6 Tips for Better Photos

Nearly four years ago, I wrote an article for SRC about taking better pictures.  Four years has changed a lot of things - digital cameras have gotten so much better - but the essential ideas remain constant.  So here’s my old article - updated for the digital age.

As scrapbookers, we all have a keen interest in photography, and digital photography has taken that interest to higher levels than ever before.  When we happen to capture a great moment beautifully, we’re ecstatic.  Wouldn’t you like to produce those images more often?  You can.  You just have to practice and experiment with the following tips.

Take more pictures ~

Good photographers are good for a reason.  They shoot hundreds, sometimes thousands, of frames to find one perfect shot.  I’m not suggesting you start shooting like the crazed paparazzi, but once in a while, shoot a hundred frames of one subject.  I don’t mean one event - it’s too easy to blast through a hundred (or more) images at your child’s birthday celebration.  I mean one subject - your child, your pet, your significant other… yourself.  Set your camera on ‘continuous’ and shoot away.  When you review your pictures after upload, you’ll be surprised at the images, and pleased with yourself.

Use simple backgrounds ~

When shooting people outdoors, we tend to overlook the telephone pole growing out of Aunt Edna’s head and the tree branches sprouting from Uncle Charlie’s ears but as soon as we review our images, it’s the first thing our eyes drift to.  Indoors, we ignore the familiar and forget that it will all end up in our photos.  Simple backgrounds highlight our subjects by not distracting our attention.  When looking through your viewfinder, take special care to note what’s behind and around your subject. If it’s distracting (and you’re not at the Grand Canyon or some other national treasure), consider rigging a sheet or blanket as a backdrop. 

If your camera allows you to adjust depth of field, you can also minimize background noise by setting the aperture to a lower number, thus blurring elements not on the same visual plane as your main subject.

Learn the “Rule of Thirds” ~

The rule of thirds is a design tool for composition. Essentially, the eye is most pleased by images that follow this rule.  Divide your view through the lens into thirds, both horizontally and vertically and align your main subject with one of the resulting intersections.   Notice that the focus is directly over the intersection in the upper right of the photo.

If you’re using an auto-focus camera, you may need to lock the focus, since they typically focus on the object in the center of the viewfinder. Check your owner’s manual for instructions.

Change your perspective ~

The next time you pick up the camera to capture a cute toddler moment, think about your position.  What will the image show?  The top of your child’s head? Get down to his or her level, going so far as to set the camera directly on the floor for the “worm’s-eye” view.  Maybe you want to show the model railroad your husband has spent months building with your son - climb a ladder and take a picture of them in the middle of it.  Landscapes and architecture take on new meaning from context when you change your shooting location, too.  For example, the photo on the left is just another castle on any day of the year without the fallen leaves in the foreground.  If every picture is on your own eye level, you’ll miss some amazing images.

Turn off your flash indoors ~

If you haven’t heard this tip before, you’re probably wondering why your camera even has a flash if it’s best to turn it off, right?  It’s there so you can take photos in even the worst lighting situations.  Because, sometimes, even a poor photo is better than no photo and because sometimes the flash will help you capture something that would otherwise be lost forever.  But, for this lesson, turn off your flash.  People and animals look better in soft, natural light.  Think about what candlelight does for your face and you begin to get the idea.  When you’re taking pictures of people or pets, it’s good to work near a natural, semi-bright, indirect light source like a window - preferably one that does not receive direct sunlight, like a window beneath a patio cover or awning.  Position your subject so that one half of their face is illuminated and the other is slightly shadowed - we’re going for enlightenment, not macabre.  Snap away.  In the end you’ll have luminous pictures that capture all the details of your subject in ways you never imagined.  You might even find you’ve captured their personality or soul.

Use your camera’s flash outdoors ~

I know.  I know, I know, I know.  You just read about not using flash when taking pictures.  It overexposes, it creates harsh shadows, bla, bla, bla.  Haven’t you heard there’s an exception to every rule?  Here’s the exception. After taking pictures at your child’s soccer game one sunny afternoon, did you notice the deep shadows around the nose and eyes?  Bright sunlight does that.  It causes harsh and unattractive shadows that overemphasize features.  The fix is to use your flash.  With an automatic camera, it’s the flash mode that shows a silhouette with a star shape behind the shoulder.  In this mode, your camera will produce a fill flash that softens those shadows and brings out the details that you really want.  

The bottom line is, you have to experiment.  The more pictures you take, the better you’ll be.  And when you love your subject, don’t you want the world to see what you see?  It’s time to capture what you see - not what the camera happened to pick up.

Filed under How To |