photo by MesquitaFMS via iStock
If you’re just beginning your photography journey, there are some beginner photography tips not a lot of people mention (like, did you know there’s a wrong way to carry your camera?).
Or, conversely, when you’re so far removed from the beginning of your photography career, sometimes you forget the basics.
So here are some basic photography tips that apply to everyone.
Learn How to Hold Your Camera Correctly
photo by Poike via iStock
Like with most things in life, photography is all about form. For one thing, the way you hold your camera directly controls how well your pictures come out because camera shake can ruin even the greatest photo.
For another, your camera is heavy and if you’re holding it incorrectly you can actually injure yourself. For example, if you’ve ever shot for 14 hours straight you know how much your wrists ache afterwards.
Brent Mail has a great tutorial on learning how to hold your camera correctly.
Essentially, have a good grip on the camera’s grip with your right hand, cradle the body of the camera in your left hand, and tuck those elbows in so your chest supports your arms. That’s it!
Recommended Photography Books
- National Geographic Photo Basics: The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Great Photography
- Photography: The Definitive Visual History
- Read This if You Want to Take Great Photographs
Focus on Your Perspective
photo by AlpamayoPhoto via iStock
Photos that are shot from the same level all the time get pretty boring pretty quickly.
One of my favorite easy photography tips is to switch up your perspective as often as possible.
If you’d like to challenge yourself, this could mean practicing aerial photography for the first time by convincing a friend to take you out in an airplane, or more practically, you can simply change your vantage point by going hiking, getting low to the ground, or investing in a drone.
photo by urbazon via iStock
In fact, sometimes just moving a few feet to the right or the left can have a huge impact on the way you photos look.
Whenever you experience something you’ve never done before, you boost your creativity, and that’s one of the best things basic photography tips do for you.
Challenge yourself. Find new perspectives. Seek out different ways of photographing the same thing.
By doing all these things, you not only have a better likelihood of creating better photos, but you also develop your creative eye. It’s a win-win!
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Shoot as Often as Possible
photo by alexandrshevchenko via iStock
Take photos of your friends. Take photos of your family. Take photos of strangers.
Shoot with your iPhone, your point and shoot and your professional DSLR.
A great way to shoot as often as you can is to join a photography challenge, like taking a photo of something red every single day or trying to capture an emotion on film. If you need help staying accountable, join a photography group in your hometown.
photo by Iam Anupong via iStock
There are many benefits to shooting frequently, like getting to learn your camera well, understanding the subjects you love to shoot and practicing new techniques.
It’s cliche to say it, but practice really does make perfect.
The more time you spend behind the lens, the better the results will be.
Print Your Photos
photo by franckreporter via iStock
I’m very old fashioned in that I believe printed photos are simply more beautiful. Maybe it’s a nostalgia for my younger years when my family printed all of our photos after each of our vacations, but I’m beginning to think I may be onto something considering I see more and more kids with Polaroids and disposable Kodaks nowadays.
But, what I really love is printing my photographs on canvas to gift to friends and to hang on my own wall.
Canvas photos allow you to have great keepsakes to document your photography career.
I purchase all of my canvases from CanvasHQ, primarily because they’re relatively inexpensive but also because their canvases last for years and years. Plus, as I discuss in the video above, they've won my secret shopper canvas print shootout two years running!
They use the highest quality of ink on their canvases, and they handcraft their wooden frames, which is a type of art photographers can appreciate.
In other words, CanvasHQ treats you and your art with the respect they deserve. You aren’t just another number - you’re an important client and you’re treated as such.
The beautiful craftsmanship of their canvases, their commitment to doing things right, and their great prices are all reason enough to work with CanvasHQ for your prints large and small.
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