10 Tips on How to Take Good Pictures

1. Keep her steady – the camera, that is. This is one of the biggest problems and the reason why so many of your pictures may be blurry. To help avoid this, hold the camera steady by using both hands and resting your elbows on your chest. You could also use a wall for support. Try not to tense up because you’ll just shake even more. Try and think of yourself as a marksman who needs to hold his gun steady to make the bulls-eye shot. Or just go get a tripod!

2. Work with light for a dramatic shot. The best shot, which is one you’ll surely want to put in that special wood picture frame, is the one where the sun is behind you and to one side. The front lighting brings out color and shades, while the slight side lighting gives some shadow.

3. Get close. Simple shots are best, not cluttered ones, so get closer to your subject. For a more dramatic effect, when photographing a person, fill in the whole frame with your subject’s face. There’s rarely ever a need for a full body shot.

4. Landscape or portrait? The way you hold your camera will affect its format and what is emphasized in your photograph. This can be quite obvious – shoot vertically for tall objects such as large trees, shoot horizontally (landscape) for a nice shot of the mountains.

5. Shoot people. Landscape photographs have their place, for sure, but they can get quite boring, too. Adding a person or people into the shot adds human interest. If no one is around, use the self timer and include yourself in the shot.

6. Variety is the spice of life! This saying holds true for photographs, too. If all of your photos are the same type or style, no matter how great they are – they may become dull to look at. Spice them up with variety. By this I mean include people and landscapes, wide shots and close-ups, photographs in different types of weather. A collection of shots with a lot of variety would make for a great gallery wall display when framed in identical (or similar) simple metal picture frames.

7. Adding depth to your photographs is important. Consider that the viewer is looking through a window, not just at a flat picture on paper. You can accomplish depth by assisting the eye with pointers such as a person or even a tree in the foreground of a mountain or landscape picture, or utilize a wide angle lens to exaggerate the perspective.

8. The rule of thirds. Image the frame divided into thirds, both vertically and horizontally. Some cameras have this grid as an optional display item. Place the subject of your photograph in one of the sections, avoiding the center. Always centering your subject is boring. Add variety and interest using the rule of thirds.

9. It’s all in the details. Don’t clutter up your photographs by trying to get it all in. Instead, find a representative detail by zooming in on your subject.

10. Know where the horizon should be. Where you place it determines what is emphasized in your photograph. Use a high horizon if you’re shooting the land; a low horizon for shots of the sky.

Be creative and don’t be afraid to experiment. If you have a digital camera, you’re in luck because you can shoot photographs to your heart’s content (or the capacity of your storage media) and you’re sure to end up with a great shot somewhere in the bunch.