1. Move In Closer
Almost any shot will look better if you take two or three steps closer to your subject. Filling the frame entirely with your subject will make a terrific difference to your photos. Alternatively, instead of moving closer, use the Optical or Digital Zoom of your camera to get a close up shot.
When taking shots of family and friends, most people place the subject's full body in the frame, or place head and arms in the shot. Instead, fill the frame with your subject's FACE only - particularly if they are smiling or are in a moment of reflection.
Why does this work? With less clutter in the image, there's less to draw the eye away from the main subject of your photo. Also, human faces (particularly children's faces) are something we all feel pleasure looking at.
If you can't get close enough when you're taking the shot, you can zoom in later using photo editing software - crop out everything except the subject's face and see what a difference it makes.
When using the viewfinder for close shots, be careful of Parallax. Because the viewfinder is not at the same position as the camera's lens, centering the subject in the viewfinder may mean it is not centered for the lens resulting in an off-center final picture. Most digital cameras now come with an inbuilt LCD screen. You can eliminate this problem by using the LCD - which shows you what the lens sees - rather than the viewfinder.
2. Use Optical rather than Digital Zoom
Cameras are marketed with both an Optical Zoom and Digital Zoom capability. If you've used a film camera, you'll be used to optical zoom. Optical zoom uses the lens of the camera (the optics) to bring the subject closer. Digital zoom uses clever software to digitally enlarge a portion of the image - thus simulating optical zoom. So, which is better? Definitely Optical zoom. Here's why.
Digital zoom is not really 'zoom' in the strictest definition of the term. Digital zoom just enlarges the image. E.g. it takes a portion of the image and enlarges it back to full size. You lose quality because of the enlargement process so photos that have been taken with digital zoom won't look as good as those without.
You can perform the same result using image editing software on your computer. In fact, it can be better to crop and enlarge using your image software in your computer as you can decide exactly what part of the image to enlarge, and how much to enlarge by.
So when taking shots, use optical zoom only. If you need to zoom in further, use your editing software to select the best part of the image to keep. Ensure your camera warns you when it's switching to digital zoom from optical zoom, or use your settings to disable digital zoom entirely.
Why is clarity important? The more clarity you have in your image, the larger the printed size can be without the image appearing fuzzy, or blocky. If you want to keep clarity in your images, use the optical zoom whenever possible, and avoid the digital zoom.
How do you use Optical Zoom? When you zoom in using your camera, it will use Optical zoom first and then use Digital zoom. You can usually set your camera to notify you when it starts to use the Digital zoom, or tell it to not use digital zoom at all.
Consult your manual for details.
3. Place your subject off-center
Rather than placing your main subject in the middle of the screen, place it to one side and ensure something interesting is in the background that fills the remainder of the image.
This can be especially effective if the background has the same theme. For example, if photographing a child opening a Christmas present, frame them to one side and have the Christmas Tree with unopened presents filling the rest of the image.
There are a few guidelines that can help you place your subject in the frame.
The Rule of Thirds
One of the most popular rules in photography is the "Rule of Thirds". It is a simple rule that can add dynamism to your photos. Simply, divide the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. When composing your shot, place important elements either along these lines, or where the lines intersect - NOT at the center of the frame.
For example, place a subject's eyes where the top line is, or place your subject on the place in the image where two of these lines intersect.
It's a very simple rule to follow and will result in a nicely balanced, easy on the eye picture. It also helps get rid of the 'tiny subject and large amount of space' tendency because you need to position items relative to the edges of the frame.
Having said this, the Rule of Thirds is also one of the rules you'll want to break often!
This is fine - the Rule of Thirds is more of a guideline and sometimes you will find a better image when you break the rule.
4. Photographing Children
Children make a wonderful subject. Here are some tips for ensuring photos of children are even more memorable.
Meet them eye-to-eye
Bring yourself down to the child's level . even if you need to crouch down. This will give your shots a 'kids eye view' and won't distort their image (as taking the shot from above does).
Capture natural expressions
While posed shots are great, often better results can be gained by capturing an image when their thoughts are preoccupied with something else. Example: while at play.
You'll capture their faces enjoying the moment rather than thinking about the camera.
Familiarity ensures success
Children who have grown up having their photo taken will be a lot less likely to freeze or show off in front of a camera. Start early and make photo taking a part of every day out.
Children grow up quickly
Record their growth from toddler to child to young adult by taking a family photo every year around the same time . either the first day of school, or during spring events.
5. Take More, And Erase Your Shots
The ability to erase your photos is one of the major advantages of a digital camera. You'd be mad not to use this to the fullest extent!
Take MANY more shots than you think you need, and then erase those that aren't right. Every half an hour, go back through your most recent photos erase any that don't make the grade, or you have better versions of. Because you'll be erasing often you can just keep the 'best of the best'. Erasing often also ensures you don't need a large memory card, as it will not be storing your not so-perfect images.
If you're always pressed for time, you can either invest in a larger memory card, or copy your images to another storage device like a laptop or card storage unit until a later point.
This is also a huge tip when photographing groups. With such a large number of people, there always seems to be someone blinking, or looking the other way.
Having a large number of shots means you can pick the best of them to keep.
6. Preset your Exposure and Focus
When set to auto, some cameras can take a while to adjust for white balance and focus. This is the 2-3 second delay between when you first push the shutter button, and the shot actually being taken. If this happens with your camera, try presetting these by holding the shutter release half way down to tell the camera to focus before you need to take the shot. Then, keep your finger held half way down until you get the perfect shot, or use your camera's 'lock exposure' feature to keep the exposure settings locked until you find the right time to shoot.
Presetting your exposure and focus can REALLY help out when taking shots of children. They tend to not sit in one place waiting for you to adjust your camera, so the best shots are taken when you are prepared for a candid moment - e.g. when the child is engrossed in a task.
7. Use A Tripod
Yes, tripods can be a hassle to carry around with you but they help you take great shots in two ways.
First, the time you take to get out the tripod, set it up and position the camera on it will slow your picture taking down. This means you'll become more aware of other elements like composition of the image, and lighting. The more focused you are to external conditions, the more likely you will be to take a great shot.
The added advantage is your camera is more steady allowing you to take razor sharp images - particularly in low light situations.
An alternative to the tripod is a 'mono pod'. These only have one leg and don't have the stability of a tripod, but they have a greater stability than just your hands - particularly if you lean them against something.
If you do a lot of mountain walking, there are also extendable ‘walking canes’ (like a ski pole) that are great for helping you walk up steep hills. The top unscrews to reveal a tripod mount underneath turning it into a mono pod.
Tripod Tip : If you have a lightweight camera, you might consider purchasing a ultra lightweight tripod. These are small, don't weigh much and easily fit in a backpack or camera bag.
Extra Tip : You don't need to purchase a tripod either! Any horizontal surface around can make a tripod - arms of chairs, railings, rocks, anything! Be very careful not to damage your camera, though as cameras have a tendency to slip and break when perched on chairs, rocks etc.
8. Unusual Angles
Most photos are shot at eye level. I think this is because traditionally, you needed to have the viewfinder up to your eye to ensure you get everyone in the shot. Because most digital cameras have an inbuilt LCD, you can now take the camera away from your eye and try taking photos from unusual angles.
Try tilting the camera left or right to better position your subject in the frame. Try taking the photo from below, or above your subject. Try getting further away or closer. The main point is to move the camera away from eye level and experiment!
There's always more than one way to photograph a subject. Using different camera angles can make an otherwise boring image really stand out. The more you practice using different angles, the quicker you'll know what works and what doesn't.
Angle Tip : Lie on the ground and point your camera towards the sky for an interesting angle to shoot large monuments with.
9. Using Flash During The Day
Interestingly, one of the best uses of your flash is during bright sunlight! I know it sounds strange but it's true. A flash helps to eliminate dark shadows (for instance under the eyes and chin of faces). It also helps to emphasize your subject.
When you take pictures of subjects with bright light behind them, for example a portrait that is backlit, or a duck swimming in water reflecting the sun, the camera will be fooled by the bright surroundings so the subject appears dark.
By turning flash on, you will fill in the shadow areas making the picture much more pleasing. It can also be used to add a sparkle to eyes, and to reduce shadows under the nose and eyes when pictures are taken when the sun is bright and high in the sky (e.g. at midday). Nature photographers even use flash to ensure the nooks and crannies of flower petals are properly lit - to reduce shadows.
Professional photographers use flash much more often than amateurs.
10. Use Continuous Shooting
Most digital cameras have a continuous shooting mode, where shots are taken one after the other in rapid succession. When taking shots, there is often a short delay between when you press your finger on the button, and when the picture is actually taken. This delay may mean your subject has finished their action (eg blowing out candles on a cake) and you have missed the magic moment.
With Continuous Shooting you can take a sequence of shots and keep just the right one. Continuous Shooting also increases you chances of capturing a candid moment.
Where else can this be useful? Any shots of children or group shots will benefit from continuous mode.
11. Give Yourself A Theme
Sometimes you need to think creatively to find better shots. Set yourself a theme to give your brain a head start. For example, on a vacation choose a different color every day and ensure all your shots for that day have that color in that image. Or shoot only shots with triangles in them.
Other examples of themes are:
· Fences
· Bright Colors
· Time
· Cliche
· Unfinished
· Repeating Patterns
· Desperation
· Bliss
Make sure your theme is simple otherwise you'll be more pre-occupied with getting a shot in line with your theme than the image itself.
Another option for a theme when on vacation is to choose a selection of themes that captures the essence of the destination. Every area has themes relating to its landscapes, climate, cities, culture etc. Do some research by looking at local postcards or talking to taxi drivers to get an idea of the good picture taking locations.
12. Look For Light
Different lighting can change the mood and feel of a shot, or be the difference between a mediocre and stunning shot. The light from the setting sun can produce wonderful lighting for a subject, as does sunlight through leaves. Maybe you see a shaft of light between two large objects such as buildings that can be a perfect backdrop for your subject.
Other options for different light sources at night include :
· Neon lights make great night time subjects. You can silhouette your subjects in front of them, or use them as a subject themselves.
· Use a long exposure on a tripod to capture streaks of car lights on a road or highway, or other moving lights like on a ferry.
13. Use Red Eye Reduction Flash
Most newer cameras have two flash modes. Standard and Red Eye Reduction. The Red Eye Reduction flash causes the camera to flash multiple times before taking the shot to get the subject's eyes used to the bright light. Use this whenever taking photographs of people looking directly at the camera in low light.
Many people don't realize they needed to use the red-eye flash until after they look at their photos after the event. So remember to use red eye reduction whenever taking photos in the following situations :
· People looking directly at the camera
· Low Light
· Using your flash.
It is also possible to remove Red Eye with software programs if you don't have this feature on your camera. There are a few free programs available to do this on the
Internet.
Such as Picasa (http://picasa.google.com). This is a free image manipulation program from Google that does a great job of removing red eye.
14. Don't Rely On Flash
In previous tips, we've discussed using your flash. There are occasions, however, where using a flash ruins the mood of the event you are photographing.
Why? A flash tends to create harsh subjects and will ruin any natural mood. So, rather than using the flash whenever your camera tells you to, use available light whenever possible. In a dark situation, it's often better to open the shutter for longer to let in more light, or turn on existing lights to illuminate the room than to use theflash.
In daytime and when your subject is inside and near a window, have them face the light and position the camera between the window and your subject. This will allow the sunlight to light your image fully.
15. Use Different Lenses and Filters
There are a wide variety of lenses and filters available to increase the range of options you have for shooting a photograph. Note that not all digital cameras come with the ability to attach different lenses and filters. Check the manual for your camera.
Some lens types include :
· Wide Angle
· Telephoto
· Fish Eye
Using a Wide Angle lens is good for shooting a indoor room, or shooting a mountain vista. A TelePhoto lens can be useful when you need a close up. TelePhoto lenses are basically a better optical zoom.
Filters include :
· Polarizing
· Soft Focus
· Cooling/Warming
· Graduated
A polarizing filter can be the most useful filter to own. A Polarizing filter can deepen the color and contrast in the sky, eliminate glare from water or reflective surfaces, or cut through fog like haze. Soft Focus filters generate more diffused looks for romantic, moody, atmospheric, foggy or glowing effects in your shots.
Cooling filters add more blue to an image giving a psychological effect of calming or serenity in the final image. Warming filters cut out excess blue in an overcast sky to add more reddish tones to the image and make your photos look less harsh.
Finally, graduated lenses help for scenes that have a huge difference in light level - e.g. late in the day when the sky is still bright, but the foreground is in shadow.
16. Use Predefined Modes
Many people don't know that most cameras now come with selected modes for taking shots. E.g. Landscape, Cloudy Day, Full Sun, Indoors, Night.
Changing the mode of your camera to match your situation can result in better shots, as the camera has a better chance of selecting the shutter speed, flash and other exposure choices for a perfect picture.
Camera makers put a lot of thought into the settings for each of the different modes and tailor the settings to what will work well with their camera. So don't be afraid to use the predefined scene modes of your camera.
17. Don't add frills
Some manufactures give you a feature that can imprint the current date and time onto your image. Or they offer to imprint other stats like the current exposure settings, or shot number.
Turn these off!
You don't want anything to distract you or your viewer from the subject of your photo. Modern digital cameras record the time and date the shot was taken anyway in a separate part of the image file anyway, and most digital printing places will stamp the back of the image with the time and date the shot was taken so you can always see it.
18. Use the LCD Monitor to preview
The LCD monitor will show you what your final image will look like. It won't be as large in size as your final image, but you will get enough of a feel for the image to know how your shot will turn out.
If your camera can show you a half second freeze of your shot just after you have taken it, turn this feature on. The half second will give you enough time to see if the image was well framed, and have the correct exposure or if you need to take another one.
However the LCD uses a lot of battery.
19. Look for Reflections
Water is a fantastic element to include in your photos, as the reflections it generates can make your image stand out.
Keep a look out for water around your environment when you shoot. Reflections from lights, or splashes of color can really help with the ambience of an image.
Rainy days are particularly good as puddles abound!
Extra Secret: Photographing just the reflection and leaving the subject out is a great way to produce abstract images.
20. Shooting Vacations
Here are some tips for helping with your vacation shots:
Take plenty of memory!
Make sure you have extra memory cards, have another storage facility like a Laptop or media storage unit.
Get close
Don't stand too far from your subject - instead get nice and close so you can see their face. Either a three-quarter shot, or profile generally works well.
Candid counts
Images with people are usually more interesting when the subject is caught in a candid moment. When setting up for a posed shot, try to include something interesting to liven up the shot.
Make your trip a story. Create a visual diary by photographing landmarks along your journey such as signposts and street scenes. You can also capture the mood of the day - If you feel bright and happy, shoot some scenes which will capture that feeling.
If you're moved by what you see, ensure your shots convey that feeling.
Take shots at meals
This is the time when family is gathered around. Take advantage of it by taking an image or two of your relatives around the dinner table. Ensure you use a the red eye reduction mode of your flash and activate the self timer if you also wish to be in the shot.
Include the mundane
Most vacation photographers just photograph landmarks and scenery. Make your vacation shots more interesting by including the mundane - washing the dishes, taking off in the car, setting up camp, waiting for an airplane etc.
21. Clean your Camera
If your images always turn out all blurry, it may mean your lens needs a clean. Most high end cameras come with threads to which you can attach a Skylight (or UV) filter. This helps to protect the lens from not only dirt, but scratches. Cheaper cameras don't have threads so remember to cover the lens when not in use and try not to touch it.
Don't clean the lens too often - depending on how often you use your camera, every few weeks or few months is fine. To clean your lens, pick up a lens cleaning kit from your local photo store. Use the lens brush and air blower to remove any loose clinging particles. Place a drop of lens cleaning fluid onto some lens tissue (or a cloth) and wipe the lens clean with a circular motion. Use the blower to dry the lens, or let it dry naturally. Don't use any abrasive solution (such as soap) or wipe too hard on the lens as you can wipe away the special coatings.
Watch out you don't create a 'worn spot' by cleaning your lens the same way each time. Alternate the circular motion with up and down or sideways movements sometimes.
Ensure you protect the other parts of your camera as well. Particularly the Memory Card slot and Battery contacts. If you find they have any corrosion, you can remove it easily with a pencil eraser. Make sure you remove the excess eraser that can get left in the compartment with an air blower. Never ever insert anything into the memory card slot that isn't meant to be there, as you could break the small pins. To keep clean, it's best to leave a memory card in the slot, or at least keep the cover closed.
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