Photography 101: 5 Tips To Get You Started

While you can’t of course learn everything in one article about photography, this article provides 5 tips on the basics. Whether you have a point-and-shoot camera and rely on preset modes or you are now the proud, albeit confused, owner of a professional SLR camera, there are certain basics that once understood will send you on your way towards taking extraordinary pictures. Here are five important and easy to use tips that you can put to use right away.

1) Resolve to Have Enough Resolution

Yes, a low resolution setting saves space on your memory card, but it doesn’t make for suitable prints. You can easily resize and make a picture smaller in free programs like Picasa (“resize” is hidden under “export”) but making an image larger rarely looks good. When you enlarge the picture, the pixels that make up the image are spread thinner.

If you plan to print your pictures, choose medium or high resolution. Depending upon your camera, 3 megapixels should give you a high quality 4×6 image and possibly even a nice 8×10 image. For superb 11x14s, go for 6 megapixels.

2) Let There be Light (but Make it the Right Kind)

Natural lighting is almost always best so don’t worry if you don’t have a flash or any fancy equipment. If your only flash is built-in, that’s even more reason why you should use natural light. Built-in flashes can make subjects look flat. That is why professional photographers use an external flash and bounce light off photo umbrellas. There are inexpensive tricks you can do like wearing a white shirt or taping foil to the camera to bounce the light off the ceiling, but if you want an easy way to get professional quality photos without extra equipment it’s best to go outdoors.

When shooting outdoors, consider the position of the sun. The lower the sun in the sky the better, except for sunrise and dawn. You should also try to avoid noon as this time brings the harshest shadows. Unless the sky is part of your photograph, bright overcast days produce the best light.

3) Compose a Perfect Picture

Getting a fast snapshot of something without any thought mostly depends upon luck. But by learning how to compose a picture first, you have more creative control and you will end up with more photographs suitable for framing. The photos you take will look more like what you pictured when you clicked the shutter release.

There’s enough to the Photography 101 subject of composition to fill several articles, but for starters, here’s the number one rule. Fill the frame. First, decide on what is the most important subject in your photo and then move close enough (or zoom-optical zoom is best) to fill the viewfinder with the subject. For example, if the subject is your grandmother watering her petunias then that’s the subject not her entire yard. Many make the mistake of losing their subjects in the landscape.

4) Steady Now

It doesn’t take much camera movement to create a blur, in fact most times, you’ll never even notice the movement until you see the blurry picture. For sharp photographs, keep your elbows down, feet apart and hold the camera steady while pressing (not punching) the shutter release. Continue holding still until the camera’s light has indicated it is done taking the photo. When you are taking a picture that requires a slower than usual shutter speed – fireworks for example – support the camera with a tripod. You can also use other items as props to set your camera on as long as you have a remote shutter release. A good rule of thumb: use a camera support for shutter speeds slower than 1/60.

5) Share Your Creations

If your pictures are digital, use a photo editor to resize the copies of your photos (save originals first) down to the appropriate size for your website, email or picture frame. Use photo-printing paper that is compatible with your printer model. If you’re using a film camera but want photos for email or a website, use a quality scanner or when dropping off film to be developed, request a CD. 

Save your best photos for displaying in a well made wooden picture frame. A photograph framed in a classic silver picture frame also makes a very welcome gift, especially when the subject is a portrait. Remember a portrait can be of a single person, family, multiple friends or a beloved pet…the list is endless, and again, these make lovely gifts, especially when framed nicely.

By using these five basic tips you’ll help expand your photography knowledge so you can start taking even better and more professional looking pictures.