Nowadays, everyone with a smartphone is an amateur photographer. The quality of smartphone cameras is incredibly impressive and create photos that are just as stunning as the photos taken on a DSLR camera. Regardless of the equipment you use, there are some easy-to-follow tips to keep in mind in order to compose and capture better photos.
If you enjoy the feel of a camera in your hand rather than a smartphone, go the extra mile and learn manual mode on your camera. Modern digital cameras come pre-set to “auto” mode, meaning the camera detects the light balance in the photo frame to automatically balance the lighting. This makes the camera easy to use in many different settings and useful for point-and-shoot photos. However, learning manual mode on your digital camera means that you can manipulate the light and shadows in your photo before taking it, much like you can do with older-style film cameras. This means that you actually learn how to control your camera in different settings in order to capture the photo you want, which allows you to be an active participant in achieving the resulting photo. Rather than simply letting advanced technology do the work for you, understanding how to use and work with manual mode means that you can work with your camera in more challenging settings, which results in more stunning photos. You can also manually adjust your settings to capture a great photo, thereby cutting down on the amount of editing work afterward.
Another way to improve the quality and look of your photos is to learn how to properly frame a photo. Photography is guided by a few framing rules to help set up a good shot. Many people have heard of the fundamental rule of thirds, which guides the photographer in setting the focus and balance of the shot, and is most useful in landscape or object photography. The rule of thirds says to create an imaginary frame made of vertical and horizontal lines over the image you want to shoot, dividing the image into nine equal sections. The central elements to your photo should either be along one of the lines, at a point of intersection or centered within one of the imaginary boxes. Many digital cameras overlay the viewfinder or digital screen with the rule of thirds guiding lines to make it easier to properly frame a photograph, and many smartphones also have the option to overlay guidelines on the screen.
In addition to the rule of thirds, another fundamental tip to create better photos is the use of lines or frames. Because the human eye is naturally drawn to look at lines, the lines or frames that already exist in your surroundings like railroad tracks, straight roads, and bridge cables, serve to help in the dramatic visual composition in photography. Think of looking down a straight road, to the point where the road disappears. Capturing this image in a photo allows the lines of the road to lead the eye through the photograph to a central point where the road disappears. Lines and frames can help draw the eye directly to the subject of the photo and create depth in a two-dimensional image. Lines also help to define shapes and can create a strong presence or frame-within-a-frame feel in the photograph.
Another great tip is to understand when and how to use frame-filling and cropping. This photography tip is useful if you want to create intense yet candid photos of people, as the subject fills the frame of the photo with the cut or crop of the shot helping to focus all attention on the subject. This method is also useful in creating an intimate and expressive photo, especially when using people as the main focus, with the face taking up the whole frame and the emphasis being on their eyes and expression. Cropping is also useful if there is a highly distracting background, as you position the frame so the subject takes up the majority of the photo space and becomes the main focus.
Furthermore, frame-filling is often used when shooting macro photos, which means you are extremely close-up to your subject and focused in on the fine details. If you were to take a photo of a small bug on the end of a leaf, you would want to fill the frame with the bug as the main, in-focus subject, and allow the leaf to fade into the background. This creates a dramatic shot where the central subject is sharply in focus and the backdrop is either blurred or absent.
If you’ve mastered how to set a dramatic photo using the rule of thirds and properly crop your photo by manipulating the frame and angle, you can up your photography game by seeking out symmetry and patterns. We are surrounded by naturally-occurring and man-made patterns although we often don’t notice them. When presented with photos that capture an overlooked pattern, it can be surprising to some viewers that they never noticed the pattern before. Capturing the details, repetitions, and intricacies of the pattern can also create more intriguing and unexpected photos. The human eye finds symmetry to be interesting and attractive, and photos that emphasize symmetry create an eye-catching and appealing image. Symmetry, especially when used to frame a shot, can also help guide the eye to the central focus of the image. Symmetry doesn’t mean that the elements in your photo have to be identical; it can be constructed by using similarly shaped objects that are also alike in color or texture. Experimenting with patterns and symmetry is a fun way to challenge yourself to elevate your photography capabilities and capture photographs that are different and interesting. Playing with symmetry and pattern can also change the depth and feeling within the shot.
Whether you’re working with a smartphone camera or a more advanced digital camera, you can still make a stunning impact with your photography. Use these top tips to experiment with your photography skills to create better framed, more attractive, and eye-catching images.
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