Of all the skills in which people want to improve, photography often tops the list. Whether they want to make their memories look better or they have a dream to make money from their compositions, interest in improving this skill set is very high.
John Kleinheinz Fort Worth was an avid photographer for a long time, as he used most of the free time he had away from his businesses to sharpen his skills.
Eventually, he was able to make his passion his new full-time career. Whether you want to become a pro photographer or you simply want to make your holiday snaps look better, the tips outlined below will help you move closer to either outcome.
1) Conceptualize the picture in your head before shooting
When it comes to consistently being able to shoot amazing pictures, you just can’t point at what seems to be an interesting subject and simply press the button.
The first step towards shooting amazing pictures lies in being able to know what they will look like after the fact before clicking the shutter.
When you see something that captures your interest, don’t just haul out your camera and start snapping away.
Take a few seconds to consider what you want in the frame and you want to exclude, and you’ll end with cool shots that require little additional cropping in order to make them look good.
2) Obey the rule of thirds
The rule of thirds stipulates that photographic elements look more compelling when they occur along equally proportional vertical and horizontal lines.
For example, instead of centering a picture of a tree in your frame, set up the shot so that this element is placed along the first or second vertical line and the bottom horizontal line.
Many cameras come with a grid overlay, but even if they don’t, imagining one shouldn’t be that tough. Failing that, make use of the grid lines when cropping images in your editing program after putting them on your computer, and you’ll get your images looking their best.
3) Shoot when the light is right
We get it – getting up at the crack of dawn is hard, especially when you are used to getting up at the crack of noon.
However, the harsh light of midday makes it difficult to make your photos pop, as the sun is directly overhead.
It doesn’t help that everybody and their dog is milling about at this hour too. If you need light shining east to west, you’ll have to set your alarm clock for that hour.
Once you have finished taking your set, you can always go back to bed a couple of hours later. Alternatively, you can wait for the hours around sunset, but this only works well for subjects that get lit up by sunlight coming from the west to the east.
Otherwise, you’ll be limited to shooting sunsets like everybody else, as other subjects will just get washed out by the hostile light conditions.
