Easy Digital Photography Techniques for Beginners

By Amy Renfrey  

There are lots of methods to find out how to use your camera, but do these things make you a more productive photographer? The answer to that is "maybe". You see, the camera is just a tool to generate creative photos. It depends on how that tool is ultilised that determines the greatest and most stunning photographs.

Essential Digital Photography Techniques

To get spectacular pictures we first need to look at some fundamental photography techniques. The initial one I am able to share with you is find out about light. Anytime you learn about light and in what way it interacts with the direct environment then your photos will get better.

Examine shape and form- Where you place things in the photo is next. Continually consider the angles and shapes of the things you are shooting. Do they generate a balanced image that is satisfying to the eye? One method to master the techniques linked to photographing ideal composition is to see where these things guide our eye. Each time look for a balance and simplicity. Put into practice these things by taking photos of straightforward things that have nice straight lines, or curved lines and proportioned patterns. Do not have anything else in the surroundings.

A nice way to get started with this creative method is photographing architecture. Architecture is filled with lines. Take shots of walls, angles in the walls, look at where these lines direct us and the way it looks as a photo. This is great practice. This system of looking for symmetry will really improve your photography, ten fold in fact.

Easy Photography Techniques - Examining light

One of the simplest techniques I know is to examine and study light. Try this: every time you take a look at something, observe how intense the light is, what direction it is coming from, the amount of darks and lights it generates and the colour of that light. For the next 7 days, whenever you photograph something, write down what you saw and then how it appeared as a photo.

Once you have effectively understood this skill begin shooting your lines and curves. If you start taking photos in this manner you will notice that a) your technical skill increases and b) your photos begin to look artistic and a whole lot more interesting. It's not just simple to do, but a lot of fun. You will begin to feel like you are experiencing a link with light.

Your comprehension of light improves. As your appreciation improves, so do your photos. You will start to recognize what will work as a photograph just by looking at the scene in front of you. It's a fantastically positive and empowering feeling.

Better Photography Techniques

Enhanced photography techniques come with training. Practice takes time. Time needs dedication and a willingness to learn. One of the things that helped me to understand photography was the exploration of light and shape. An additional useful thing you can do is to write everything down in a notebook. Before you shoot write down notes about the light.

Ask yourself and write down the answer to:

What is the light doing?

How does it make your scene appear?

How does the light change the mood of your scene?

Next, write down:

• Notice how much light

• What direction it is coming from

• How much contrast it creates

• The colour of that light.

Then, if you are shooting in automatic, note down what the internal light meter is telling you as you point the camera to that scene. Make a note of the shutter speed and f stop it wishes to shoot at. (It will be incorrect and generally underexposed, but more about that another time.)

Then, switch your cameras mode to manual and alter the adjustments to what the auto setting just said. It will be wrong, so make sure you put the dial in the center, or slightly to the right hand side of the middle.

Subsequently, look at the lines and shape of the subjects in your photograph. Where do they guide your eyes? Are there any distracting elements in the scene that you really don't need?

Imagine that picture as a two dimensional medium and look again. Is there someone in the way? A tall tree that doesn't really look like it makes sense to be there? A lot of cars whizzing by that detracts from the drama and power of the construction? Every time ask yourself these things prior to photographing.

Digital Photography Professional Techniques

One of the greatest ways to become good at photography is becoming good at a photo editing program. Photoshop is an incredibly superb tool to have but it takes time to become skilled at it. It's very complex to the newbie so take some formal classes if you need to.

You can also learn Lightroom, which is a less complicated adaptation of Photoshop. It's less complicated to learn and you may not always need official instruction. Whichever way you decide to go, specialist methods come from not only better photography and shooting techniques but approaches in post processing.

Post processing is a term given to editing, sharpening and improving your photos in a software program. There are so many incredibly remarkable special effects you can apply in both Photoshop and Lightroom. Darkening the outer areas of a photo and increasing colour and contrast are just some of the simple functions within both programs. You can also add objects that were not there beforehand. You also have the capability to remove distracting things in the background.

These programs are dynamic for wedding and portrait photography as you can add depth to colour, generate softness for skin tones, make facial features glow and the eyes sparkle. A whole new world opens up to you after you realise what Photoshop and Lightroom can do, and, how much better your photos can appear.

You can become preoccupied for hours when you are post processing, so become skilled at good techniques. The last thing you want to do is spend 1 hour taking pictures and 6 hours editing all your photos. The faster your post processing methods are the better photographer you turn out to be.

On-Camera Flash Techniques for Digital Wedding and Portrait Photography

The worst way to use your flash in wedding and portrait photography is directly front-on. First, others detest the flash being blasted in their eyes. Secondly, the direct flash is not really designed for front on use (except if it's a unique circumstance, in which case it would be turned down to its lowest brightness.) The flash is meant for filling in the shadows.

Professionals usually have an external flash and point it up to the ceiling, to the side or position something over it to minimise its strong, white effects. I never ever use flash front-on for weddings and portraits since the light is too bright.

When we shoot with light that's bright and white on a person's face, we waste a lot of the subtle and softer details of a persons face. It makes people look horrible in photos!

Digital Black and White Photography Techniques

Techniques for shooting in black and white are no different to shooting in colour. However, on saying that, you may want to shoot black and white subjects with the intention of creating a black and white photo. That's okay too. If you feel like some really beautiful black and white photos then try to shoot items that have a naturally strong contrast. For example a white sign with black letters in front of a silver building may look really well suited. A person's face with red lipstick and intense eye make up looks great in black and white.

Digital Photography Lighting Techniques

I have covered how to assess light and how to employ the flash properly, but what about ambient light? Ambient light is the light that exists in the environment we are shooting in. Light from a window that fills a room is regarded as ambient light for example. It's vital to take note of ambient light just as much as other light sources.

Ambient light is reflected light. It's light that comes from a light source and fills up the environment without a noticeable direction. This is very critical to take note of as it determines how you photograph the scene. If you have heaps of ambient light you may have light evenly spread all the way through your photo. This is nice.

But what if that's not the effect you care for? What if you want a moody and sombre result instead? In that situation, you would try and photograph whilst the intense light source is at an angle. Using a directional light that generates strong shadows can really create a moody photograph.

The way light is contained within a scene has an effect on the way you take the photo and the capture the emotion of the photo. This is very crucial, do not forget this.

Canon Photography Techniques

I got asked last week what camera I owned. I replied a "5D Mark Two". It impressed the person I was talking too. The fact is that no matter what digital camera you shoot with you will still want to get behind the principles of good photography and get good at them. There is in fact no such thing as specific photography methods for a Canon and a set of unique tricks and techniques for a Nikon camera. It's still picture making and light is one of your most important concerns.

Digital SLR Photography Techniques

You have bigger chance to be in charge of the digital camera if it is a dslr. There are more controls and more approaches to get the effects you would like. I am not saying that it's awful to have a compact camera. I am simply saying that you have better influence over the way your photos turn out. I have seen some spectacular images come out of point and shoot cameras because the photographer recognized the best way to examine and work with light and composition.

The main reason I use a Dslr is for the reason that I require more management over my image making. I want to be able to amend my focal length and have various types of lenses on the camera if I want. I also require the chance for high speed photography if the occasion calls for it.

I also want a really fast shutter speed at times. A really fast shutter speed takes place when you use a fast lens. This will mean that the maximum aperture of the lens is pretty wide. A lot of light can come in to the lens and you have additional light to work with. You may get a fast shutter speed this way.

Dslr cameras have more controls such as a high ISO, multiple shots per second, the ability for interchangeable lenses, the functionality to have an external flash and a lot more. You will still be able to get beautiful shots with a compact camera, but soon you will start feeling limited in what you can do.

To really become good at photography it's most ideal to be taught by a person who is experienced at it. This comprehension can save you years of errors and disappointments. Learn to master light, where you place things in the photo, your digital camera and you will have the structure to be an amazing photographer.

Amy Renfrey is a professional photography and photography teacher. She shows you how to take the most breathtaking, brilliant and incredibly stunning photos every single time you press the shutter button, even if you know nothing about photography and have never used a digital camera before. To discover how to take good photos better than ever, and learn better photography techniques visit her website today. http://www.DigitalPhotographySuccess.com

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