Beginner Pointers on Photography

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How to Teach Yourself Photography To teach yourself photography you need to plan a learning process

where you go from the basics to more advanced photo techniques.

You should start with camera mechanics and photo composition

basics and then move on to more advanced things like creative

exposure or conceptual photography.

The Basics

The first step for anybody that learned photography was learning the

basics. For photography, this basically deals with two areas:

1. Learning basic visual composition

2. Learning how to use all the settings on most SLR cameras

The first step of learning visual composition techniques is not difficult

but does take time. These techniques include things such as the rule

of thirds, leading lines, simplicity, etc. They are simple tips for

improving the way you take a photo.

Most people new to photography just see an interesting scene and

take the shot. They don’t take the time to carefully look at what image

is in the viewfinder of the camera. By taking more time and carefully

arranging the scene in your photo you end up with a nicer image.

The way to improve your compositions is to learn a few tips (like

leading lines) and go out and take hundreds of pictures with that

specific tip. You’ll notice that the first photos were very basic uses of

the technique.

Many times they are quite ugly as well. When you look at the more

recent photos you’ll notice that the photos are much more clean and

may even use the technique in unique, less “generic” ways. After

this, you use a new technique and maybe even fuse the previous

ones you learned together.

Learning Camera Functions

When you teach yourself photography it is very important to become

familiar with the buttons and controls of an SLR camera. If you have

a regular automatic camera I highly recommend getting an SLR.

Even if it an old school film SLR camera it will help you learn

photography much quicker.

The most important controls you need to know deal with exposure. They include the shutter speed,

aperture, and ISO. These all affect the way that light is let into your camera. Improper use of these

(or letting the camera automatically select numbers for these) often leads to under or over exposed

shots.

These controls are not difficult to learn. If you understand how to use them then you should have no

problem taking properly exposed images. Once you learn this, the next step is to begin getting

creative with your exposures. You can make a normal scene over exposed and add much more

interest. For example, if you’re taking a shot of trees in the forest you can slightly over-expose the

image to make the trees “pop” and look heavenly as the sky and surrounding background will be

much brighter and create a halo effect on the trees.

7 Tips on Photography If you’re new to photography and looking for some simple tips and tricks to get your photos looking

better, this article will give you 7 tips on photography!

These tips are all compositionally based and help you use your “eye” more when taking photos.

Tips on Photography #1 – Avoid the Center

The rule of thirds is what they call it in the photography books. Basically this advises people taking

photos to avoid the center when photographing subjects or objects. This is a great tip to start

following with your photos. Simply avoid placing people, animals, or anything of interested dead

center. Instead, move it to the left or right, or even to the top or bottom.

An example of this is when you take a picture of a person. The main point of interest is their eyes.

So, simply avoid placing their eyes dead center. Place them somewhere else!

Tips on Photography #2 – Use Lines to Lead the Viewers

Lines are everywhere. It’s just a matter of noticing them and using them to create dynamic and more

interesting images. This is actually the first of two more tips just with using lines!

The way to use lines to lead the viewers is simple. Simply find your subject and look for lines around.

Then move to a position where the lines point to your subject. This can be subtle or obvious. An

example of this is having your subject stand near a wall and positioning yourself so the lines of this

wall point to your subject. This prevents us from standing straight in front of the subject and taking a

picture, reducing the depth. By using these lines, the depth of your shots will become much more

expansive.

Tips on Photography #3 – Use the Horizon

Horizontal lines are very peaceful and relaxing. Just think of a sunset a flat field of grass in the

summer. The flat lines with very few vertical lines make the photo more tranquil. You can use this

technique when you want to make your photo more “relaxing”. Simply look around and see if your

photo has lots of vertical or horizontal lines. If it has too many vertical lines try moving back or

positioning yourself so the horizontal lines outweigh the vertical lines.

There are common examples of photos with lots of vertical lines but the horizontal line is stronger,

making the photo peaceful. Think of a shot of a forest with thousands of vertical trees. The horizon

that connects all the vertical lines dominates and makes the scene less “energetic”.

Tips on Photography #4 – Use Vertical Lines

The opposite can also be used with vertical lines. Instead of photographing a scene where the forest

has a large horizontal line, get up close to one tree and use the height of the tree as a large

dominant vertical line. Now the entire feel and energy of the picture has changed.

This is also effective for skyscraper shots. A shot of many buildings with a large horizon line makes

the scene look more mellow. Get close and shoot up at one particular building (augmenting the

vertical lines) and suddenly the photo has lots of energy.

Tips on Photography #5 – Use Empty Space

One very effective technique to use for photography is empty space. Many times people that don’t

know anything about photography try to fill the entire image with stuff. This often creates cluttered

and images that are not pretty.

Solution: Use space. Don’t be afraid of leaving empty space around your subject.

Tips on Photography #6 – Isolate

Very similar to the last tip, isolating your subject also can make photos quite interesting. Most people

that take photos just take snapshots of everything. They don’t take time to get up close or zoom into

a particular object/subject and isolate it from the surrounding environment. Try this: next time you’re

taking photos somewhere pick a few objects and isolate them. Then, be sure the background is not

cluttered. This can be done by using a shallow depth of field or simply positioning yourself so the

background has empty space. Often times getting lower works great for this as you make the

background the clear blue sky (plenty of empty space).

Tips on Photography #7 – Shoot During Sunset and Sunrise

One of the most useful tips that can get your photos looking great is shooting your photos only

during sunset or sunrise until you start getting better. During these times the light outside is crisp.

The atmosphere gets a nice atmospheric glow of colors in the sky that makes it pretty hard not to

take a decent landscape shot.

Try only taking photos in the afternoon and in the morning. Avoid shooting when the sun is directly

overhead. This produces harsh shadows that don’t work well for most average scenes. Of course,

overhead lighting is great for certain scenes and accentuates details…but that’s for another post!

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