Photography Tips

Would you like to take better photos yourself? I've learned a few things over the years that can help so let me share my photography tips with you.

Take care of your equipment. Keep your camera, log book, pen, batteries, mini tripod, extra memory cards, etc. together in a carry bag that can be worn comfortably.

Carry extra batteries!

When traveling collect brochures, ticket stubs, etc and mark them with the date you were there. Use a post-it if you don't want to write on the actual brochure. You can store these together in a small gift shop bag until you get home. They'll help you document your trip.

When visiting parks and historical sites take pictures of the signs for the location. They're most useful for identifying the places you visited.

Use a coffee filter, folded in half for a light diffuser by holding it over the flash. Gives the light a warm glow instead of being harsh.

When shooting people tell everyone to look at the same place, such as the top of your head, so everyone will have the same eyeline. Tell them to not look directly into the lens.

Use your redeye setting on animals so as to not alarm them. (You'll still get the red eye effect because their eyes are different, but they won't bolt during the shot.)

Take your time and line up your shot. Haste makes waste.

Add interest and dimension by framing your subject with something in the foreground.

Avoid mid-day shots when the shadows are short and uninteresting.

Watch the cloud movement, sometimes they're just seconds away from a better shot. Be patient.

If your shot contains strong vertical or horizontal lines i.e. door frames, horizon, etc line them up with the frame of your shot.

If you want to make something look strange, creepy or weird then use a "Dutch angle" where you purposely rotate the camera so the frame of the photo does not line up with the horizontal and vertical elements of the subject.