By Eric Cross 


Photography can be a very difficult thing to master, as there are so many different sorts of techniques that not many are aware of. Fortunately, with a ton of practice and a lot of hard work, any beginner photographer can become the best they can be.

Photography is way more than just taking pictures, it is a form of art that requires patience and a lot of creativity. Without these two factors, you will become just another photographer trying to making it in this huge industry.

With the simple advice below, you can maybe get to become a photographer that exceeds the skill and talent of all the other photographers out there.

Before you even start to get serious you absolutely must have a decent tripod...

Photog At Work by michael horodyski

1. Watch Your Exposure

Being careful with your exposure likely is one of the most important techniques when taking amazing pictures. Most cameras however were made to already be very skilled at calculating the right exposure levels, especially if the lighting of a scene is even.

However, under certain light conditions, the camera could easily be thrown off. That is when you must need to step up your game and take control of the situation.

If a photo is dark, it means it is under-exposed, and when it's too bright it is over-exposured. Practice controlling your exposure, and your photos will always look perfect.

It is also worth understanding your white balance. To begin with you can just check your environment and select a white balance setting that matches it. Is it sunny? Use the sunny setting. Is it cloudy? Use the cloudy setting etc...

2. Compose Your Frame

Composition of pictures refers to the things located in a frame. These objects can be the subject, the foreground, background, and anything else which may appear in the photo.

Understanding proper composition in photos is a crucial technique to perfect when creating top-notch images. Fortunately, there's a simple method you could follow when first learning what composition is.

This technique is called "Rule of Thirds". It isn't an obligation to employ it when taking photos, but it can help enhance the structure or composition of an image making it more interesting to the eye. The most important element in a photo should be located within these areas, or in the area where these lines intersect.

Portrait - Rule of thirds and Fibonacci spiral by Marco Ciofalo Digispace

3. Work With Motion Blur

Blurring motion in pictures is a very fun effect that can make a simple photo look extraordinary. Plus, perfecting this technique will even allow you to learn how to gain total control on your camera's shutter speed.

4.  Master Bokeh

Bokeh is basically the quality of blur in out-of-focus parts of a photo. Bokeh can be obtained by simply controlling the depth of field in an image. This depth is the distance between the farthest and nearest elements of scenes that are in-focus. Deep focus means everything in your photo is sharp. Where shallow focus means only one specific area of the image will be sharp.

5. High Dynamic Range

HDR is a technique of capturing a range of shots between the lightest to the darkest areas of a scene (the dynamic range). You will need to employ AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing) to make this work so you will also need a tripod.

Taking HDR photos is a little challenging at first, but it's a great skill to practice. You'll have to work the images together post-processing the images to achieve the final result. So it is also a smart introduction to use Photoshop or any other imaging software to do this - photomatix being one of the most popular.

Light and Dark by Steve Huskisson

Author Eric Cross

Eric Cross is a budding photographer who balances his time taking photographs with time spent writing about taking photographs, putting together a free guide for everyone wanting to learn about trick photography and special effects. 

Article Source: 5 Essential Techniques in Photography

The subject must be prominent in a photograph and easily recognized by the viewer. The viewer does not want to be searching around the picture to find the intended subject. Directing attention to where you want it in a photo can be done by detaching the subject from the background and the unnecessary elements that can distract the viewer. A few simple methods are described below that can help you emphasize the subject in your photography:

1. You can make tight framing on the subject being photographed which will result in many of the background elements being removed from the scene minimizing the risk of your subject being lost. If you have a zoom lens you can make a tight frame with it from a distance of your targeted subject. With a fixed lens you will need to get up close to your subject to “magnify” it. You will notice that by tight framing, the detail in your subject is greatly enhanced and will draw the viewer’s eyes.
2. A second method to draw better attention to a subject is to walk around it until you find the simplest background. The background must be in opposite contrast with the subject to create a good visibility between the two. A simple background without disorderly elements or too many distracting colors is recommended for both portrait photography and for other objects or scenes being photographed. If there is not an appropriate background around your subject, then you can simply try to change the camera view angle to a lower or higher position to discover the right background such as a blue sky, green grass or even leaf foliage.  Sometimes you may provide your own background if it is possible in the given circumstances.
3. Framing is a technique that photographers can use to direct the viewer's attention to the subject of the scene. Many elements or even people can be positioned around the subject to create a frame within the image area. Separating the subject from the rest of the image using a frame will accentuate it more clearly. For example, you can frame a broad landscape between some trees rather than taking a picture with an over-simplified and boring composition. It is important that the elements used as frames do not distract the viewer's attention from the subject. If the framing elements relate to the image theme the effect will be more pleasant. Framing correctly can create an illusion of depth or a sense of the image being in 3D. Besides all the aforementioned pluses to framing a photograph, it is a technique often used for hiding unwanted details in the background or foreground of a picture. 

A photographer can define what is visually striking about a particular photo subject by utilizing tight framing to get closer, controlling and manipulating the background and using complementary elements to create a frame within the picture. Everything that is around us can be the subject of a photograph. Photographers should search and select a clear composition that will transmit a message.  If properly done an image can touch a viewer emotionally.



© Rebecca H Knight, images and media used are my own or © their respective owners. All rights reserved.