Photography Tips

Here we provide some tips on how to improve your photography skills. The main thing to remember is to experiment, have fun and enjoy yourself!

Professional

  • Always have a skylight filter on all of your camera lenses. Its only a few pounds to replace a filter, lenses cost much more!
  • An old stocking or pair of tights makes a great soft focus filter.
  • Use a shallow 'Depth of Field' to draw a subject away from its background.
  • Use fill in flash on a backlit subject.
  • Put tracing paper over your flash head to soften the light.
  • With a hot shoe adaptor and extension lead you can remove your flash gun from your camera and thus eliminate 'red-eye'.
  • Use all of the screen if you want to focus on something close up. You don't always have to capture any background.

Amateur

  • Study your manual – Doing so will ensure that you are at one with your camera and will stop you from missing out on vital shots.
  • Are you in focus – Don't spoil a great shot by not getting the subject into focus.
  • Eye Contact – When taking a portrait shot, try and consider the impact of eye contact.
  • Have Patience – Especially with children. It may take time to get the right shot or for the subject to become ready.
  • Memory cards – Ensure that you have plenty of storage space. You may find that you take more pictures than intended. Don't waste time deleting images when you could be taking them.
  • Practice – Practice makes perfect.
  • Don't Delete – You may take a shot and find it poor quality at first glance, but don't delete it. You may find that you can zoom into certain aspects and create a great photo, without using the whole of the original image.
  • Lighting – always consider the effect that light will have on your shot, whether the light is bright or minimal.
  • Move around – When photographing your subject, move around to see if you can get a better angle and create an image with more impact.
  • Landscape – Always consider the surrounding area. Think about whether you want to feature the background or not.
  • Take control – Gently direct people to move into the view of your shot.
  • Seize the moment – When taking people shots, don't always wait for everyone to get into position or for people to pose. Often shots taken whilst people are unawares are some of the best.
  • On a level – Get on a level with your subject if at all possible. This will mean that your subject has more of a connection with the camera.