Tips for Beginners!!

• Choose a subject or message of your photo

  . If there is no clear real subject, nothing of graphical interest and no mood to convey, it is probably not an interesting photo.

• Remove things that don’t add to the photo

  . Especially if they detract from the central message. Don’t only know what to include, but also what to exclude. Find a simple background and look for balance.
  In this example the hand of the woman below and the colorful yellow and blue shirts are distracting elements. Waiting until the hand is gone and standing a few steps more to the left, so the people in the back are out of the frame, would both improve the photo.

• Don’t be afraid to zoom in or get very close

  . The most common mistake is that photos are taken from too far away and that there is just too much environment that doesn’t add to the message. Filling the image with the subject underlines what the intended subject is, and removes cluttered background. It achieves simplicity.

• Don’t automatically center your subjects

  . Beginning photographers massively center their main subjects on their photos. This is not illogical because the photographer aims at the subject with the camera viewer. If you rather place the subject outside the center it will often result in a more dynamic composition. Experiment with that.
  A popular guideline is the rule of thirds. Imagine the frame divided into thirds, both vertically and horizontally, like a tic-tac-toe board. Then place the subject on or near one of the lines or intersections. This is called the rule of thirds, or the ‘golden mean’. However don’t follow this rule slavishly.
  Remember that the eyes are most important for people and animals. When zooming in and the head fills the image, the rule of thirds applies to the position of the eyes.

• Be sure to hold your camera level

  . It will break the strength of your photo if the horizon appears with an apparent angle.
  Sometimes photo opportunities appear in a split second, and you have just no time to control the angle of your camera. When at home your photo appears to be tilted, no problem. With imaging tools it’s easy to level the photo afterwards. However this gives a small loss in image quality. So practise your reflex to hold your camera level in the first place.

• Eyes are exceptionally important

  . They tell the story. When photographing people and animals everything else can be hidden or cropped out: the mouth, the nose, the hair. But the eyes must be visible.
  In addition, the eyes have to be tack sharp. Unsharpness of the eyes will hurt the attraction to the eyes, and with that the quality of the photo. If the eyes are not sharp, the photo doesn’t look sharp.

• Watch the distance with flash

  . Don’t bother using flash over 30 feet away. Most non professional flashes just completely don’t function at this distance or greater. Flash works best with nearby subjects. When taking a scenery of a bridge at some distance, flash won’t help. Instead of flash, use longer exposure times and a tripod or, if necessary, a higher iso setting.
  When photographing multiple people with flash, be aware that persons that are close will be illuminated by the flash much more than persons further away. So if you want all of them as prominent, have all at the same close distance from your camera.

• As a rule make use the full range of luminosity

  : from completely dark (black) to completely white. This makes photos dynamic and vivid.
  On the other side don’t over expose with digital camera’s. The information of over exposed parts of the image will be lost definitively and can’t even be recovered by imaging tools. Under exposing is also unfortunate. Image tools can light up the darks and make the tonal visible, however with some or even considerable noise.
  Directly after taking a photograph, reading the histogram can be helpful. If the histogram is pegged against the right end, the photo is over exposed. When pegged against the left hand, it is under exposed.
  But adjusting the settings of the camera to capture the whole full range of luminosity without over or under exposing can be quite a struggle. Just be sure not to overexpose. Adjusting levels afterwards with an imaging tool will be the rescue.

• Make a selection of your photos

  . Don’t put all your photos, complete with all the flawed versions of the same scene, in your (online) photo album. The bad ones harm the attention that the best ones deserve. Make a critical selection of your photos, keep the very best. This will enhance your the overall quality of the album enormously.

• The tree growing out of the subject’s shoulder or head

  is a classic photographic syndrome.
  As you position yourself for the photo look out for power poles, lamp posts and other objects behind the subject that can ruin your photo. When it happens, reposition yourself or the subject.
  Also avoid objects in the background that visually merge with the subject because they have the same color. Let the subject be free-standing.