Photographer Tutorials

5 Steps to Better Pictures

Follow these simple steps and you can dramatically improve your pictures.

1.     Choosing What to Shoot

                The first step to improving your pictures is to think before you click. Think about the background. Think about the light and shadows. Think about the camera settings including whether to use flash (and how to avoid using flash). Looking through the viewfinder instead of at the LCD will help you see what will actually be in the photo.

2.     Get In There, Get Down There, Get Out There

                Movement is the best thing to do when you want to make your pictures better. When taking pictures of people it is important to move closer to them unless you are choosing to include lots of background. With child you should come down to their level, which often means kneeling or laying on the ground.

For nature and landscape photos, get out of the car and walk around for 2-3 minutes, unless its dangerous.

3.     To Center or Not to Center

Center a person in the frame is a good idea. But choosing to move them to the side might be even better. Generally people look better if they are looking into the middle of the picture, not looking out of it.

The rule of thirds is that interesting things should happen at the intersections if these lines.

If the horizon is in your photo then try and make if either at 1/3 the height or at 2/3 the height of the photo.

4.     Get More Light!

Taking good pictures indoors can be very hard. Light is like the cameras paint. It needs good light to make a good picture. Moving near a window can greatly increase a picture’s quality. Setting up some white sheets to reflect the window light can help even more. Using a tripod can also help to steady your pictures. (Tripods can be replaced with cars, desks fence rails, anything stable enough to hold the camera steady).

5.     Take More Pictures

Many stock photographer take up to 100 images per shoor, knowing that they are only going to submit 10-15 to agencies. Taking more is seldom a bad idea (especially with a digital camera).