By taking up a hobby like photography, you can rid yourself of stress. Whether you just enjoy looking at pictures or have fun taking them yourself, a good photo is a way to preserve your memories and special moments. A picture is, after all, worth about a thousand words.
Get close to your subject for a better shot. Getting close allows you to avoid distracting backgrounds, and nicely frame your subject. It also highlights your subject’s facial expressions, which are important to a great portrait. Tiny details can be missed if the subject is far away.
Take your pictures quickly. The longer it takes to shoot the picture, the greater the chance of something going amiss. Your subject could move, go away or something else such as lighting can affect the shot you wanted to take. The faster your camera is ready to take pictures, the better.
Keep your camera settings simple. Master one control at a time, such as the shutter speed or the aperture, before taking on the next. This method will let you focus on taking the picture rather than wasting time messing with your camera, which will cause your subject to leave.
Shutter Speeds
Contrary to popular belief, gorgeous, sunny days are a photographer’s worst nightmare. You can’t take proper photographs if you or your subject is standing directly in the sun’s path. One or both of you will be uncomfortable, and the sun’s glare can make your subject difficult to see in the finished photograph. Direct sunlight creates awkward shadowing, as well as annoying glares. If you face your subjects into direct sunlight, they will squint and take unattractive pictures. If you’re going to be taking photographs outside, try to take them early in the morning or late in the evening.
Try using different shutter speeds and remember what works for a specific situation. You can capture both a fleeting image or a long time-lapse photograph. Lighting quick shutter speeds are great for sports shots with lots of action, while slow shutter speeds are nice for landscapes without a lot of movement.
While the background is important, what the viewer is going to notice first is the foreground of the landscape. Be sure your foreground is well composed so that your picture will be strikingly framed and create a great illusion of depth.
Don’t take pictures that feature a gray, overcast sky if you can help it. A gray sky is going to make your pictures look washed-out. For a photo that will include a large section of overcast sky, black-and-white may be a better choice. A bright, blue sky can create a lovely backdrop as long as you are careful not to overexpose the shot.
Try pre-focusing your camera and then moving so that your subject is not right in the middle of the lens. Centering a subject is extremely common, especially among amateurs, and tends to make for a very uninteresting photograph. Off-centering your shots in a variety of ways will make your shots more thought-provoking.
As you advance in your photography skills and find that it is becoming a serious endeavor for you, you will probably want to invest in a dSLR camera. These are digital single lens reflex type cameras. They are renowned for their ability to view the subject at the same time you snap the shot. Those equipped with a full frame will inevitably provide a more comprehensive image and finer details.
Figure out the best blend of aperture, ISO and shutter speed. Together, these features interact to determine the photograph’s exposure levels. Avoid overexposed pictures or underexposed ones unless you are looking for a particular atmosphere. Try different things and find out which combination of these three features works best for you.
Although not everyone is gifted when it comes to taking pictures, all people have the ability to appreciate them. When you take photos, you can capture moments that people may not have had a chance to see otherwise. Photography is a hobby that is vastly fulfilling. Taking photos is also a good way to de-stress and forget about the troubles of the day.
There’s no hidden skill required to become a great photographer. Experience and persistence are both necessary. It is not necessary to get all your pictures developed, or even keep them, which is especially true and convenient of digital cameras. You will get better and better as time goes on, taking shots of everything and judging them later on to evaluate how you might have gotten a better photo.