Top 10 Photography Tips (Helping You Take Amazing Pictures Today!)
Here are my top 10 Photography Tips and Techniques to help you take great photos. Knowing how to take better photos will certainly help you capture the travel memories you want. These helpful photography tips for beginners can lead you to immediately start taking the kind of photos you want to see.
These few photography tips and tricks for beginners can to be sure, quickly help take your photos to the next level. These tips for both inside and outside the camera make taking great photographs easy…
Let’s Dive Straight In!
- Composition – Learn the rules of composition, then break them.
- Shutter Speed – Slow Shutter Speed Tips and how to avoid Camera Shake.
- Use a Polarising Filter – Take away reflections and boost colours.
- Fooling your camera’s internal light meter is easy! – Bracket your shots.
- Light changes dramatically with the time of day! Know what’s best for your shot.
- Know Your Camera – Know where all the buttons are for when the perfect shot comes.
- The Depth of Field – What’s in focus in your picture and what’s not.
- Backup and Memory Cards – and spread your trip out over them.
- Plan your Photographs – Spend time on Google street view getting to know the area.
- Take your time – For less time editing – Walk around the subject and try from different angles.
Generally speaking, all that is needed to take beautiful photos is a bit of knowledge about photography techniques and practice. Using these bullet points above and with attention to the detailed explanations below and in the links will help you achieve your photographic desires!
Look for the unusual! Reflections can show things in a different way.
Top 10 Photography Tips – Explained
1. Composition
Pathways lead into a photo
Certainly, there are rules for composition. In brief, the composition is where things go in a photo. The most widely known rule, of course, is the rule of thirds. Most cameras and not to mention phones have a grid in the viewfinder/screen. Click for more details on Composition, including the rule of thirds, as well as several other composition techniques like using pathways. Learn the photographic technique of composition, then you can break it!
2. Shutter Speed
Firstly, choose the right shutter speed for the results you want. A fast shutter speed can freeze the details in an action shot. Whereas slow shutter speeds can give a sense of movement to a picture. For examples of both techniques, click for further comprehensive information about Shutter Speed and how to master it!
Choosing a too slow shutter speed without support for the camera can cause the camera to shake resulting in a blurred image.
A reasonable rule of thumb, depending on camera and lens type is 1/60th of a second or above to avoid camera shake.
Using the right shutter speed for the length of the lens, your lighting conditions and the type of picture you are trying to achieve is certainly crucial.
Photography Techniques – As can be seen from the above picture, the correct shutter speed can freeze the action.
3. Use a Polarising Filter
Marques de Riscal Bodega
Polarising filters do a couple of things. If you only have one filter, then this should be it. Firstly, they make the colours richer. Secondly, they reduce reflections. They also reduce the amount of light getting into the lens. Learning how to use your polarising filter to give your photos extra punch and reduce editing is worth it in the long run. More about Using a Polarising Filter
4. Correct Exposure
A point often overlooked by photography beginners is that fooling your camera’s internal light meter is easy! Snow, sand and water owing to all reflecting too much light into the camera can cause under or overexposure.
But here is the solution;
Bracket your shots.
In other words, this means taking a photo on each side of the recommended settings. These days with digital cameras it is fairly easy to see how your shots come out immediately. look at the back of the camera and adjust the settings accordingly. Which settings? In this case, read more about the digital photography techniques of Exposure here.
Beach scenes can certainly fool the cameras light meter, know the photography techniques to deal with it
5. Time of day
Generally speaking, the light changes quickly and dramatically with the time of day. Blue light in the morning, harsh light, with little shadow in the middle of the day and by the same token, golden light in the afternoon for example.
Give your pictures different feelings and, of course, mood depending on the colour of the light. For this reason, try taking the same subject at different times of the day. Get to know more about light and colour temperatures at Light and Time of Day
Light colour change throughout the day
6. Know Your Camera
This Photography technique sounds obvious but knowing where all the buttons are so you are ready when the perfect shot comes. From aperture priority mode, sports mode to full on manual. Each undoubtedly has its place in getting the best shot in any situation. As can be seen above, know your camera so you are ready to press the shutter at the crucial moment!
The answer?
That’s right, know your camera! Read the manual and practice what it says. The more time you spend looking down, fiddling with the camera means you may miss the perfect shot not to mention not enjoying your travels. More about knowing the best modes on your camera for any given situation can be found at Know your Camera
7. Know how depth of field works
Small DOF and easy photographic technique to master with a little practice
Depth of Field, or, what’s in focus in your picture and what’s not. For example, add more depth of field to your photo to get the whole picture in pin sharp focus or use less depth of field to isolate details or tantalise the viewer by throwing the background out of focus. Some DSLR’s come with a live view feature on the rear screen, some don’t. For a detailed explanation on this photography tip, click on Depth of Field
8. Backup
Firstly, change memory cards every couple of years, they do have a finite life. To demonstrate, this happened to my father. I took him to Zagreb for his birthday and we spent the weekend taking photos of the local sights. Finding the memory card in his camera had corrupted on getting home then really was a blow.
Backup and Memory Cards – Backup your memory cards and also spread your trip out over them. Click for more options on Back up your Photos and keeping your photos safe.
Top 10 photography tips and techniques – Back up! Don’t risk losing your photos
9. Plan
Plan your Photographs. Firstly, Trover is a good app for your phone that can show you other pictures people have taken in the area you are going. Before you get where you’re going, be sure to spend time on Google Maps street view getting to know the area. That is to say look for things like sun position and viewpoints! Know when the best time is to take your photo. For more on Planning your Photos
Reflections make great subjects for photos – Top 10 photography tips
10. Take your time
The first thing to remember is to take your time. Indeed, this photography technique is often forgotten by many people. Firstly, time is your friend. you arrived in plenty of time to take the shot, you knew when the best time to get your shot was because you planned your photo like above!
Walk around the subject, also try from different angles, even the unusual ones! Even time of day certainly makes a difference to the mood and feel of your shot.
After obtaining the perfect shot, on the whole, you will have less to do with editing software. Editing software can make a great photo even more amazing but can rarely make a bad shot outstanding. For more about getting the best shot you can and equally, editing see Photo Editing.
Top 10 Photography Tips – Conclusions
My top 10 photography tips and photographic techniques will have you well on the way to taking better photos on your travels. As an illustration about number 6, I should follow my own advice. When I was looking down at my new camera one time trying to work out the settings a Red Kite, a bird of prey, sailed over me only 20ft above me! To clarify, had I taken my own advice, I would have been ready to get that perfect shot!
Below is a selection of the actual gear I use. For the full list of equipment I use to take all these photos check out My Travel Camera Bag
For all my tips and tricks see my Photography Tutorials page.
To see all my gear, check out What’s In My Camera Bag.
Below is a list of my most popular tutorials on photography.
They form the Basis of My Top 10 photography Tips
Click here for my Photography page with all the links on.
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