7 Essential Photography Tips For Beginners

I remember when I first held a DSLR, the gadget felt great in my hands, but the excitement did not last too long when I looked at all the controls on the camera. I felt overwhelmed all of a sudden. It can be very daunting looking at all professional photographers taking great shots, and you end up wondering if you’ll ever be that good. Trust me, I have been there, and it’s an awful feeling. So, to get you out of your misery, I am sharing my tips for beginner photographers that’ll get you off on the right foot.

Make sure your Camera is steady

It may seem a bit obvious, but it is one of the most important things you need to learn as a beginner at photography. A lot of photographers hold their gadgets incorrectly, which causes camera-shake making your images blurry. Things like White-balance, exposure, and saturation can be corrected during post-processing, but when your photos are out of focus there is not much you can do to fix that. Make sure you avoid it, and for that, you could invest in a tripod. If, for some reason, you can’t do that, try lessening camera-shake by bringing your arms tightly towards the body while shooting.

Start shooting in RAW

RAW is a file format just like JPEG, but when you shoot in RAW the camera sensor does not compress the image, capturing the original data. While using this format, you don’t just get high-quality images, it also allows you to have more control while post-processing. The con to capturing photos in RAW is that the files take up more space, but if you can invest in a good storage device it’s a great way to improve the quality of your images.

Be aware of lighting

You can take photos with the most expensive gadget, but if you ignore lighting, your photos will not be as flattering as you want them to be. Lighting conditions are not always ideal, but this is no reason to not shoot at all. For example, at some places where it rains a lot, it could be constantly gloomy which is less than perfect, but you can’t always wait for that ideal golden hour (when the light is evenly spread all around) to capture photos. So, why not learn to cater to different light conditions, which will allow you to take mesmerizing images in all sorts of circumstances?

Carry your camera everywhere with you

Wayne Gretzky says, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” For that exact reason, try to always have your camera on you even if you are not planning to take photos. You never know when an opportunity presents itself, and you miss out on taking an amazing photo. Coming from personal experience,  you’d feel quite bummed out in a situation like this.

Learn the rule of thirds

The rule implies that when the subject is not centered, the composition of the image is well-balanced. Imagine the presence of a grid over your image consisting of two horizontal and two vertical lines that divide the photo into nine equal parts. If you follow the rule of thirds, you’d be placing your subject along one of the four lines, instead of in the center, or at those points where the lines meet each other.

Change your perspective

Why capturing photos from eye-level produce the most uninteresting photos? Because we all look at the world from that perspective every day, which makes an image of that sort quite boring to look at. Therefore, you should try getting more creative and the best way to do that is by shooting from a different point of view. Changing the angle even slightly can turn a mundane scene into a very captivating photograph.

Take photos regularly

As they say, practice makes perfect, and when it comes to photography I can’t recommend this enough. You can watch a million tutorials on YouTube but if you don’t practice often, all that information is going to go to waste. If you actually want to improve, you need to shoot almost every day. Moreover, taking photos regularly doesn’t just allow you to apply the knowledge you have acquired, it also helps you get familiar with what your gadget produces in different settings.

There you have it, my tips for beginner photographers. If you have any tips of your own you can share them in the comment section below.