Top 10 Tips and Tricks in Photography

If you’re trying out your new SLR camera and can’t seem to get good shots, don’t worry, even the most experienced photographers have their bad shots once in a while. All it takes is taking in some tips and tricks along with you and learning it by heart. It may not be the full photography do’s and don’ts, but with constant practice here and there, you’ll eventually be experienced enough to know what those are overtime.

#1 Keep an Eye on the Light

Besides your subject, the light is one of the most important factors to consider in taking shots. It’s actually what photography is all about in terms of your image quality. . It affects the appearance of everything on sight. It would also be the deciding factor in which you’ll need to use a flash or not. Other than using your flash, it would also affect your aperture, shutter speed, or ISO adjustments to get a good shot of your subject.

• Low Light

When shooting in low-light, this’ll mean you may have to use your flash or adjust your settings. When your subject is somewhat decently illuminated in a way that you can still see a clear view of the subject, you can adjust your ISO higher, your Aperture lower, and your shutter speed lower. If not, then you’d probably have no other choice than to use your flash. Just make sure you know your flash’s distance as it can only reach a certain distance. Don’t be afraid experimenting on your own, you never know, you might get the shot you’ve been looking for by simply adjusting a few of the settings on your SLR camera.

• Bright Light

When shooting in a bright lighted area, the direction of the light is what you’ll be using to take those good shots. Even with a good light along with you, you might still get a shadowy image if you’re not using it to your advantage. When trying to shoot against the light, meaning you’re shooting right in front of where the light is coming from, chances are you’ll get shadows instead of the full front of your subject. You will then have to place your subject/s on a different angle or if not, you can always use your flash.

 #2 Keep an Eye on the Background

Keeping it simple usually is a good way to go when shooting with an SLR camera. Look for a background that doesn’t have anything that’s too distracting like garbage cans, balloons, or anything that might get an attention. As much as possible, look for a plain background, this way you’ll have your viewers drawn to your supposed subject.

#3 Adjusting your ISO

ISO is sometimes overlooked in some situations with most beginners in photography, and believe it or not, even with experienced photographers. To put simply what an ISO is, it’s the one that determines your camera’s sensitivity to light and also the one that makes your shot fine or grainy. Depending on the situation, let’s take a low-lighted area for example, buffing your ISO up a higher number will make your camera more sensitive to light and avoid unwanted blurs. Although, your captured image may have grainy effect, but looking on the bright side, you still managed to get a decent shot on a dark area rather than having nothing. On bright areas on the other hand, you can adjust your ISO to a lower number to give your shot a more fine result.

#4 Using the Rule of Thirds

A rule of thirds is one good way to shoot landscapes or simply a wide area that has too many interesting subjects that you would want to show. Imagine your screen divided into a tic-tac-toe board, you now can use the intersecting point of those lines to place your subject/s instead of your normal center-point shooting. This way, you’ll be covering many subjects in your shoot and will make your shoot a bit more interesting.

#5 Using Different Modes in Shooting

Now using manual on your SLR is all well and good to familiarize yourself with the settings you might need to adjust, but using other modes is not that bad either especially when you only have a brief time to capture a moment. Also, taking into consideration that you’re still getting the hang of your Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO, some of the common modes on your SLR camera is still a good way to shoot.

• Auto-Mode

The most undermined mode for SLR users, simply because of fear of not knowing how to use their SLR properly, is actually one of the best modes to start off as a beginner and in some situations. Going auto-mode is not that bad as people may perceive it so, it simply means adjusting your aperture, shutter speed and ISO automatically when you don’t have time to do it yourself. Even more so, it could be better than your own setting adjustments when you’ve just started manipulating your own settings.

• Manual-Mode

When you’re familiar with your aperture, shutter speed and ISO, it usually is recommended to use manual shooting to get the best of your image. It may seem to be difficult at first, but with a little bit of practice, you will eventually learn the settings you need to adjust in an instant overtime. The best thing about DSLR shooting is you can do multiple shots and not care about the max capacity of your memory card, simply because you can just delete unwanted images or use another memory card.

#6 Avoiding Camera Shake

Camera shake can sometimes be unavoidable in some situations especially when standing or squatting while shooting. If you can afford a tri-pod, it would be the best thing to use to avoid shaky hands that could blur out moving subjects. If you somehow can’t use a tri-pod, you can compromise by using any available means to your advantage like resting your elbows on an immovable solid object or using a solid wall. You can also use your knees for your elbows to rest on when shooting from a low angle.

#7 Experimenting With Your Shutter Speed

As you already probably know, shutter speed comes in fraction of a second and seconds in measurement. While normally, we use high shutter speed when capturing moving subjects to get a sharp image, lowering it will provide a totally different result. Lowering your shutter speed to seconds basically means capturing all that happened in that instance. On some occasions, it will give you unwanted blurs, but for some, it will give you an image that shows trails of the subject in a blurry motion in a good way. When experimenting on shutter speed, it is best that you use tri-pod for the image to be not blurry-bad, but instead be blurry-good.

#8 Directing Photography

Taking control of your photo-shoots is one of the best ways to capture good images. Don’t be afraid to direct a little, position your subjects in a way that you’ll get good lighting or whatever you might need to get a hold of that perfect shot. You should take charge and not be a passive photographer. Also, always consider the situation you are in when trying to direct your subjects.

#9 Taking Multiple Shots

Taking multiple shots won’t cost you anything, and so you should take advantage of it. The good thing about taking multiple shots is having multiple images where you can just pick the good one later on. Normally, capturing subjects that are moving will produce a blurry effect especially when not using a tripod, but taking multiple shots might get a good one where no unwanted blur is present.

#10 Changing your Perspective

Now that you know how to use your camera’s settings and have an idea about taking advantage of your surroundings, it is now time to change your perspective in a way that you’ll get a more interesting and unreal shots. Try getting down on the ground, try taking shots from above, on the side, or even behind your subject/s. It will probably be at an awkward position, but it also might have a good effect on your shot.

Points to Ponder

When trying out photography, be creative and try not to limit yourself by taking mundane shots. You might surprise yourself and capture a unique and interesting image of something or someone. Also, try to have fun in taking shots and looking for the best moments to capture. You probably already know of this, but photography is usually perceived as simply having a good camera with you, which is wrong. You hold the camera and it’s you who will be the one looking for those good shots. At first, you will normally take some bad shots, but take it as an experience. Don’t be easily discouraged with what you captured, do some adjustments and try again. Do so until you get the right adjustment and in the near future, you’ll easily find your way to the right settings.

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