I wanted to dedicate a separate post sharing my personal experience as I moved from Amateur to Professional level, the secrets of the basic things one can do to shoot like a professional.
Photography is an art. There are many factors involved in getting the right picture. However there are certain things one must keep in mind. When you pick up the camera to take a picture, you have something in mind. You want to preserve the moment, capture that beautiful smile of your child and so on.
Below are some tricks that would put you on the path to take pictures like a professional.
Watch the background
You and your girl friend are out on a tour to Canada, Niagara Falls. Your girl friend wants you to take a picture of her in the garden with the falls in the background. Imagine how awesome the picture would be. She chooses a place in between the lovely flowers with the falls in the background. You with your Point and Shoot \ Digital SLR camera position yourself and say “cheese” and click. You find out, there are roses in the background but a stem of 1 rose is right at the center of your girlfriend’s head. You must be like shoot, if only I saw what was in the background.
Next time when you are taking the picture and looking at your subject by the viewfinder make sure the background is clear and nothing is protruding from behind of the subject that is not needed in the picture. Spend some time to choose the background for the picture.
Use the zoom, Fill the viewfinder with the subject to make the subject prominent in the picture, thereby eliminating the less prominent items that would likely to appear in the background. Imagine a picture with yourself and 10 other things in the picture and the person who is looking at final print wanders his \ her eyes towards other things except you in the picture. Would you call that a nice picture, Naah!
Lock the focus
Many a times you just pick the camera, point it towards the person and shoot without locking the focus.
Pay attention to the light and shadows in case of indoor \ outdoor photo shoot:
Make sure the shadows are not causing the picture to look ugly. You can read my post on “Understanding Hard light and Soft light for Flash Photography” for controlling shadows.
Move it from the center:
Think out of the box. Change the level of the camera from horizontal to vertical \ slanting. Take vertical shots, slant the camera for that retro look. Moreover, try moving the subject away from the center.
Photojournalism:
Photojournalism is a form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a story. Create a story from the picture.
The next time you take a picture, try to keep these basic secrets in your mind.
The pictures you take will be admired and you will become more confident with your results.
Send in your comments – let us grow this basic list.