Better Photography

Articles

Better Photography

By Brooks A. Mick, M.D.
Feb. 5, 2006

Here are a few quick tips to improve your photography. These first tips are useful for anybody doing any kind of photography with any kind of camera.

1. Get closer. Most amateur photographers err by trying to include too much in the photo. Are you really interested in what kind of shoe your Aunt Minnie is wearing? Probably not. You are mostly interested in her face or in what she’s doing with her hands. Get close. You can get closer either by literally moving in, or you can use a zoom or telephoto lens to get figuratively closer.

2. When photographing children, get down on their level. Photos shot downward from adult height tend to be boring.

3. Fit the frame to the subject. Most cameras shoot in rectangular format. That is, the picture is usually wider than it is tall. But some subjects are taller than they are wide. So rotate the camera 90 degrees so the frame is taller than wide and fits your subject. That way you waste less space, can get closer, and have a better chance for more detail, especially if enlarged.

4. Put the main subject off center. That makes for more dynamic composition. You will have to be careful with automatic focusing cameras, as they tend to focus on whatever is in the center. Point at your subject, push the shutter button halfway to lock exposure and focus, and then re-aim the camera to put the main subject approximately 1/3 in from a corner.

5. When shooting outdoors, aim so that you include as little of the sky as possible unless you are particularly interested in the sky. The sky is usually a fairly featureless pale area in most outdoor photos and a waste of space and boring.

Now if you want to become more advanced in photography, here are a few more expert pointers.

6. Buy and use a polarizing filter. Your outdoor foliage colors will be deeper, and your sky will be darker and clouds will show up better.

7. Get up early. The dawn light is much more dramatic and conducive to beautiful photographs than the mid-day sun. Sunset is also a better time than mid-day, UNLESS you are shooting tropical water, where the mid-day sun gives better colors.

8. Shoot a lot of pictures. This is easy in this modern day of digital cameras, as it costs nothing to shoot a few more. When we were all using fairly expensive color films, the temptation was always to pass up extra shots. But the more you shoot, the better the odds of catching the great photograph. And with digital, you haven’t wasted any money on all the not-so-good photos you delete.

9. Carry your camera always. On my way to work at 6:30 one Saturday morning a few weeks ago, I passed the city reservoir with fog rising off the water and the sun just beginning to rise. I parked a quarter mile away on the side of the road, grabbed my camera, jogged back to the causeway, and caught a spectacular photo of backlit autumn trees reflected in the water and suffused with multicolored fog.

The next article will have some more advanced tips.

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About the author Brooks A. Mick: Physician, still practicing medicine but retired from the US Army. Write just for the fun of it, but working on novel in the vein of Tom Clancy's politico-military genre.

Email: brooks15@cox.net

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