There’s more that goes into photography than just point and shoot. Photography is a technical artform and having a basic understanding of the technical elements will make it easier to take better pictures. Learn how to take great pictures with these tricks from the pros.
In this post, we’ll cover:
Basic Photography Theory You Need to Take Great Pictures
One of the best ways to learn how to take great pictures is to make every single frame count. Digital photography allows us to shoot without limit, but sometimes more isn’t more.
Taking a great picture is a lot more than simply pointing and shooting. Keep reading to learn more about how to take great pictures using these tips.
Think Like a Film Photographer to Take Great Pictures
A roll of film only has 24-36 frames—a tiny amount compared to the massive storage capabilities of an SD card.
Having a limited amount of potential pictures makes you consider each frame before you press the shutter of the camera.
Slowing down and considering all of the elements within a frame is the best way to learn how to take better photos
Another photography tip for taking great pictures is to pre-visualize the photos that you want to make.
Thinking about what you want a final image to look like before you ever pick up your camera will train your brain to start seeing great pictures before they happen.
Great Pictures Use Emphasis
Emphasis is how you draw your viewer’s eye to particular elements in the frame. The best pictures have great emphasis.
Adding emphasis to your pictures is an excellent way to make photos look more professional. Emphasis is achieved by using the basic principles of photography when composing an image.
Master Composition
Composition refers to the elements that make up a picture. Great pictures have great composition. Mastering composition comes from pre-visualizing and thinking before you fire the shutter of your camera.
The rule of thirds is a well-known photography trick that will help you learn how to take good pictures. The rule of thirds is a framing device that breaks every photo frame into a 3 x 3 grid.
You can create better pictures by placing the most important elements of the composition on the crosshairs of that grid.
Digital cameras allow you to overlay this grid on your viewfinder, making it easy to train your eye to start seeing the rule of thirds in everything around you.
Using the rule of thirds when you shoot will add emphasis to your images and make for great pictures.
Framing and Leading Lines
Another common photography trick is to look for frames and leading lines within your image. The frame refers to the rectangular shape of the viewfinder, but there can be additional frames to emphasize the subject and make the composition more interesting.
Frames can be windows, doors, furniture, or the branches of a tree.
Leading lines refer to the vertical, horizontal, and diagonal elements that run through a frame that direct the viewer’s eye through the image. Leading lines of an image can also be used as a frame.
Look for the Light
Photography is an artform that is all about light. Without light, there is no photography. Great light is what separates good pictures from great pictures.
Try shooting pictures early in the morning as the sun is rising or in the evening as the sun is setting to see the effect that good light has on the subject of your photos.
There’s a reason that photographers refer to these two times of the day as magic hour. Great light adds a level of drama and pop to any photo that will make it stand out.
Using a flash, studio strobes, or continuous lighting are tools that can be used to control light in all hours of the day, regardless of the location.
Use Yourself as a Model
Many of the most famous photographers weren’t shy about turning the camera on themselves. There’s certain people who made entire careers out of self-portraiture.
Using yourself as a model is also a great way to learn how to take more photogenic pictures of yourself and others.
Self-portraiture is an excellent photography trick for practicing poses, experimenting with lighting setups, and the technical aspects of your camera.
When shooting self-portraits, it’s useful to keep your camera on a tripod and set it on a timer.
Self-portraiture will make you more comfortable in front of the camera, which can be useful when other people are taking your picture and give you more confidence when directing portrait sitters.
Technical Skills You Need to Take Great Pictures
Photography is a technical artform and having a basic understanding of the technical elements will make it easier to learn how to take better pictures.
Taking great pictures actually involves doing a bit of math—knowing how much light to let in and for how long is crucial to getting pictures with great exposures, which make for great pictures.
Getting to Know Camera Settings
Although digital cameras have a number of high-end settings, the three settings to master remain the same regardless of the kind of camera you are using.
The three camera settings are aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.
1. Aperture
Aperture is the setting on your camera’s lens that determines how much light will hit the camera’s sensor. It’s sometimes referred to as an f-stop.
A wide-open aperture is a small number (like f1.2, 1.4, or 1.8) and means that the lens is letting a ton of light in. Photos shot with a wide aperture end up having a shallow depth of field.
When the aperture is closed down to a higher number like f11 or f16, a smaller amount of light will hit the sensor, but more elements of the frame will be in focus.
Photos shot with these settings have a deep depth of field.
2. Shutter Speed
Shutter speed refers to how quickly the camera’s shutter stays open and allows light to flow through the aperture on the lens.
Long exposures mean that the camera’s shutter stays open for a long time—they are typically shot with a stopped down aperture so that the frame doesn’t become overexposed.
Star trail photographers often use a super slow shutter speed, a very high aperture, and a sturdy tripod to capture the night sky.
A faster shutter speed is used when photographers want to freeze action. Sports photographers, music photographers, and photojournalists who don’t want to miss the action rely on fast shutter speeds to get the shot.
3. ISO
ISO refers to the light sensitivity of the camera’s sensor. A low ISO is best for shooting in sunny conditions, while a higher ISO will keep your camera light-sensitive in dimly lit spaces.
High end, expensive cameras tend to have a much higher ISO range and are better at shooting in low-light without creating images that are super grainy.
These three settings work together and mastering them will help you learn how to take better pictures.
In summary: Aperture controls the amount of light that enters the camera while shutter speed controls how long the light enters the camera. ISO controls how sensitive the camera’s sensor is to all that light.
Shooting RAW
A RAW photo is a lossless file type that captures the uncompressed data from the digital camera’s sensor.
Shooting RAW as opposed to JPEG means that you are producing a large file that will give you a lot more information when you bring your image into the edit room.
Many professional photographers prefer to shoot RAW because it gives them so much more to work with in post-processing.
RAW files have better dynamic range than JPEG, which makes it easy to recover data in the shadows and highlights of an image if you haven’t quite nailed your exposure.
Editing Photos
Once you are done shooting, you will want to bring your photos into an editing program to add a professional pop to them.
If you were shooting RAW, you will have large files with tons of data that will give you more leeway while editing.
Photoshop and Lightroom are two of the most commonly used photo editing programs used by the pros.
Editing is how you give your images a polished look, but you should proceed with a light touch.
Lightroom’s slider interface makes it easy to make small adjustments to your picture’s exposure, white balance, shadows, and highlights. Making small adjustments to contrast and saturation can give your pictures a juicy quality.
Be careful with the clarity slider—it’s extremely easy to go overboard and give your pictures an amateur look.
In an editing program, you can also crop out distracting elements in a frame and straighten pictures that are slightly askew.
Using a light hand while editing is the most effective way to give your great pictures a professional edge.
The Gear You Need to Take Great Pictures
The best camera is the one that you have with you is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot—usually by professionals who then proceed to tell you that if you want to make a living off of photography, you will need at least two camera bodies and a few thousand dollars of lenses and accessories. Both can be true.
Taking great pictures starts with having a camera with you and taking them—thankfully most of us have a pretty good camera built into our smartphones.
But having an actual camera with a nice lens is the best way to make even better, more professional looking pictures.
A Good Camera (and Lens) Makes a Difference
A smartphone is a great starting place, but an actual camera will get you taking better pictures much faster. Thankfully, we live in an era where you don’t have to break the bank to get a camera that can help you learn how to take great pictures.
The best camera for you depends a lot on what it is you are shooting. Fashion and commercial photographers require very different gear than wedding and portrait photographers to make great pictures.
The majority of camera manufacturers currently make interchangeable lens cameras with affordable price points that still feature advanced settings.
Although having great gear won’t automatically make you a great photographer, having the right tools will make it much easier to get there.
A camera’s sensor size is the most important feature when it comes to determining image quality. A camera with a larger sensor can gather more light and produce RAW images with way more data.
Other things to consider when choosing a camera are its speed, autofocus systems, and built-in image stabilization.
The camera lens is just as important. It will ultimately determine what aperture you will be using when taking pictures, and the field of view that you will see in your frame.
A zoom lens will allow you to get closer to subjects in the frame without physically moving closer, while a fixed focal length lens will likely have the ability to shoot at a much wider aperture.
Miscellaneous Photography Gear You Might Need
The most important pieces of photography gear is a camera and a lens, but there are tons of other accessories that can be useful in making great pictures.
Here’s some of the most common pieces of gear that you might want to invest in.
Flash
A detachable flash or speedlight is the best way to control the light regardless of the situation.
Although many entry-level cameras come with a built-in flash, having something you can attach to the hot shoe and have a level of control over will make a big difference when it comes to making better, more professional looking pictures.
Detachable flashes allow you to control the angle and intensity of the light.
Reflector
Another basic lighting tool for making better pictures. A 5-in-1 reflector is an inexpensive piece of gear that will allow you to manipulate the light in a scene.
They are particularly great for portrait photography. Most reflectors come with reversible covers and come in bright white, translucent, silver, gold, and black.
Camera Bag
A camera bag gives you a safe way to store your expensive gear while you travel. The size and style of bag will depend a lot on how much gear you are lugging around while you shoot.
Camera Strap
Although your camera will come with a standard issue strap, many photographers like to upgrade for a more comfortable shooting experience.
Shoulder straps, sling straps, and wrist straps are some popular options.
Tripod
A tripod is a great tool for stabilizing long exposures or working in the studio. It’s also a must-have if you want to dabble in videography.
Putting Everything Together
Learning how to take professional pictures takes time, but it starts with going out and taking a lot of pictures.
Visualizing what you want your pictures to look like before you start shooting is one trick for making great pictures. Once you are out in the world with your camera, take time to really look through the frame before you hit the shutter.
Pay attention to your composition as you look through the viewfinder. Ask yourself if things are lining up on the 3 x 3 crosshairs of the frame. Look for frames within the frame, or leading lines that may add emphasis to the pictures. Remember that great pictures feature emphasis.
Try shooting during different times of the day to see how the quality of the natural light changes your images. An image taken early in the morning, in the middle of the day, and at sunset will have a very different look.
Practice self-portrait and use yourself as a model. Taking pictures of yourself will make you more confident in front of the camera and can help you learn to take more photogenic pictures—a skill that’s helpful when posing for pictures, but also extremely useful when teaching others to pose.
Learn about the technicalities of photography and then put them into practice. Experiment with different shutter speeds and apertures to see how the settings interact and change the look and feel of the final image.
The more you play with aperture, shutter speed, and ISO on your camera, the more you’ll learn how these three settings work together.
Edit your images after you shoot them and experiment with different techniques. Adjusting different aspects of the image while editing can have a big effect on the final product.
Don’t be afraid to edit the same image multiple ways. Just go easy on the clarity slider!
Keep getting out there and shooting. Great photography comes from making lots of pictures and continuing to shoot.
License this cover image via Addictive Creative.
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