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Photography Tips: Five Tips for Beginning Photographers

While you can't obviously learn everything in one photo article, this article gives you five basic tips to start using right away. Whether you have a point and shoot camera or are the proud owner of an SLR, there are a few basic concepts that once understood will get you on your way towards taking excellent photos. Here are five important and easy to use tips that you can start using right away.

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 pictures, choose medium or high resolution. Depending upon your camera, 3 megapixels should give you a high quality 4x6 image and possibly even a nice 8x10 image. For superb 11x14s, go for 6 megapixels.

2) Let There be Light (but Make it the Right Kind)

Natural lighting is almost always best so don't worry if you don't have a flash or any fancy equipment. If your only flash is the built-in one, that's all the more reason to opt for natural light. Built-in flashes can make subjects look flat. That's why the pros use an 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 taking pictures outdoors, consider the position of the sun. With the exception of sunrise and dawn, the lower the sun is in the sky the better. You should also try to avoid noon as this time brings the harshest shadows. Unless the sky is part of your photograph, bright overcast days produce the best light.

3) Compose a Perfect Picture

Getting a great snapshot without any thought mostly depends on luck. But by first learning how to compose a photo, you will end up with more pictures that look good and are suitable for framing. The photos you take will look more like what you pictured when you clicked the shutter release.

There's enough to the Photography 101 subject of composition to fill several articles, but for starters, here's the number one rule. Fill the frame of the viewfinder. Decide on what the most important subject in your photo is and move close enough or zoom (optical zoom is best) to fill the viewfinder with the subject. For example, if the subject is your grandmother watering her petunias then that's the subject not her entire yard. Many make the mistake of losing their subjects in the landscape.

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. Continue holding still until the camera's light has indicated it is done taking the photo. When you are taking a picture that requires a slower than usual shutter speed fireworks for example support the camera with a tripod. You can also use other items as props to set your camera on as long as you have a remote shutter release. A good rule of thumb is to use a tripod for shutter speeds slower than 1/60.

5) Share Your Creations

If your pictures are digital, use a photo editor to resize the copies of your photos (save originals first) down to the appropriate size for your website, email or picture frame. Use photo-printing paper that is compatible with your printer model. If you are using a film camera now but want to email pictures or post them on a website, use a quality scanner or have a CD made when the film is developed.

Frame your best photographs and display them in a decorative wood picture frame. A photograph framed in a classic silver picture frame also makes a very welcome gift, especially when the subject is a portrait. Remember a portrait can be of a single person, family, multiple friends or a beloved pet...the portrait can be of anyone and can make a lovely framed gift.

By using these 5 tips you'll help to expand your photography knowledge so you can continue to take even better looking photographs.

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