In this article, I will share some of my basic tips for great photography.
Know your camera
One of the most important tips for a great photo is to understand how to use your camera. Luckily, you do not need to have a highly expensive digital camera nowadays. Equally beautiful photos can be taken with smartphones.
Similar to digital cameras, there are various options on your phone camera. I recommend you check all the features offered and if you aren’t sure how to manage it by yourself, you can always take advantage of the endless online tutorials.
Use a tripod
Avoiding camera shake is another basic tip for photography. It is important to know how to hold the digital camera or mobile phone firmly. With each nudge or movement, you increase the possibility that the image will not come out clear. Additionally, you should hold the phone or camera at a balanced angle.
If you want to be completely sure that your photo will not come out blurry, I recommend using a tripod. It will hold the camera firmly and the image will come out sharp. Take advantage of a tripod especially if you want to take photos of moving objects.
Lighting is important
The third basic photography tip: lighting. This is the reason most photographers take pictures in daylight because when it’s sunny, the pictures come out the most beautiful.
However, the light must be well adjusted even if you are shooting indoors. If the light in the room (or even outside) is not enough, I would recommend using the flash. In certain situations, for example, if you want to take portrait photos, use an additional flash that is attached to your digital camera. Just be sure the flash does not make your photo too bright resulting in a large exposure level.
Check the background first
The fourth basic photography tip is paying attention to the background. Always make sure that what you are capturing has a good background. If the focus is on a certain subject, keep in mind all the details behind that subject.
If you are photographing buildings, try to capture an identical scene on both sides. Also, be careful of the negative space, which is any space outside of your subject. If necessary, you can crop the photos to get rid of any negative space. In order not to lose the image quality, I recommend shooting in RAW format on your digital camera.
Learn the tools of your camera
If you have a digital camera, I recommend you learn the basics about aperture, ISO and shutter speed.
In order to get a photograph that has a blurred background, such as portrait photography, always use a large aperture, like f/4. With a large aperture, you will get a shallow depth effect because the focus is on a single object and everything around it is blurred. If you want to maintain the effect of depth of field photography without a blurred background, use a small aperture like f/16.
If you want to take a clear shot of something that is moving fast, you need to focus on your shutter speed and adjust it to 1/1000 of a second. Lower shutter speed, such as 1/400, is good for an object that is not moving.
The ISO is very important because it allows you to adjust the light of the photography. If you want to create normal light in a photo, use lower ISO numbers such as 200, 400 or 800. In order to take a photo in very low light levels, use higher ISO numbers such as 3200 or 4600.
Learn editing software
If you want to enhance your photos even more, I suggest learning to use some editing software such as Adobe Lightroom or Adobe Photoshop. With these programs, you can adjust a multitude of things and perfect your photography.
Some of the features include cropping, rotating and balanced auto. You can even add filters to the photos, delete things from the photo using the healing brush tool and so many more corrections. Some of the most important corrections that can be made include adjusting the clarity, the exposure of the light, the level of graininess, contrast, highlights, shadows, the temperature or saturation and vibrancy of the photo.
Take photography classes or teach yourself online
If you are intrigued now and want to learn more about photography, I suggest you consider taking some photography classes, possibly at NCC. You can also learn a lot online simply by reading about photographers’ experiences or watching tutorials.
All photos taken by Marija Hristovska.
