There are a lot of ways to discover how to use your digital camera, but do these methods make you a more productive photographer? The answer to that is “maybe”. You see, the digital camera is merely a tool to make artistic photos. It depends on the way that tool is used that determines the finest and most stunning shots. Essential Digital Photography Techniques To get stunning images we first need to look at some indispensable photography principles. The initial one I am able to share with you is learn about light. When you learn about light and in what way it forms a relationship with with the immediate surroundings then your pictures will get better. Check out shape and form- Where you place things in the photo is next. Continuously have a look at the angles and structures of the things you are taking photos of. Do they create a symmetrical photo that is pleasing to the eye? One technique to master the ways linked to photographing good composition is to see where these things direct our eye. Each time look for a balance and simpleness. Practice these things by shooting easy surfaces that have nice straight lines, or curved lines and symmetrical patterns. Don’t have anything else in the backdrop. A nice way to get started with this artistic technique is photographing buildings. Architecture is filled with lines. Take shots of walls, angles in the walls, look at how these lines direct us and how it looks as a photo. This is great practice. This system of seeking symmetry will greatly advance your photography, ten fold in fact. Simple Photography Techniques Investigating light- One of the best techniques I know is to examine and scrutinize light. Try this: each time you take a look at something, observe how bright the light is, what direction it is coming from, the amount of darks and lights it creates and the colour of that light. For the next week, each time you photograph something, write down what you saw and then what it looked like as a photo. Once you have successfully mastered this method start photographing your lines and curves. If you start shooting in this way you will observe that a) your technical ability increases and b) your photos begin to look artistic and a whole lot more appealing. It’s not only simple to do, but a lot of enjoyment. You will begin to feel like you are having a relationship with light. Your understanding of light improves. As your appreciation improves, so do your images. You will start to identify what will work as a photo just by considering the scene in front of you. It’s a fantastically positive and empowering sensation. Enhanced Photography Techniques Enhanced photography techniques come with training. Practice takes time. Time requires commitment and a motivation to learn. One of the things that assisted me to gain knowledge of photography was the exploration of light and shape. Another advantageous thing you can do is to write everything down on paper. Before you shoot write down notes about the light. Ask yourself and write down the answer to: What is the light doing? How does it make your scene appear? How does the light change the mood of your scene
Next, write down: * Notice how much light * What direction it is coming from * How much contrast it creates * The colour of that lighting.
Then, if you are shooting in automatic mode, note down what the internal light meter is telling you as you point the camera to that area. Make a note of the shutter speed and f stop it wishes to shoot at. (It will be wrong and generally underexposed, but more about that another time.) Now, switch your cameras setting to the manual setting and alter the controls to what the auto setting just said. It will be incorrect, so make sure you put the dial in the center, or a little to the right of the middle.
Subsequently, look at the lines and shape of the subjects in your photo. Where do they direct your eyes? Are there any distracting elements in the image that you really don’t need? Imagine that environment as a two dimensional medium and look again. Is there someone in the way? A tree that doesn’t really look like it belongs? A lot of cars whizzing by that detracts from the drama and authority of the construction?
Continually ask yourself these things before photographing.
Digital Photography Expert Techniques
One of the greatest ways to become skilled at photography is becoming good at a photo editing program. Photoshop is an incredibly fantastic application to have but it needs time to become skilled at it. It’s very complex to the starter so take some formal lessons if you need to. You can also learn Lightroom, which is a less complicated adaptation of Photoshop. It’s less complicated to learn and you may not always need official instruction. Whichever way you choose to go, specialist techniques come from not only good photography and shooting techniques but approaches in post processing. Post processing is a word given to editing, sharpening and improving your photos in a software program. There are so many extremely impressive special effects you can apply in both Photoshop and Lightroom. Darkening the edges of a photograph and increasing colour and contrast are just some of the simple functions within both programs. You can also include objects that were not there beforehand. You also have the ability to eliminate distracting subjects in the surroundings. These software programs are amazing for wedding and portrait photography since you can add brightness to colour, generate gentleness for skin tones, make facial features glow and eyes sparkle. A whole new world opens up to you after you realise what Photoshop and Lightroom are designed for, and, how much better your photos can appear. You can feel lost for several hours when you are post processing, so discover good techniques. The last thing you want to do is spend 1 hour taking pictures and 6 hours editing all your photos. The faster your post processing methods are the better photographer you develop into. On-Camera Flash Techniques for Digital Wedding and Portrait Photography The worst way to utilise your flash in wedding and portrait photography is directly front-on. To begin with, others can’t stand the flash being blasted in their eyes. Secondly, the direct flash is not really meant for front on work (unless it’s a special situation, in which case it would be turned to its lowest brightness.) The flash is designed for filling in shadows. Professionals more often than not have an external flash and face it up in the direction of the ceiling, to the side or position something over it to minimise its strong, white effects. I never ever use flash front-on for weddings and portraits since the light is too intense. When we have light that’s intense and white on someone’s face, we lose a lot of the subtle and softer features of a persons face. It makes people look terrible in photographs! Digital Black and White Photography Techniques Strategies for taking pictures in black and white are the same as shooting in colour. Yet, on saying that, you may want to capture black and white things with the aim of generating a black and white photo. That’s ok too. If you feel like some really beautiful black and white photos then attempt to capture subjects that have a naturally brilliant contrast. For example a white sign with black letters next to a silver building may appear really well suited. A person’s face with scarlet lipstick and intense eye make up looks great in black and white. Digital Photography Lighting Techniques I have covered how to evaluate light and how to use the flash properly, but what about ambient light? Ambient light is the light that exists inside the environment we are photographing in. Light from a window that fills a room is known as ambient light for instance. It’s vital to take note of ambient light just as much as supplementary light sources. Ambient light is reflected light. It’s light that arrives from a light source and fills up the surroundings without a well-defined direction. This is very important to take note of since it dictates how you take the photo. If you have heaps of ambient light you may have light evenly spread throughout your photo. This is nice. But what if that’s not the outcome you want? What if you want a moody and sombre effect instead? In that situation, you would try and photograph whilst the strong light source is at an angle. Using a directional light that creates strong shadows can really create a moody photograph. The way light is within a scene determines the way you take the shot and the create the emotion of the photo. This is very important, do not underestimate this. Canon Photography Techniques I got asked the other day what camera I owned. I replied a “5D Mark Two”. It impressed the person I was speaking with. The fact is that no matter what camera you utilize you will still require to get behind the methods of good photography and get good at them. There is really no such thing as exact photography principles for a Canon and a set of more intersting methods for a Nikon camera. It’s still picture making and light is one of your chief considerations. Digital SLR Photography Techniques You have greater opportunity to be in charge of the camera if it is a dslr. There are extra controls and more approaches to get the effects you require. I am not saying that it’s dreadful to have a point and shoot camera. I am simply saying that you have better influence over the way your photos turn out. I have viewed some spectacular photos come out of point and shoot cameras because the photographer recognized how to examine and work with light and composition. The main reason I use a Dslr is for the reason that I want more direction over my image making. I want to be able to amend my focal length and have different kinds of lenses on the camera if I choose. I also need the chance for high speed shooting if the occasion calls for it. I also want a very fast shutter speed sometimes. A really fast shutter speed happens when you use a fast lens. This means the maximum aperture of the lens is pretty wide. A lot of light can come in to the lens and you have additional light to work with. You can get a fast shutter speed this way. Dslr cameras have more controls such as a high ISO, multiple frames per second, the ability for interchangeable lenses, the ability to have an external flash and a lot more. You will still be able to get beautiful pictures with a small compact camera, but soon you will start feeling limited in what you can do. To sincerely get good at photography it’s most ideal to learn from a person who is experienced at it. This understanding can save you years of blunders and disappointments. Learn to control light, where you place things in the photo, your compact and you will have the basis to be an incredible photographer.
Amy Renfrey is the author of several photography ebooks and a monthly photography emagazine. She shows you how to take stunning photos every single time, even if you have never used a digital camera before. Click here to learnbetter photography techniques.