then "lock" the focus on that point. You can then recompose your shot and know that the portion of the image that you felt was the most important would be in focus.

13. Exposure Settings

Your camera has various ways for you to control exposure. Exposure is the amount of light used to create the image. Your camera has two places where you can control the exposure. The first option is manual mode. This allows you to set everything which the camera will do when it takes an image. For many people, this is a little advanced. If you feel this is too advanced take your camera off fully automatic mode and use exposure compensation. This setting allows you to control the camera exposure by telling the camera to add a little more or less light.

14. Experiment with Different Camera Modes

These shooting modes are your way to tell your camera what you are shooting. Experimenting with these modes will help you improve your photography by helping the camera know what you are needing it to do. (Camera Modes)

15. When composing the camera try not to use the LCD display.

The LCD display is an easy way to point and shoot your digital camera. However, holding a camera this way will tend to cause more camera movement. This is especially important in low light situations.

To improve stability look through the viewfinder and press the camera against your forehead. This helps support the camera and reduces the amount of picture blur caused by camera movement.

16. Brace yourself or the camera against a solid object

When possibly steady yourself by leaning against a wall or post. Press as much of your body as possible against the support. The support can also be a chair or other stationary object. The key is to find a support which stabilizes you and helps you hold the camera.

 

When possible, press the camera against the support directly. If you are taking a verticle image press the base of the camera against a wall or post.

 

If you are traveling carry a bag of beans or bird shot and use it as a place to rest your camera. Combine this with the camera's self-timer to get even more steadiness.

17. Squeeze the ‘trigger’ don’t jam it down.

Camera movement is often caused by the photographer pressing the shutter button too quickly and shaking the camera. What you will want to do is to learn to make taking a photo a smooth process. You should learn to press the shutter and no jam it.

18. Take a Breath

If you are trying to take a photo in low light situations you will find that taking a deep breath, letting half of it and holding it while gently pressing the shutter button.

19. Adjust the ISO

Most cameras will try to determine which ISO setting is the best. You should adjust this yourself to help the camera better capture an image. ISO settings are a very involved topic and are covered elsewhere on the website.

20. When possible, use the camera's self timer.

If the camera can be sat in a stable position such as on a table, tripod, or bag of beans on your car you can also use the self timer to remove any camera movement caused by you touching the camera.