5 Photography Tips to Get You Started by Autumn Lockwood

While you can't learn everything about photography in one article, this article gives you five important beginning photo tips. Whether you have a point and shoot camera or are using a professional SLR camera, there are certain basic concepts that once understood will help you take far better photos. Here are the five important and easy to use tips that you can immediately start using.

1) Resolve to have enough resolution

Yes, a low resolution setting saves space on your memory card, but it doesn't make for suitable prints. You can easily resize for a smaller picture, even in free programs like Picasa ("resize" is hidden there under "export"), but making a picture larger usually brings awful results. When you enlarge the photo, the pixels that make up the picture are spread thinner.

If you plan to print your photos, choose high or medium resolution for best results. Depending upon your camera, three megapixels should give you high quality 4x6 photos and sometimes even nice 8x10 photos. For great 11x14s, go for six megapixels.

2) Let there be light (but make it the right kind)

Natural lighting is usually best, so don't worry if you don't have a fancy flash and reflectors. If your only flash is built into the camera, that's even more reason to use natural light. Built-in flash can make subjects look flat. That's why the pros use external flash and bounce light off the umbrellas. There are tricks you can use like wearing a white shirt or taping foil to the camera to bounce the light off the ceiling, but if you want an easy way to get professional quality photos without the equipment, go outdoors.

When shooting outdoors, consider...The lower the sun in the sky the better, except for sunrise and dawn. Noon brings the harshest shadows. Unless the sky is an important part of your picture, bright overcast produces the best light.

3) Compose a perfect picture

Getting a great picture with a snapshot mostly depends on luck. By learning how to properly compose a picture first, you will end up having pictures that look good enough to frame or display. The pictures you take will look more like what you had in mind when you clicked the shutter release.

There is enough to learning composition to fill several articles, but for starters, here's the number one rule. Fill the frame. Decide on what the most important subject in your picture is and move close enough (or use an optical zoom) to fill the viewfinder with the subject. For instance, if the subject is your grandma watering her flower garden then she's the subject not her entire garden. Many people make the mistake of losing their subjects in the background.

4) Steady now

It doesn't take much camera shake to create blur, in fact it takes so little that you will likely not even notice the movement. For sharp photographs, keep your elbows down, feet apart and hold the camera steady while pressing (not punching) the shutter release. Remain holding still until the light indicates that the camera has finished taking the photo. When you're taking a photo that needs a slower than usual shutter speed - - fireworks for example - support the camera with a tripod. You can use just about any item as a way to help prop your camera as long as you have a remote shutter release. A good rule of thumb: use camera support for shutter speeds slower than 1/60.

5) Share your Creations

If your photos are digital, use a photo editor to bring copies (save originals) of your photos down to the appropriate size for your website, email, photo album or picture frame. Use photo-printing paper that is compatible with your printer model. If you're using a film camera but want photos for email or a website, use a quality scanner or when dropping off film to be developed, request a CD.

Frame your best photographs for hanging on your walls or displaying on a table. A framed picture also makes a wonderful gift, especially when it's a portrait. Remember a portrait can be of one person, family, two friends, a beloved pet...the list is long, and again, these make great gifts especially when nicely framed.

By using these five basic tips you'll help expand your photography knowledge so you can start taking even better and more professional looking pictures.


Autumn Lockwood is a writer for Your Picture Frames.com and loves photography. Your Picture Frames makes it easy for you to find just the right frame for your photo or artwork. Shop online and frame multiple pictures in a single frame with our collage frames. Visit our picture frame website or call us at 1-800-780-0699.

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