Whether you are a professional photographer or the go to person in your family or at your workplace who knows your way around the lens, you know how critical it is to showcase eye-catching, high-quality images. Every photo you capture or upload online is personal – whether it be to promote your small business, to launch a website, build an online store or make connections on social networks. A picture is worth a thousand words and ten thousand more if it represents you!!!
Getting started – Buy a good camera
How to buy a camera in 2017
There are several in the market, ranging from basic Point & Shoot cameras to Semi Pro and finally, Professional Cameras. How you decide what camera to purchase depends on your objective – is it purely recreational or more professional? It also depends on the images, subjects and theme that is going to be the focus of your picture. Learn the controls of your camera by trying them out in different conditions.
Once you’ve purchased your camera, learn the basic controls – Manual, Auto-Mode, Shutter speed, Program , Aperture priority etc. Remember, the controls of a camera vary by its type.
While the camera could be used on its own, consider teaming this up with additional gear and hardware – Tripod, Camera bag, lens, Protective UV Filter lens, a lens cleaning kit – that could help you enhance your skill at taking pictures.
Click, click…now THAT’s a Pic!!
40 Tips to Take Better Photos
There is no right or wrong way to capture a picture. It mostly boils down to the intuition of the photographer and how it resonates with the viewer. The whole process of taking great pictures is highly subjective. That said, here are a few tips and techniques to get you started on the path to becoming an expert photographer.
#1. Lighting & exposure: Lighting is the most critical factor in making a photo look professional. There are three ways to control the exposure of a photo: aperture, ISO, and shutter speed.
#2. Avoid aberrations: An aberration is something that is left in the picture that doesn’t belong there. Avoid aberrations by choosing a clear subject by zooming in tight.
#3. Choose an Interesting subject: Capture an Interesting subject, but once you’ve found it, remove yourself a bit from the excitement and pay attention to everything else you need to do.
#4. Follow the rule of thirds: The rule of thirds is the most basic rule of composition that basically tells the photographer to imagine a tic-tac-toe board on the frame of the picture, and to put the most interesting part of the photo on the intersection of those lines.
#5. Find your personal photographic style: For a lot of photographers, finding one’s photographic style is an ongoing, ever-evolving process, influenced by many factors. It can be your choice of subject matter, the way you light or style your subjects, your shooting angle, cropping, a color or tonal range you’re drawn to, your post-processing style, or any combination of these and more. Once you find your style though, it is important to develop it.
#6. Charge your batteries: This seems like a simple one, but pretty much every photographer on the face of the planet has been caught out before. The trick is to put the battery onto the charger as soon as you get home from your photo shoot.
#7. Shoot every day: The best way to hone your skills is to practice. A lot. Shoot as much as you can – it doesn’t really matter what. Spend hours and hours behind your camera. As your technical skills improve over time, your ability to harness them to tell stories and should too.
Go that extra mile – Make your pictures look Professional
13 WAYS TO MAKE YOUR PHOTOS LOOK PROFESSIONAL
Often, photos are beautiful, but just haven’t been styled yet. From cropping to color correcting, small tweaks can make the difference between a forgettable snapshot and a truly great photograph. Here are 2 basic ways you can make your pictures look professional.
Digital styling
50 Excellent Digital Photography Photoshop Tutorials
This is applied in Photoshop and Lightroom and allows the photographer to creatively change the colors, contrast, and exposure. Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard for digital-image editing and graphics creation. Photoshop’s versatility makes it a popular choice among Web designers, graphic designers, digital media artists, print designers, photographers and other professionals in design and image-editing. Whether you’re designing a business card or website or digitally enhancing an image, you can rest assured that Photoshop will give you the necessary tools to get the job done.
Smartphone Apps
10 Apps to Make Your Photographs Look So Much Better
These days, most smartphones have great cameras—so why do some people’s photos look much better than others? For almost all the best photos taken on smartphones, the answer is editing i.e. using a number of popular photography apps – Instagram, Layout, Wix Pro Gallery Snapseed, Over, RetouchMe, VSCO and others – to crop, filter, sharpen, correct and even retouch images!
Most of these apps have advanced image settings to control the quality and sharpness of your photos, so they look exactly how you want. They keep images safe with built-in image protection and showcase your photography in the highest quality in print, online and mobile devices.
In a nutshell – Learn Photography!
improvephotography.com
Don’t hesitate to seek out a mentor or ask advice from people who have worked with photography over a long period of time. Be part of a photographic community! Not only will you be able to publish your photos for the rest of the country to see, you’ll be part of an active group that offers feedback on how great you are going. You can learn new things to help you improve your technique, and you might even make some new photography buddies.
Getting an online portfolio review is another, probably the quickest and surest way to improve your photography. This service is not just for the advanced photographers. Beginners, intermediate and advanced photographers can all benefit from a portfolio review. The real purpose is to show you where you are, and where to go to learn the next step so that you can continue to improve.
Learning how to take great pictures could take a lifetime because photography is an art form and like all art forms, it takes time, patience and practice to master.
Nice tips! I also use Layout and Wix Pro Gallery to make photographs look much better. These apps are really helpful!