One of my long-term hobbies has been photography. I have discovered that there are some tips and tricks that can make a very big difference in the quality of a photograph. The most important one – take pictures as often as you can, because the more you’ll practice, the better you’ll be!
1. Don’t only focus on things that are beautiful
Often we tend to take pictures of sunsets, flowers, beautiful sceneries. That’s perfectly ok and you should keep doing that. However, if you want to be more original and learn, try taking photos of things that you generally don’t consider beautiful. It can be a construction site, a fence, an old building, an object along your usual way to school that you find ugly. Try to look at that particular thing from a different angle and you might notice a perfect frame! This is a great way to “train” your eye on seeing the world through a camera – everything around you seems much more beautiful.
2. Rule of thirds
Don’t put your subject in the center of the frame. That kind of composition won’t make your picture compelling. Instead, use the rule of thirds. Cut your frame into three parts horizontally and vertically. Where the lines cross are the places where you should put your subject for a photograph that will make people’s eyes stick to it.
3. Think about diagonals and edges of the frame
Your photos will look more professional and cleaner if you’ll pay attention to where the diagonals go and what’s happening in the edges of your frame. If there’s a line in the frame, try to capture it so that it matches the diagonal of the frame of the camera.
4. Pay attention to shadow and embrace it
My favorite thing in photography is the shadow. It can create interesting geometrical shapes and patterns. In addition, you don’t even need to find a beautiful object or scenery (going back to tip no. 1), because you can get amazing shadows from the most mundane things.
5. Try taking photos before sunset or right after sunrise
The light comes straight from above you if you’re taking pictures in the middle of the day. In addition, it’s very bright so you’ll be getting strong shadows and your pictures are very likely to be overexposed. If you want a softer light, try getting up very early in the morning or going out an hour before sunset. Definitely, do so if you’re taking portraits – this golden light will help you capture people beautifully.
6. Pay attention to the histogram and exposure
It is also important to learn some technicalities about your camera to know how they can help you in the process. Start looking at the histogram when taking pictures to make sure they aren’t overexposed. If a spot on the picture is overexposed, the information is lost and you can’t do anything to save it in post-processing. Try to alter how much light enters your camera by adjusting shutter speed and aperture.
7. Shoot in RAW and edit pictures afterward
A good practice is taking pictures in RAW instead of JPEG because the latter is already a compressed file, where the colors are auto-adjusted. If you shoot in RAW, you can alter the photo in post-processing on software like Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom and reach the result you want.
8. Take your time
If you’re interested in improving your photography skills, I encourage you to take your time. Take your camera and go outside for three hours – wander around the city, pay attention to your surroundings, and you will notice things to photograph. The more you’ll do this, and reflect on your photos, the more you’ll learn and become better at photography.
I assure you that if you follow at least one or two of these tips, your photos will look amazing! Happy shooting!