Take better photos this holiday
Have a look at these guidelines to take the best photos on your holiday.
There’s no better way to make a holiday more memorable than to take photos. Months, or even years there after, you are still able to look back and reminisce on the good times you had with you family or friends.
Even if you have the memory of an elephant, there are still many memories that get lost. You want will want to take photos that are attractive. It’s not just about what you shoot that counts, but also the way you shoot it.
Here are a few tips to help you improve:
Photography is all about quality, composition, making the right decision and being creative. If you don’t know the basic principles, your photos will never be what you expect it to be. Some of the biggest challenges include getting a photograph to be sharp, having the best lighting and most important to be different.
• Firstly, make sure that your camera is fully charged, and if possible, always have a spare battery at your disposal.
• Always try to keep your fingers off your lens, and make sure that it stays clean at all times. This can be done by using your cameras lens cap if it has one, or simply cleaning it with a soft cloth.
• Ensure that you have sufficient space on you memory card. Setting your photo quality to its maximum will take up more space, but it’s worth it. You can always resize to make photos smaller, but you can never make it bigger.
• When your subject is far away, rather go closer instead of using your zoom function. You lose quality and the chances for a blurry photo increases.
• Early mornings and late afternoons make better photos.
• Use your flash, even during daytime. This puts a sparkle in your subject’s eyes and eliminates unwanted shadows around the eyes, nose and mouth.
• Don’t always stand up straight while taking photos. With different angles you can have some great fun. Using low angles makes a subject look bigger, while using high angles makes it look smaller. So try being as unconventional as possible.
• Be patient, it takes time to learn.
• Hold your camera as steady as possible. Even the slightest movement can sometimes leave your photos blurry.
• Don’t hesitate to take a close up shots.
• Don’t wait for a photo to come to you, capture it before it’s too late.
Now that you have the basics, try playing around with the more advanced options.
• It is very important to make sure that you are always on the object you want as the main subject. All cameras have some kind of indicator to see what will be focused on, normally indicated by either a green or red colour. Remember that it can also be moved or adjusted to ensure having your main subject in the right place.
• Playing around with your settings can improve your shot tremendously, especially when taking landscapes or high action shots.
• Always see to it that the sun is not directly from the front or the back when photographing people. Having the sun from the back causes more shadows. When the sun shines right from the front, it causes people to squint.
A great way to remember the beauty of a location, is to take landscape photos of a sunrise or sunset.
Here are some rules to help get better composition in your photo:
• Your eye immediately sees the main focal point, but the camera doesn’t. So simplify the scene and make sure you focus your photo on the the main object.
• Don’t leave too much open space in your photo, fill the whole frame. Open spaces can cause your eye to wander away from the main subject.
• Alternate between landscape(horizontal) and portrait(vertical) style. You can even try diagonal in some occasions.
• Avoid to position the main subject right in the centre of the photo, but keep the balance. The rule of thirds, where the photo is divided into nine blocks can be used here. Consider putting your subject where the lines intersect. This is essential when taking photos of an sunrise or sunset. Keep the horizon straight and depending on you main subject, position it at the bottom or top third of your screen.
• If there are lines to lead the eye to the main subject, use it. Example: If you photograph someone walking or running, use their footsteps as a leading line. You can even use diagonal line to give a more dramatic feel.
• Always leave space to move. Let’s use above example again. If you take the photo from the side, leave an open space towards the direction where the subject is moving to.
• Keep the background clean and avoid having a background that is distracting. Except for when you want to make a specific background part of you photo.
• Contrast can make your photo very attractive, especially when the colours complement each other.
And most importantly, don’t forget to back up your photos online. You never know when you might lose all the photos. Online clouds are there for a reason.
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