Ten Tips For The Photography Beginner

Every first time photographer needs some starting information to begin with. So if you don’t know who and what to ask - this place is a good one to start in. Here are the first 10 tips/advices any first time photographer should know before taking the first picture.
Remember, trial and error is not a bad thing…so try, and try again. Learn from your mistakes, that’s always a good advice.

1. Get close to your objects
When shooting people, try and get closer to them, or use the camera’s zoom options.
When you get close to your objects, focus on what’s important in the picture, and ignore what’s not.

2. Don’t forget to have fun!
Sometimes we try so hard to take the perfect picture that we forget to have fun! Our hand starts to hurt, and we focus so much on the right pose and background - that even our subjects begin to suffer…that’s no good at all, and it takes all of the fun out of taking pictures. Loosen up; try capturing people in a natural state. All of those carefully planned photos often come out “stiff”.

3. Get to the object’s level
When taking pictures of babies, pets and kids, it’s best to go down to their level. There’s a bigger effect and a more personal feeling to it when you take a picture from the same level of your object rather than taking a picture from a higher point.

4. Use flash outdoors
Even when taking pictures outdoors, use a flash to get better pictures. It’s best to use the flash in these two situations - when it’s cloudy and you need to make faces brighter, or when the sun is behind or above your subject, and you need to make the image lighter.

5. Catch the moment
Keep your camera turned on at all times (especially when taking pictures of birthdays, first day at school, parties and other special events) to catch all those moments that can’t be reconstructed. All the smiles, surprises, tears and genuine emotions that can only happen once, had better be captured quickly.

6. Don’t take one-dimensional pictures
When taking a photo of a mountain or a lake, try to include a tree or a person in the foreground. That would help the picture not look flat, and add more scale to it. You get a bigger effect when it seems as if you’re looking at a picture from a window or as if you’re there yourself.

7. Horizontal pictures? Not always!
Although we seem to take our pictures horizontaly automatically, every once in a while it’s a really great idea to try and turn the camera and take some vertical pictures. Many items will look much better when taken vertically.

8. Add variety to your pictures
Taking awesome pictures is not enough if they all come out the same. Pictures should be fun and interesting to look at. Add some variety to your pictures by including close ups and wider angles; include people and landscapes, good and bad weather. There’s nothing like variety to spice up your photography collection.

9. The effect of light
The most important thing in photography is light. Make sure the light is behind you and to one side. Try to avoid objects that might cast a shadow on the faces of the people you’re taking the picture of. If this situation cannot be avoided, then focus on the faces and use the flash.

10. Choose your background
Pay attention to the background behind your object. A massive and crowded background might overshadow the object. Try choosing backgrounds that don’t have many objects in them, that way your object will be the main focus in the picture, rather than the background.
IF you cannot avoid a noisy background, try to sharpen the object so that the background becomes fuzzy.