With more and more photos being posted online, knowing a few photography tips can help with your photos. Whether we’re snapping a selfie on our smartphones or capturing a majestic landscape with a DSLR, we all want to take better photos in everyday life and finding the right photography tips to help us get the most out of our cameras can make all the difference.
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These quick photography tips and techniques will help you get familiar with your DSLR settings, so you can work on your craft and capture the moment beautifully.
Master Lighting and Manual Mode
In photography, lighting is everything. Finding the right exposure balance in manual mode is both an art and a science, and it can be a little daunting for novice photographers. Some of the time, it’s all about trial and error, the subject you’re shooting, and the amount of light in the shot you’re trying to take. Between the aperture, ISO, and shutter speed, the right settings will help you get the right shot.
Let’s take a quick look at the functions of each of these settings.
Shutter speed refers to the length of time your camera sensor is exposed to light. Slower shutter speeds allow more light to enter the camera body and are typically used in low-light conditions and night photography shoots. Faster shutter speeds, on the other hand, are often used to capture motion, such as a soccer game or jumping shot.
Aperture refers to the hole within a lens in which varied amounts of light enters the body of the camera, which is controlled by the setting. The larger the hole, the more light enters. The smaller the hole, the less light enters. In short, aperture affects the intensity of light in an image. An f-stop number setting like f/1.4 will allow for more light into the camera, whereas, an aperture setting like f/22 will allow less light.
ISO settings are adjusted in low-light conditions since the shutter speed will typically decrease, which can cause an image to appear blurry. Increasing the ISO setting in low light (ISO 1600, for example), can help capture a sharper image. However, this setting also relies on the aperture and lighting in the scene you’re shooting.
Change Up Your Perspective
Whether your subject is a model or a twilight mountain peak, like lighting, perspective is everything. Get creative with the different angles you take your photos. Don’t be afraid to try new perspectives. Get low on the ground. Snap shots from above. Take a few photos at eye level or from a side view. Point is, try everything so you have more to choose from in post.
Invest in a Quality Tripod
Even top photographers don’t have a steady hand all of the time. A tripod comes in handy for multiple reasons. If you want to take beautiful self-portraits, it’s a must. But tripods are useful in other areas of photography, such as night shoots. In low-light conditions, long exposures are needed so enough light can enter the camera. The slightest movement can ruin a photo in these scenarios, so, a tripod can be a great tool.
Perfect it in Post
Programs like Photoshop are extremely powerful tools that can help take what’s great about your photo and make it extraordinary. Depending on your intentions for the photos and the photography styles you’re attracted to, play around with different filters and tools to enhance your photo and make it the best it can be. But beware; over editing is a temptation, and the more time you stare at a photo you edit, sometimes, you can lose sight of its beauty (and its reality).
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