20 useful tips for a beginner photographer

Pictolic has prepared 20 helpful tips for all photography enthusiasts. With these simple steps, you can significantly improve the quality of your pictures and become a real photo pro :)

20 PHOTOS

 
The material was prepared with the support of the Polaroid STORE online store. Here is a wide range of cameras and supplies for instant photography. One of the bestsellers is Fujifilm Instax cameras, with the help of which anyone - even a novice photographer - can take an instant photo. One of the most popular models in the lineup is the Fujifilm Instax mini 8.

1. Give your photo depth.

Find an interesting motif (for example, a piece of rock in the picture) and place it in the foreground in the frame. due to this, the landscape in the picture will have a greater depth.

2. Do not cut body parts.

When photographing a human figure, try not to cut off your feet or head. Better to leave more room around the silhouette. The necessary editing can always be done later, during digital processing on a computer.

3. Try to paint with light.

Glowing patterns in photographs can be obtained in several very simple ways. It is enough to set the night mode in the camera, set it on a tripod, press the trigger and draw patterns in the air using the included LED or sparklers.

4. Take pictures of children from their level.

Do not take pictures of children from above - this should only be done from their perspective, even if you have to bend down too often to do this. Thanks to this, you will not only correctly capture the position of the body, but also be able to show the world around you through the eyes of children.

5. Keep optics clean.

Never touch the lens element with your fingers, otherwise, it will leave greasy prints on it, which will make your photos not sharp.

6. Be careful with digital zoom.

Try not to use digital zoom when shooting, especially with smartphones, as this will degrade the image quality. If the optical zoom function is not available on your camera, just move closer to the subject.

7. For quickness, use the automatic shooting mode.

If you are poorly guided in the settings of your camera, use the automatic mode. Of course, this is not a perfect solution, but it allows you to quickly start shooting.

8. Do not edit the original photo.

Never edit the original photograph. To avoid regretting a damaged photo, always make a copy and work with it.

9. Night shots with a tripod.

Night photography is best done with a tripod. A stable base will allow you to shoot at slow shutter speeds and low ISOs for a long time and get a high-quality image. It should also be remembered that in this shooting mode, moving objects are blurred.

10. Correct direction.

If the subject in the frame is looking, walking, or driving in a certain direction, leave a place in the frame there. Thus, your photo will acquire additional expressiveness.

11. Hold the camera correctly.

The correct grip of the camera allows for stable shooting. This is especially important for large cameras such as DSLRs. Grasp the right holder with your right palm and grasp the lens with your left fingers. To change the orientation of the camera to vertical, rotate it 90 degrees counterclockwise.

12. Sharp eyes.

When photographing your face, focus on the eyes. This also applies to photography of animals. Some models of cameras even have a built-in auto focus mode - eye detection.

13. Reflected light.

If you can use an external flash lamp, point it at a ceiling or wall. A subject illuminated by bounced light looks significantly better than a subject illuminated directly from the flash.

14. Natural light is preferred.

If possible, try to shoot without a flash lamp. Natural light just looks better. If the shooting conditions are difficult - use a tripod or increase the light sensitivity.

15. Use the face recognition function.

When shooting portraits (even group portraits), it is worth using the face recognition function. In this case, the camera itself sets the optimal values for sharpness, exposure, and light for the faces in the frame.

16. Silhouette effect.

If you want to get the effect of a dark silhouette against a romantic sky, you can use the low light trick. The exposure correction function will help in this - you need to set it to the "minus" position.

17. Take pictures of information signs.

Such pictures will allow you to remember where you were during your trip. This is especially useful if your camera is not equipped with a GPS function.

18. Watch the background!

Always plan your portrait so that there is nothing behind the subjects that could spoil the shot, such as a trash can. You can also use a large aperture value (for example f / 1.8, f / 2.8) - in this case, the background will turn out to be blurry.

19. Use HDR mode.

If the picture is too contrasty, use the HDR (High Dynamic Range Imaging) shooting mode, which will distribute the lighting evenly.

20. Use burst mode.

When you are photographing moving objects, switch the camera to burst mode. The higher the frame rate per second, the higher the chances that you will be able to capture a unique moment.