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How can Photography be used in everyday life

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How can Photography be used in everyday life

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How to Photograph The Beauty In Everyday Life

Photography was invented to capture the present moment and the everyday life that goes with it. Afterwards, people realized the useful and artful qualities of photography. More and more types of photography were invented. But candid photography, the realistic photography of everyday life, remains one of the most popular types It may seem simple to photograph what's next to you. You just have to point and shoot. But great photographs need a good observer. They need someone who understands what's happening and knows perfectly how to transform a common subject into a star. Here are some tips to help you master the art of photographing everyday life.

Finding the Best Subjects

Finding subjects for everyday life photography shouldn't be too complicated. From domestic objects to street snapshots, everything is what we call everyday life. You can take your camera and walk into a park or a village. Observe people going to work, playing with children, walking their pets, and doing their housework. Observe street artists, shops, local markets, and cafes. Look for stories. The key to finding best subject for candid photography is to observe common subject with the eye of a movie maker. Storytelling is essential. Look for characters. Besides actions, gestures and face expressions are also good subjects. If you take the time to notice, the world around you is full of drama.

Photo by Monica Radulescu

Traveling

Traveling will always help you find subjects for candid photography. What for local people seems a common thing or action, for you will look exotic (for example, fishing in Greece). New things attract our attention better than things we are used to. We are more careful, more interested, and we focus more on the surroundings. We travel to explore and to fill out portfolio with amazing images. Psychological speaking, we are more open to discover new aspects of life. Travel photography doesn't necessarily mean to climb the Everest. It means basically going to a new place, even if it's just the next village or a neighborhood you've never visited before.

Finding the Best Angle

Candid photography relies deeply on composition. You don't have an unique subject, so how you frame it is very important. Try different angles and perspectives in order to make things interesting. Photograph from above or from below, get really close or rotate the camera in an unusual way. Use large resolutions to have room for editing later (just in case you need it). Observe a series of images representing the same subject in different perspectives and decide which one suits it best. After practicing for a while, it will come naturally.

Be Fast

Everyday life happens fast, especially if you photograph streets and people. You have to set the camera fast and this means knowing it by heart. You also have to quickly decide on perspective, framing, and exposure. Don't overcrowd your images. Try to have simple, clean frames, with only a subject or two. One of the best feature of a photograph is its balance. Balance applies to dimensions, colors, shapes, geometrical features, and even to lights and shadows. Always think of where in the image you want you viewer's eye to land. All these decisions need to be made very fast. As always, practice is very important. You can start with still images of your everyday day life and then advance to moving items.

Photo by Erik Witsoe on Unsplash

Some say that photography is an artistic talent, which you are born with. It's true, some people find it natural to choose the best framing and see the best subjects. But even for them, practice and a solid knowledge of camera using are defining. You' ll also see that masters of photography very often return to candid photography (even when they are fashion photographers or surrealist artists). This is because the very essence of photography stays in little, common stories, that make our everyday life.

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How To Photograph The Beauty In Everyday Life

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How to Photograph The Beauty In Everyday Life Photography was invented to capture the present moment and the everyday life that goes with it. Afterwards, people realized the useful and artful qualities of photography. More and more types of photography were invented. But candid photography, the realistic photography of everyday life, remains one of the...

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At its heart, "What is Photography?" is a portrait project. It's not only about photography-it is photography. Through this series, we hope to build a community of image makers and better understand the significance of photography in its many forms. Our goal is to create portraits that reflect the many personalities comprising the series, while also maintaining aesthetic unity.

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40 pro tips by talented photographers that will help you shoot better photos, from mindset and composition to shooting and editing.

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Photography Tips and Techniques, Photography Tricks

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Great photographers have endless photography tips and techniques that help them capture incredible pictures. Now it's your turn to learn these photography tricks.

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Photography as both a profession and a hobby is an incredibly expansive topic that covers a remarkably vast range of subjects from science and art. No matter where you lie on the professional spectrum, there is simply always more to learn. We spent countless hours scouring the web for the best content we could find and share with you, and today we'll help you expand your knowledge with 100 photography related tutorials!

If you're looking for premium quality Photoshop Photo Effects or Photoshop Actions, then choose from our collection of creative options. They can transform your photos and save you time during photo editing.

You can also buy specific photo editing services on Envato Studio, such as retouching, background removal, color correction, and more.

Otherwise, let's jump into this collection of awesome photography tutorials.

Basic Theory and Technical Info

"There are many composition guidelines which can be applied in almost any situation, to enhance the impact of a scene. Below are ten of the most popular and most widely respected composition rules."

"Graphic illustrations [and explanations] of the difference between RAW and JPEG (also called JPG). Understanding this will help with an understanding of why correct exposure and white balance in the camera are important."

A basic discussion of white balance and how to respond to different lighting situations.

"Use a simple device to get perfect color in all of your shots"

"What you need to know to get the most from today's amazing high-ISO settings"

"A beginner's guide to focal lengths and how they affect photographs"

"Today, when describing their photographic style, wedding photographers typically label themselves as either photojournalists or traditionalists. "

"A look at some of the differences between shooting in Ansel Adams' era versus today"

"Shutter Priority is an auto exposure system in which the camera achieves correct exposure by selecting the aperture after the user has selected the shutter speed."

"Ever wonder what it is that actually makes a camera work? This tutorial will cover the inner workings of a camera, and introduce you into photography basics and the expansive world of taking better photographs."

Lighting

"Follow these seven helpful tips to improve your night photographs."

"In this tutorial video we'll give you tips on how to cheat Mother Nature and show you How to Create Your Own Sunshine in the Studio. "

"This case study shows how lighting was manipulated to create the perfect environment for a fashion photoshoot."

"In this lesson, we decided to keep things very simple and just illustrate some uses of this one simple shoe mount flash lighting kit, the XS OctoDome nxt Basic Kit with Grids, for both indoor and outdoor portraits."

A brief discussion on understanding the quality and directionality of light as it pertains to photography.

A basic fashion lighting setup with diagrams and examples.

"When shooting portraits, good lighting is all-important. To make sure you have it, you can buy expensive lighting rigs and multiple flash units. Or you can spend a few bucks and carry just the right mix of sun and clouds in your pack."

"Most of us can't afford a full lighting rig - however what if there was a way to experiment with the type of lighting gear that pro photographers use without spending too much money? What if you could make it yourself?"

"You're perfectly outfitted to do a beautiful, classic low-key lighting setup. Your camera's dedicated flash unit could even be set up off-camera to achieve this result."

"Every man has a unique personality and a story all his own. A portrait should honor the man and the life that's made him who he is."

"Low light photography can be a lot of fun. And you don't need to trade your soul for an expensive camera to do it. You just need to have one that has some manual setting options. I'm focusing on digital here, but I think most of what I'm going to talk about will apply to film cameras too."

"Understanding image histograms is probably the single most important concept to become familiar with when working with pictures from a digital camera. A histogram can tell you whether or not your image has been properly exposed, whether the lighting is harsh or flat, and what adjustments will work best. It will not only improve your skills on the computer, but as a photographer as well."

"The highs and lows of lighting - Karl Taylor's back to explain what high key and low key lighting is."

A great in-depth tutorial with plenty of explanation and a bonus video tut at the end.

"You might already know all about histograms, if you don't it's well worth getting your head around them because, well, they are pretty awesome. Unfortunately they are often overlooked, dismissed or misunderstood but they are very helpful especially when it comes to strobist photography."

"Here is no doubt that photographing young children can be a challenge, and never more so than when using a low-key lighting setup. So why bother? Because the drama and richness inherent in this type of lighting is SO worth it and because it's unexpected for high energy children's photography."

Macro Tuts

"For starters, I'll walk you through the gear I am shooting with and some basic technical tips, then I'll wrap this up by sharing some ideas on working with the insects and most importantly "containment" during the shoot."

"Macro product photography can be extremely challenging, but also very rewarding. Commercial opportunities for high quality product close ups are strong and growing, both in print and online."

"How to take close-up pictures of small things."

"An article on the techniques involved."

"You must be able to evaluate the potential of a subject. Some subjects you will want to pass over because there is no chance of a good moment or presentation. This is something that comes with experience."

"Shooting all styles of photography is a privilege for me but it seems to be that more true with macro photography. In this 3-part tutorial, I hope to pass along not just my technical knowledge but also my passion for macro photography."

DIY Tips and Tricks

"You can use this technique to take picture of exploding things like tomatoes, water balloons, watermelons, or even your Canon camera as you smash it against a wall for not understanding the menus."

"If you have a telephoto lens and an old 50mm lying around you might want to give this a shot. It's not too difficult of a procedure and probably won't take 2 minutes to read through this. All you'll need is a reverse ring (coupler), a step up ring, and a small piece of cardboard or folded paper."

"You don't need tons of cash to own effective lighting tools - often you can make them yourself."

"Some photographers just prefer having complete control over the lighting. Instead of the hassle and cost of renting a studio, why not create one using a room you already have? The real secret, if there is any, of making portraits in limited spaces is having the right equipment with gear that doesn't have to be expensive."

Using a cardboard box and poster board to create a makeshift studio.

"If you're like me, you don't want to spend money if you can do it yourself and yield the same results. One day I was at my local photography store I saw one of these "Pop-Up" light tents. It consisted of a collapsible white fabric box with a hole in the front and 3 lights - used for photographing small objects in photographic studios."

"A diffuser is designed to soften the effects of the flash by spreading out and dampening down the amount of light emitted, reducing the creation dark shadows while still allowing a subject to be properly lit."

"The following article describes the process for making your own lightbox for small object photography. From start to finish this project should take no longer than 30 minutes."

"Camera shake is a universal problem for photographers, yet many find the traditional tripod to be too cumbersome for everyday use. Enter the string tripod, an easy to make, easy to use little knickknack that might just solve your camera shake problems."

"Make your own for a very very cheap price, about 20 euros. The only thing is that you need to already have a cobra flash."

"What's a bokeh you say? It's that oh-so-wonderful fuzziness in the background of photographs with a shallow depth of field and accompanying starry highlights. You can create you own bokeh effects with a little craftiness."

"If you're one of those people who has been wanting to get a reflector set but doesn't want to shed the cash, you should know that there are do-it-yourself options."

"Here is a super cheap way to make a decent looking, cheap and very effective beauty dish for your speedlight. The whole project should take perhaps 20-30 minutes and shouldn't cost more than $10.00."

"After months of photographing my work with so-so results, I decided it was time to invest in a lightbox. And what better way to do it than to Do It Yourself? In search of the perfect supplies, I raided my parents basement and came across my favorite childhood toy: a box of K'nex!"

"Raw Conversion As A Studio Tool "

Helpful Techniques

"Have you looked at a landscape photographer's photo and wondered how they got the water coming down from a waterfall to look so misty? Or how did they get the ocean in a seascape photograph to look so smooth?"

"Photographer Philipp Klinger gives his advice on capturing elaborate structures.

This photography shows you how to give a city shot a neat miniaturization effect.

"Continuing the Black and White Photography theme we've been on lately in the latest forum assignment (where the photos featured in this post were submitted) I thought I'd share five pretty random Black and White Photography Tips."

"When examining their photos closely, almost every photographer has come across a situation in which a colored halo (usually purple, green or red) is apparent around certain elements of a scene. This sort of optic anomaly, more commonly known as color fringing, is known as chromatic aberration. In this article we'll understand its causes and learn ways to easily avoid it both while shooting and in post-production."

"What looks ideal? Rather than tackle the problem head-on, I've come up with a few basic guidelines that can yield a profound improvement in your landscape photographs. In fact, it's as simple as A, B, C: Angle, Balance, and Crop."

"Try this simple step-by-step process for making beautiful monochrome images."

"Tips and techniques for using shallow depth of field to add impact to your macro shots."

"Tips for better technical and creative results shooting video with your DSLR"

"How to capture the essence of your subjects"

"Despite lens makers' ads to the contrary, photographers don't always want or need tack-sharp photographs, especially for wedding or bridal portraits. The use of creative or selective blur when applied in the digital darkroom to an otherwise ordinary photograph can create a mood or look that fits an impression of the original image more than its reality."

"In contrast to using fast shutter speeds to freeze action, using long exposures is a very creative means to convey motion in a photograph. A blurred image can be a very impressionistic rendition of movement, giving the viewer a sense of sensation. "

"Turn a lighting faux pas into an element that adds punch to your photo."

"To be successful, you have to be able to effectively sell yourself. It doesn't matter if you want to do wedding photography, sports photography, product photography or simply work for the local newspaper - you have to market and sell yourself and your talent."

"When the sun sets and the rest of the photographers pack up for the night, you can get some of the most stunning and unique images."

"A sound trigger and flash snap the moment of impact."

"How to expand your photo's tonal range when HDR techniques aren't ideal"

"We have all had the experience of looking at old photographs that transport us back to a different age, whether it is 20 years ago, or 120. It can be very tempting to try to recreate a vintage look, whether for a particular emotional effect or simply because we can. But what are the actual differences, and how can we recreate them?"

"This section is designed to give a better intuitive and technical understanding for photography, and provides a depth of field calculator to show how it varies with your camera settings."

"Shutter Speed, Focal Length, Image Stabilizers and Tripods"

"You can--thanks to Alien Skin software"

"Some people associate fog with inclement weather and avoid the outdoors. Not me. I grab my camera to create some extremely exciting images. Foggy conditions elicit moody and ethereal feelings. The light is diffused and even, but very flat. Knowing how to take advantage of this allows you to create great fog photos."

"A step-by-step guide to capturing that perfect motion shot."

"Summer is a perfect opportunity to photograph children at play"

"Change the time of day and date of a picture"

"A Basic Photo Gear Recipe for Beginners and Pros"

"Whether it's your focal subject or a supporting element, these quick tips will get your feet wet"

Video Tuts

"How to use strip lighting in the studio, hosted by Light Tec in Dallas, Texas. Light Tec offers photo lighting equipment and training."

"A behind the scenes look at a photoshoot with professional Denver based photographer Adam Bonilla."

"This how-to video from John Mireles of the Photographer's Toolkit is part of a series about using the histogram to create properly exposed images with your camera. This first installment explains in simple language what is the histogram and how to read it."

"This video shows you in simple steps how to do close-up using Micro-Nikkor and third-party close-up lenses and how to do 1:1 magnification. Remember, this tutorial is for controlled situations (which means we won't show you how to do bugs, portraits, or pets at 1:1 magnification). Enjoy!"

"Terry Watson shows his technique for doing Smoke Photography"

"In this Digital Photography Tutorial we look at a quick & simple and very flexible way to manipulate colour within an image.Step behind the scenes on pro photo
shoots with our unique digital photography tutorials."

A detailed introduction to macro photography.

"Photography Tutorial - This image was shot for a Pentax advert in the UKs DSLR User Magazine. We've also used it in our downloadable photography course Digital Photography Exposed."

"This is a tutorial on how to take nightscapes using bulb. In this video I describe how I capture star trails, how to set up your camera and how to light subjects in your image."

"This month's lesson teaches the difference between hard and soft light. Light is a main ingredient to any photograph and this video gives you a better understanding. Enjoy"

"Using the smick.co.uk 120cm octagonal softbox Gavin Hoey shows how by just using this one softbox and a 400Ws studio flash head for his studio lighting setup to produce some quality portraits. Live action show shows how Gavin uses several different lighting setups and shows you just how to produce quality results in a simple to understand way."

A video explaining the basic gear and techniques you need to be familiar with for professional lighting.

"Photography lighting can be natural light, ambient light or studio light, which should include a main light, a fill light and a back light. Create subtle shadows and perfect lighting with helpful tips from a freelance photographer in this free video on digital photography."

"A trend that is becoming more and more popular in Photography recently is a vintage/film/retro style. You can see examples in Urban Outfitters, Nylon Mag, Anthropologie, etc. One of the major elements in this style is the light leak."

Focus stacking: a macro photography technique.

"Create a larger, more sophisticated studio photography lighting setup but still use simple materials."

From the Archives: 10 Awesome Phototuts+ Articles

We don't want to toot our own horn or anything but we firmly believe we have some of the best free content on the web for photographers. Below are ten excellent articles from our archives that you should definitely take a loot at.

"Other than a subject, you'll need a background, some light and some props. Props are really optional, but I'll cover them later as well. Where most photographers get hung up is the light."

"By applying the simple rules of Hyperfocal Distance you can be sure that you are shooting images which are sharp from foreground to background on almost every occasion. I will be using an image that I took recently of Castlerigg Stone Circle to show you how you can put these simple rules into practice so that you can obtain maximum depth of field (DOF) in all your landscape images."

"Do you ever see a picture and wonder how the photographer obtained perfect lighting on a subject? You might be asking "What kind of flash does he use?" or "What are the settings on his camera to get such lighting?" In this tutorial, I will be explaining the secrets to turning your pictures into perfection. "

"Light has the ability to create many different types of dramatic effect, though there is none as vivid as cross polarization. It awakens the imagination with its vibrance of colors. Though this technique was popular 20+ years ago, it seems to have been lost in the digital shuffle. This tutorial will walk you through the process and equipment to experiment with cross polarization."

" This tutorial will give you a better understanding of focus and sharpness, and hopefully help you take photographs that you're very happy with!"

"So why does black and white photography command such acclaim? One reason is that colour is a distraction. It takes attention away from the visual building blocks of a great photo; texture, tonal contrast, shape, form and lighting. A photographer shooting in black and white has to learn how to use all these elements to create a memorable image."

"Adobe Camera RAW (not to be confused with RAW picture format your camera takes) is a powerful tool for editing and tweaking your photography. The software gives you artistic control over your files while still maintaining the original photo. I like to call it non-destructive editing."

"Flatter your portrait subject with the perfect background, even if you don't have professional backdrops or lighting. A little exposure and composition know-how can get you a long way toward a beautiful portrait background"

"This tutorial will make for a fun weekend project that has the potential to spark your imagination, teach you some interesting lighting techniques and even give you some great shots for your portfolio. It's a great way to spend a few hours, experimenting and honing your photography skills."

Share Your Favorite Tuts!

The huge list above barely scratches the surface of the excellent free tutorials you can find online. Leave a comment below with a link to some tutorials or blogs that you've either written or have helped you out a lot as a photographer. Also, if you need high quality Photoshop Photo Effects or Photoshop Actions, then choose from our collection of creative options available for purchase on GraphicRiver.

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100 Helpful Photography Tutorials for Beginners and Professionals

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Photography as both a profession and a hobby is an incredibly expansive topic that covers a remarkably vast range of subjects from science and art. No matter where you lie on the professional spectrum, there is simply always more to learn.

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It's always possible - and preferable! - to pick up new photography tips, explore new and existing techniques, and improve your ability to conceptualize, create and capture images.

Regardless of whether you're a raw rookie, an eager enthusiast or a practicing professional, there's always something fresh to learn or an old bad habit to put right. So, from your core camera craft to advanced lighting and composition, through to basic and high-level post production, this huge compendium of tips puts together some of the best fundamentals and cutting edge tricks to help you improve your photography and get the most out of your camera.

If you're looking to take perfect portraits, shoot luscious landscape, capture wonderful wildlife shots and master macro, or if you're after some quick editing tips for Photoshop, Lightroom or Affinity, this is the essential guide for you.

We've arranged these photography tips and tricks into three main sections: camera craft, pro advice and photo-editing tips, so you can get started and improve your images right away. And below you'll find a thorough index of video tutorials and projects, which will take you through techniques step-by-step!

Landscape photography tips

Getting the most out of sunsets needs patience and timing. The best pictures are usually when the sun is close to the horizon and clouds are lit from below. And a telephoto lens can often give more impact than a wide-angle.

You can maximise depth of field in landscapes by focusing at the 'hyperfocal' distance. This is where the far distance is at the far limit of your lens's depth of field, and this also gives you the best depth of field nearer the camera.

Wide-angle lenses are great for capturing wide, sweeping landscapes, but they can also capture lots of empty foreground, so look out for rocks, trees, gates or other objects you can include to add foreground interest.

You can capture silky smooth water or softly blurred moving clouds by putting your camera on a tripod and using a long exposure. And if the light is too bright for a long exposure, you can either use an ND filter or wait until dusk!

Use 'leading lines' in your landscape photos to draw your viewers' eyes into the picture. A leading line could be a jetty on a lake, a line of rocks or a footpath winding its way into the distance.

It's tempting to use a wide-angle lens to capture a great swathe of floral color, but this can lead to individual blooms being lost. Instead, use a telephoto lens to pick out single flowers or clumps - this will also add artistic blur to the background.

Lakes and rivers can produce beautiful reflections that add foreground interest and a peaceful symmetry to a scene. If you get right down low, even a small pool or puddle can provide a reflection.

Landscape photography can often mean balancing extremes of brightness in bright skies and shadowed foregrounds. Make sure you don't clip any highlights in the sky before you shoot by checking your camera's histogram.

Not all tripod heads are well adapted to vertical shooting, especially with large and heave camera and lens combinations. The solution is an L-bracket, where you mount the camera sideways on the bracket, but the bracket attaches to the tripod head normally. This is great for horizontal 'pano' shots, too.

Portrait photography tips

'Rembrandt', 'Clamshell', 'Backlight', 'Rim-lighting' - these are all tried and trusted portrait lighting setups, each of which gives its own distinctive look. If you practice getting these set up, it leaves you free to concentrate on your subject.

If you're photographic head and shoulders portraits with a speedlight, the secret is to move it off-camera and use a softbox or other flash modifier to give a softer light. This will immediately give a more rounded, flattering light for faces.

Photographing couples is not as easy as it sounds. The answer is not to show them side by side in a perfectly symmetrical arrangement, but to find off-center poses or activities where your couples are at a different height.

Natural light is softer and easier to work with than flash, and by changing the distance between your model and the window, you can change the intensity and softness of the light.

Work out what lighting you're going to use, the clothing your model is going to wear, and work out a list of poses you want to try. The model may have some ideas too. The more you can plan ahead, the more stress-free the session.

You don't need a high-powered professional flash here, just your camera's built-in flash or an external speedlight. The idea is to just brighten the shadows, not to overpower the existing ambient light.

Most camera and flash makers now offer remote wireless flash control for one or more flashguns, and this is a great way to experiment with different lighting angles and setups - and there won't be any cables to trip over.

It's an old technique but a great one. Instead of pointing the flash directly at your subject, you turn it to 'bounce' it off a nearby wall, ceiling or other reflective surface. This is why more advanced speedlights have tilt and swivel heads.

It's a classic cinema technique, using gobos (something that 'goes between' the light and the subject) to create the lighting pattern of window frames or Venetian blinds, for example, and you can use the same technique for portrait photography too.

You can get beautiful baby and newborn portraits using soft lighting and a prime lens with a very fast maximum aperture. The shallow depth of field emphasises the softness of the subject.

Posed group shots can look very staged and static, so for smaller groups try finding an activity or an action that breaks the ice and captures movement and expressions in a more natural way.

You can get a professional 'headshot' look in a home studio, using a single flash, a softbox and a plain backdrop. It doesn't need expensive gear, just a little practice with lighting and a little patience in setting up.

It's not always easy to find someone to model for you as you practice your lighting techniques, so here's our top tip: Purchase a mannequin head! We agree that they're not great company, but they don't complain and they have the same shapes and features as human heads and are perfect for polishing up your portrait skills.

Night-time portraits can be very atmospheric and colorful, but often then need some subtle supplementary lighting to fill in the shadows and bring out your subject against a bright background. An off-camera flash is idea, or a portable LED panel may be better still, especially if you want to shoot video too.

Macro photography tips

Try focus stacking to keep tiny subjects sharp from front to back. Some cameras can do focus stacking internally; otherwise you can merge 'focus stack' frames in photo editing software.

Extension tubes go between the camera body and the lens to allow it to focus far closer than normal. You need to get extension tubes to fit your camera system, so check before you buy.

Close-up filters are another low-cost route into macro photography. They are simple correction lenses that screw on to the front of your lens, and they usually come in threes, to be used individually or combined for an even stronger effect.

You can easily create a portable DIY light tent for outdoor flower photography. It shields your subjects from wind and rain, evens up the lighting and saves you from disturbing plants where they are growing.

Never heard of focus bracketing? It's allied to focus stacking, where you (or the camera) shoot a series of shots at slightly different focus points and combine them later for more depth of field than you could get with a single shot.

Animal photography tips

This is a good place to practice your wildlife photography skills before you take that once in a lifetime trip to the Serengeti. It starts with choosing the right lenses, but there's more to it than that.

Pets make perfect portrait subjects, and the rules are similar to those for human portraits, especially those of children - you need to get down to their level!

Zoos are full of exotic animals, but they are also full of mesh fences and smeary glass windowpanes. Here's one tip to get you started: get your lens right up against the fence or window and use a wide aperture to throw it way out of focus.

Start by researching the best location, use the longest telephoto you can afford/carry, and learn your camera's autofocus modes before you start. Then you just need to practice, practice and practice your panning technique.

33. Build a photography bean bag and get stable shots without a tripod

Get stable shots with a simple DIY bean bag to support your camera. You can put it on the ground on a wall or on the roof of your car, and mold it to fit the shape of your camera.

Magnum Learn: Street photography tips

(Image credit: Henri-Cartier Bresson/Magnum Photos)

Professional street photographers have different interpretations of 'street photography'. Don't assume your own style has to conform with what others have done. It's your own unique 'eye' that's important.

Decide where you stand - both literally, as in the best locations for your work - and ethically. What is it that you want to say about your subjects and their world, and are you representing them fairly?

This is the advice from the legendary Martin Parr: "The basic theory is the more rubbish you take, the better the chances of a good photo emerging, so keep on taking the rubbish."

Street photography needn't mean 'stolen' images and subterfuge, and many photographers may be uncomfortable with this. But you can also engage with your subjects, explain what you are doing and ask permission. You may learn something about their lives that you might never have imagined.

Tips using filters

Landscape photographers love graduated filters for taming bright skies, but a 10-stop ND (neutral density) filter could prove the landscape photographer's best friend by allowing super-long exposures for silky blur effects.

You can use software recreate the effect of a polarising filter on a blue sky, but polarisers do much more than this. They also cut through reflections in glass to reveal what's behind windows, display cabinets and glazed pictures.

The world looks very different when revealed using nothing but infra-red light, and you can get lens filters which cut out visible light and leave only this invisible longer-wavelength light.

For this colorful abstract technique, all you need is a polarising filter and a selection of transparent plastic objects. A low cost school set of rulers, protractors and set squares will work perfectly.

Sometimes the sky in a landscape is just so bright that you can't find an exposure that captures both the sky and the landscape itself. This is where you need a graduated filter, which is part of any landscape photographer's essential kit.

Polarizing filters have many effects, but one of them is to deepen blue skies - and the deeper the blue to start with, the stronger the effect. There is a knack to using them, though, and be aware that you can get uneven sky tone if you use them with wide-angle lenses.

ND filters let you use very long exposures in broad daylight, to product silky-smooth motion blur effects in water and skies, but they can be tricky to use because they are almost completely opaque! A mirrorless camera may be able to 'see' through them, but with a DSLR you will need to check the exposure and composition before attaching the filter - and then apply the necessary exposure correction for that filter.

Creative photography tips

You can make objects appear to hang in mid-air using a combination of clever shooting setups and quick and simple retouching techniques later. It sounds complicated, but it's really quite simple to do.

Did you know you can take pictures with your lens detached from the body and angled manually to create Lensbaby-style tilt-shift effects? All you need to do is check your camera settings and make sure it will still shoot with no lens attached.

It's one of the oldest and simplest forms of photography, and doesn't even need a lens! Pinhole photography is easy - just make a tiny hole in your camera's body cap, set the camera to manual exposure, put it on a tripod and experiment with shutter speed.

POV (point of view) photography was invented with action cams, but you can get some great angles and photo ideas by trying it out with a regular camera. All you need to do is get your hands or your face in the foreground and looking into the scene.

Night shots can show the world in a whole new light (ahem), but very often the foreground is lost in dark shadow. All you need to do is take along an LED light or a flashlight, and 'paint' light over the objects or areas in a scene where it's needed.

This can be a great way of capturing unique perspectives on the world of nature, with close-ups captured right down at ground level and looking up, as if each plant is a giant tree reaching up into the sky. All you need is a macro les and camera with a tilting screen.

We've all seen those amazing light 'orbs' suspended in mid-air in pictures taken at night, and they look impossibly intricate to create - but they're not. You just need to swing a flashlight round in a circle by hand, or on the end of a string, and slowly move your body through 360 degrees. If you keep moving, the camera won't see you, only the light trail.

It's in every wedding photographer's portfolio, but how is it done? How do you get a heart shape from a circular ring? It's because of the v-shaped fold in the spine of an open book and how it distorts the circular shadow... and how you light it, too. Clever, eh?

Camera hacks and DIY
57. DIY softbox: how to build your own lighting modifier
61. Water drop photography: freeze water splashes with off-camera flash
Astrophotography tips

Motion photography tips

Still life photography tips

Analog photography tips

Camera and equipment tips

Stay tuned as we will be constantly updating this page with the latest techniques, photo projects, instructionals and camera guides to help you get the most out of your photography.

And for even more videos, make sure to check out our best-selling photography publications, Digital Camera magazine, PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine, Digital Photographer and N-Photo. Each issue comes with a free disc packed with photography projects, techniques and tutorials, Photoshop lessons and much more. These are broken down into detailed guides in the magazine pages, too, so you can bring the mag along and follow the steps on your next shoot.

Shooting tips

69. Go eye-to-eye with nature

Take the same approach for portraits of animals and plants as you do for portraits of people. That means getting 'eye to eye' with the subject with a relatively long lens and using a reasonably large aperture, such as f/4, to help separate them from busy background details. At close distances, only a small part of the subject will be sharp, so care needs to be taken with focusing.

70. Find a frame to shoot through

A framing device can help to funnel a viewer's attention to the right place in a picture, add context and structure - and mask 'dead' areas, too. Frames can be actual frames, such as shooting through an open door or a window, or implied, such as the branches of a tree. They can also be diffuse - try positioning the camera close to flowers and shooting a subject beyond them to add a soft, colourful frame.

71. Using flash in daylight

If you find that you're coming unstuck with your exposures when you're trying to mix natural light and flash, switch off the flash and set the exposure for the daylight first. Use Manual mode so that the settings stay locked in on the camera, and base your exposure on the brightest part of the scene. Finally, switch on the flash and use this to brighten up the darker areas of the scene for a balanced result.

72. Sharp shots without a tripod

There are times when it isn't wise to set up a tripod, such as on a bustling city street, and times when you need to stay mobile. Shutter speed becomes a prime concern in these situations; increasing the ISO, employing shake reduction, firing short bursts of shots, pulling the camera strap taut and bracing yourself against a wall or other available 'furniture' can all help.

73. Shooting in a new location

While it's easy to explore Google Images to get a feel for the photographic potential of a location, if you're visiting a spot for the first time, it's worth pausing and getting a sense of place before trying to express it in an image. It might be tempting to attach your camera to your tripod, but there's a lot to be said for exploring different viewpoints with a handheld camera to find the right angle and height to shoot from first.

74. Include odd numbers

Odd number of objects typically give more balanced compositions than even numbers, whether you're shooting a group portrait, a sporting event or a landscape. So three is not a crowd... it will usually look better than a pair

75. Use the dioptre adjustment

Many cameras enable the viewfinder sharpness to be improved using a feature called dipotre adjustment. Keep an eye on the readout in the viewfinder rather than looking at the image as you make any adjustments.

76. Activate highlight warning

You can set the playback display to flash a warning for highlights that are at risk of being exposed, which is a quick way to check exposure. Read more: How to always get your exposure right

77. Remember to reset your camera

If you've been making adjustments to your camera for a specific shot, such as dialling in exposure compensation, don't forget to return the settings to normal when you finish shooting, ready for next time.

78. Pre-focus for action

If you're able to predict where a moving subject is going to be, pre-focus the lens on that spot: this can speed up the time it takes for the autofocus system to lock onto the subject and give you a much better chance of grabbing the shot.

79. Try Shutter Priority

For sharp shots, you need a fast shutter speed. To guarantee this, use Shutter Priority, dialling in your preferred shutter speed, and switch to Auto ISO; the camera will adjust the aperture and sensitivity according to the light

80. Try Aperture Priority

Shooting in Aperture Priority mode enables you to control the depth of field as well as the exposure. Keep an eye on the camera's shutter speed in the viewfinder, though, otherwise you might end up with shots ruined by camera shake.

81. Check the AF mode

Make sure that you use One Shot/Single Servo for stationary subjects and AI Servo/Continuous Servo to keep track of moving ones.

82. Close-up depth of field

The closer you are to a subject, the shallower the depth of field is. If this results in too much blur, try moving farther away and crop the shot to a tighter composition later.

83. Spot metering

For more accurate exposures, switch to spot metering and aim the metering area at a part of the subject you want to be recorded as a mid-tone. Use your camera's exposure lock function to lock this setting before recomposing the shot.

84. Shoot sharp landscapes

Small apertures such as f/16 and f/22 increase the depth of field, or the amount of front-to-back sharpness. Perfect for landscapes, you might think. The trade-off is that they lead to softer pictures due to the effects of diffraction (where the light rays are bent out of shape as they pass through the small hole). For sharper details, it may be worth sacrificing a little depth of field and using an aperture that's a couple of stops down from the smallest setting.

85. Working with a tripod

A tripod enables you to close the aperture of your shot down if you require a greater depth of field, and also to reduce your ISO to the highest quality setting. It's also essential when you want to shoot longer exposures in low light, but a combination of strong gusts and spongy ground can make things tricky. In these conditions, you may have to resort to setting up on a firm area and keeping the tripod low, shielding the legs from the wind with your body. Read more: 7 golden rules of tripod stability

86. Brush up on your reflector skills

To prevent your portrait-sitter from squinting into the sun, position them so their back is towards the sun and use a reflector to bounce light onto their face, 'feathering' the reflected light rather than bouncing it directly into their eyes. It's worth experimenting with different reflectors. A silver one adds a clean, crisp quality; a white one gives softer results that are often easier to blend in. Gold reflectors add warmth, but use them with care.

87. Shoot more flattering portraits

The low-contrast light afforded by cloudy but bright days is great for portraits as you won't get ugly shadows under eyebrows and noses, or glare on people's skin. Focal lengths of 85mm and longer are more flattering than shorter lengths. The angle you shoot at also counts: shooting from slightly below eye level implies confidence and power, while shooting from slightly above is slimming and intimate. Read more: The three lenses every portrait photographer should consider

88. Get set up for candids

Things happen quickly when you're shooting candids, so you need to have your camera ready to go. Avoid using a brightly coloured camera strap, and wrap it around your wrist rather than over your shoulder. Hold the camera at chest or head height, where it's quicker to get it up to your eye. Not only does enable you to react faster, it's less likely to attract your subject's attention.

89. Expose to the right

To get the best-quality results, shoot in your camera's raw file format and try to use an exposure that produces a histogram that just reaches the right-hand edge of the graph; avoid pushing the histogram over the edge, though. You can then bring the exposure to your preferred level when you process the image in raw software back at home.

90. Use the histogram

When you check the histogram on your camera display, its shape represents the dynamic range of the scene you're photographing, while the width of the graph represents the dynamic range of the camera. If there are gaps to the far left or right of the histogram, these indicate over- or under-exposure, so some exposure adjustments may be required. Read more: How to read a histogram

91. Raw histogram

The preview and histogram that can be viewed on the camera are based on a JPEG version of the image, even if you took the shot using your camera's raw format. The raw file holds a wider dynamic range than a JPEG, so to get a more representative histogram, set the Picture Style/Picture Control to a low-contrast, neutral setting.

92. Seeing in black and white

If you'd like total control over how your image is converted to black and white, it's better to shoot in colour then make it mono in software. We'd recommend shooting in your camera's raw format, as it gives you so much scope for playing around with the image later, although you can set your camera to its Monochrome picture style to get a black-and-white preview on the rear screen.

93. Getting close to wildlife

Using a long lens means that you don't need to get as physically close to a wild animal as you would otherwise, but understanding the subject and fieldcraft are more important than camera equipment. Wear rustle-free clothing that breaks up your shape; make sure your outline doesn't break the skyline; and approach mammals with the wind in your face so your scent isn't carried towards them.

94. Long exposures

Yes, long-exposure seascapes have been done to death - but, done well, a bit of blur in the water and sky can still go a long way to lifting a coastal composition. Getting a shutter speed slow enough to achieve the effect in bright light requires a strong ND filter. If you're using a square filter system, check that the filter is in the slot nearest the lens, and ensure the viewfinder is shielded. Use mirror lock-up or Live View to prevent vibrations and fire the shutter with a remote release.

95. Use a preset white balance

Your camera's auto white balance setting will attempt to neutralise strong colour casts, but setting a preset that matches the light source can give better results. You can also use an 'incorrect' white balance creatively: try the Shade setting to add warmth to a sunset, for example, or Tungsten/Incandescent to cool down a daylight scene. Read more: Cheat sheet - White balance presets

96. Keep the horizon level

Use your camera's electronic level, a hotshoe spirit level or the grid display to make sure the horizon is level in your shot. If you don't have time to use these options, a quick and dirty option is to use the edges of the AF points in the viewfinder.

97. Shoot into the light

Shooting into the light can produce dramatic results, although you need to be conscious of lens flare. If you have square filters in place you'll have to ditch the lens hood, so be prepared to shield the front of the lens with a hand or hat held out of the frame

98. Shoot in the blue hour

Twilight, or 'the blue hour' as it's sometimes referred to, is a great time of the day to shoot cityscapes and floodlit architecture, as the sky will have some colour instead of being an empty black void. Not only does this look more interesting, it also makes for more balanced exposures.

99. Pan with action

Moving the camera at the same speed as a moving object means the subject will remain in the same position in the frame and will be recorded sharply. Experiment with the shutter speed: the slower the shutter speed, the more the background will blur, conveying greater speed.

100. Double-check the background

Details in the background can take viewers' attention from the main subject. They don't have to be obvious colourful road signs: even the out-of-focus line of the horizon will be a distraction if it runs directly behind a person's head. For clean shots, look for clear backgrounds that are well separated from the subject. Darker backdrops tend to work better than bright ones, but be mindful of patches of bright sky through trees.

101. Develop an eye for abstracts

The middle of the day, during the non-magic hours like the golden hour and the blue hour, is often a great time to go looking for abstracts to shoot. With an abundance of light, you're less likely to need a tripod, and the hard light can be used to accentuate shadow, form, texture and tone. Alternatively, head out on overcast days, when the sky acts like a giant softbox, making it easy to pick out fine details.

102. Choose good shoes

Don't underestimate the importance of comfy shoes. Whether you're pounding the cobbles in pursuit of street photography or chasing the light in the hills, you'll be more inclined to walk farther and shoot for longer if your feet aren't sore. Waterproof boots or Wellingtons are a must for shooting at the coast or when you're photographing a waterfall, where the best views typically involve getting your feet wet.

103. Avoid camera shake

The rule of thumb when it comes to beating camera shake is to make sure the shutter speed is equivalent to or faster than the effective focal length of the lens - so at least 1/100 sec for a 100mm lens on a full-frame camera. If you're shooting on a camera with a smaller sensor, multiply the focal length and shutter speed by the crop factor: 1.5 for APS-C sensors (1.6 for Canon APS-C models) and 2 for Micro Four Thirds.

104. Be prepared to get down and dirty

Don't photograph everything from your eye level: finding a higher vantage point or getting down low can help your pictures stand out. Shooting from a low angle makes subjects look more imposing and allows you to draw viewers into a picture: look for leading lines to pull the eye from the foreground to the subject. A camera that has a fold-out LCD screen or Wi-Fi compatibility for seeing the Live View feed on a smartphone can help with framing.

105. Focus for close-ups

You need to be very careful to make sure your focus point is absolutely spot-on when you're at close proximity to a subject, as the depth of field is minimal. It can often be better to put the camera on a tripod, switch to manual focus and magnify the Live View display so that you can position the focus precisely.

106. Travel light

For urban photography, you want the minimum amount of kit. A fully loaded camera bag feels heavier as the day goes on, so stick with just one or two lenses. Bag type is down to preference: backpacks spread the load, but a shoulder bag gives you faster access. Read more: The 10 best travel cameras

107. Dealing with high contrast

If a scene includes an expanse of light sky and a dark foreground, fit a graduated neutral-density filter to the lens to help balance the exposure. Alternatively, take two shots, one with the sky exposed correctly and the other with the land exposed correctly, and blend the exposures in software.

108. Background exposure

If the background of a shot is much darker than the subject, the result may be overexposed, so try setting exposure compensation to -1 or -2. To prevent a much brighter background causing the camera to underexpose, try exposure compensation of +1 or +2.

109. Use Manual exposure

If the light is consistent and you have time to set the shutter speed and aperture, use your camera's Manual exposure mode. This locks the exposure setting in, so it makes a good choice for keeping a subject correctly exposed even when the background changes.

110. Lens corrections

If you're planning on working up your shots in your preferred raw conversion or photo editing software, like Camera Raw or Lightroom, it pays to frame views a little wider than perhaps feels natural when you're shooting. The reason for this is that if you correct lens distortions in software, you can end up losing detail at the edge of the picture.

111. Street smarts

Approaching strangers and asking to take their portraits can be a challenge, but a little chutzpah really pays off. Even if it sounds like your idea of hell, making it obvious that you're taking pictures can elicit interesting reactions. In fact, skulking in the shadows and sniping with a long lens is a sure-fire way to attract the wrong kind of attention.

112. Avoid sensor dust

Although it's easy enough to digitally remove dust spots on images, you can reduce the chances of dust being deposited on the camera sensor by avoiding changing lenses in exposed and windy locations. If you're working in these conditions, consider fitting a zoom lens so that you don't have to change lenses so often.

113. Set the AF point

If you let the camera choose the autofocus point automatically, it will often focus on the nearest object. Instead, set your camera to its singlepoint AF mode and move the active point so that it's positioned over the subject that you want to be sharp

114. Use Auto ISO in Manual mode

Your camera's Auto ISO function can be a life-saver, as you can freely adjust your exposure settings and the camera will automatically raise the ISO sensitivity at a preset shutter speed, so you don't need to worry about camera shake. It can also be used in Manual exposure mode, allowing you to set your preferred combination of aperture and shutter speed, with the Auto ISO function ensuring you get a consistent exposure in changing light.

115. Shooting in the rain

Don't be just a fair-weather photographer: rain's where it's at! The most challenging aspect of shooting in driving rain isn't keeping yourself dry, it's keeping raindrops off the front of the lens. The shallow hoods made for wideangle lenses are pretty useless in this regard. Our advice? Fit a UV filter and soak up any water just before you fire the shutter. It never hurts to pack more microfibre cloths than you think you'll need, too.

116. Shooting in bright sunshine

Although the best light for shooting on a scorching summer day is typically at the start and end of the day - the so-called 'golden hours' - a clear sky does have its advantages. There'll be plenty of light, enabling the use of low ISOs and fast shutter speeds for sharp shots. Use a polarising filter to reduce glare and reflections in landscapes, and a reflector or burst of flash to open up the shadows in a portrait.

117. Take an extra battery

Cold weather saps battery life, so to keep your camera working when the temperature drops, keep a spare charged battery warm in an inner jacket pocket. If you start to run out of power, consider not using power-hungry functions such as image stabilisation and Live View.

Photographer tips

118. Take pictures you love

Doug Chinnery, Abstract Photographer, says: "The 'Photography Police' can only exist if we allow them to. No-one should tell you what your images should look like. "Make pictures that, first and foremost, you love. Then, if others love them too, so be it. But if they don't, be proud that you are following your own creative path and not being forced to follow the herd. This takes creative courage and conviction, but leads to producing stronger, more fulfilling work."

119. Sharpness is over-rated

"Let a little blur into your life", says Doug Chinnery, Abstract Photographer. "Bring in a bit of wobble. Shallow depth of field and intentional camera movement can be used creatively, allowing your audience to make up their own stories about what's happening in your images."

120. Print your own work

"Would you give your camera to someone else to make your photos? So why let someone else make your prints? The print is the culmination of the creative process, and nothing beats making a finely crafted print. No commercial printer cares about your images like you do. Don't kid yourself that the prints they make are as good as they could be." - Doug Chinnery, Abstract Photographer

121. Develop your vision

Abstract photographer Doug Chinnery says: "Copying the photographs of others is a great way to learn techniques as a beginner. But to really grow as a photographer, we need to look at the world through our own eyes and use the skills we have learned to make images that show our unique creative vision."

122. Ditch the tripod

Landscape photographer Andrew Fusek Peters says: "Go guerrilla with your landscape photography! Ditch the tripod and endless filters, and shoot hand-held, exposing for the sky at dusk or dawn. It's much quicker to frame hand-held, and you can recover shadows and blacks in post."

123. Straighten it out

Fine-art photographer Lorna Yabsley, author of the Busy Girl's Guide To Digital Photography and teacher of one-to-one photography training, says "Pay attention to keeping horizons level in your frame - it can make or break a shot."

124. Process with care

Fine-art photographer Lorna Yabsley says: "Always spend a little bit of time to process your favourite images. Less is more: lifting the shadows, lightening and brightening and subtle sharpening can bring out the best in your shot."

125. Invest in a prime lens

"A prime 50mm lens is an indispensable, inexpensive piece of kit to have, giving beautiful crisp images and the ability to open up the lens really wide for maximum shallow depth of field" - Fine-art photographer Lorna Yabsley

126. Reinvent the wheel

"If you're buying an SLR camera, it's always worth having a dedicated command wheel to control your shutter and your aperture independently, making manual exposure easier" - Fine-art photographer Lorna Yabsley.

127. Get trained

Fine-art photographer Lorna Yabsley says "Invest in some good-quality one-to-one training, to fast-track your way to getting off auto and shooting manually. This will put you in control of your image-making. And learn basic processing techniques to give your work professional polish."

128. Trial and error

Creative photographer Mark A Hunter says: "Don't get hung up on nailing a shot first time. For example, rather than determining exactly what depth of field to use, put your camera into Aperture Priority mode and grab a few different shots at a range of apertures - you might surprise yourself with the results."

129. Give yourself assignments

Fine-art photographer James Stanford says: "Sometimes knowing what to shoot is a big relief. Other times, being extemporaneous is the way to go. I love to go out and see what the universe is presenting to me on any given day. Learning to be sensitive to what is out there with no preconceived idea is a wonderful way to discover new subject matter. But only looking for the shot that presents itself in the moment seldom creates new technical skills. In order to master the camera, I give myself special assignments. Giving yourself an assignment helps you to learn about photography and your equipment. By knowing what you want to achieve, you can plan things out. This way you can slow things down. Shoot and confirm. Take notes. Concentrate on getting the shot just right! You will learn to master Aperture Priority, shutter speed, ISO, manual settings, and more."

130. Research your subject

Nature photographer Roeselien Raimond says: "No matter whether it's an animal you are trying to photograph or some kind of phenomenon, the more you know about your subject, the better you will be able to anticipate what's to come. Learn to know when animals breed, hunt and sleep. Find out when mist or thunder is likely to occur. It might cost some time, but it's an investment that will pay off."

131. Explore!

Travel and urban photographer Nico Goodden says: "If you want to succeed as a photographer while always learning and never being bored, do not fear exploring other genres. Instead, be wary of people who tell you to stick to a single genre or niche - it may not be the very best advice if you look at life as an opportunity to discover new things. I have found that instead of hindering my development, shooting a multitude of genres has taught me many transferable skills and brought exciting new clients and commissions through the variety of what I shoot, eventually snowballing into even more unexpected commissions."

132. Choose your moments

Architectural and travel photographer Denys Nevozhai says: "The main thing I've learned about photography is to not be obsessed with photography, and shoot only the most worthwhile moments or scenes. The realisation that you need to verify and edit too many photos will make you postpone the process, lose excitement and eventually pile all the set."

133. Think about light

Reportage and travel photographer Stuart Freedman says: "Light is key to photography. Learn to visualise the final image and move if it looks like it's not going to work."

134. Relax and talk to people

Reportage and travel photographer Stuart Freedman says: "Great pictures aren't usually luck. Often they're the result of a negotiation between the photographer and subject. A smile goes a long way. Relax and, crucially, be honest. Explain what you're doing: if people trust you, it'll show."

135. Dreamy portraits

Fine-art photographer Lorna Yabsley says: "For dreamy portraits, open up your lens to the widest aperture, and shoot your subject into the light. Use exposure compensation to push your exposure and to expose for shadows."

136. Use a tripod

Natural history and wildlife photographer Adrian Davies says: "I always try to use a good solid tripod for my natural history work, particularly when I'm shooting subjects such as plants. Not only do they hold the camera nice and still, enabling slow shutter speeds, but they also slow you down, making you look carefully at all parts of the frame for distracting items, and deciding on the correct aperture before releasing the shutter." Read more: The best tripods for travel

137. Buy some smoked salmon!

Adrian Davies says: "I use a wide range of reflectors for bouncing light into shadow areas of subjects such as plants and fungi. One I use a lot with fungi in particular on dull autumn days are the pieces of card that come in smoked salmon packs, gold on one side. They give the subject a nice warm tone."

138. Visual missionary

Art photographer Paul Hill says: "The power of the medium to inform and reveal, whether publicly or privately, cannot be overestimated. Most of us see hundreds of photographs every day, but do we even look at one to find out what it 'says'? Photography is an essential part of modern life, with millions made every day, and thousands of manufacturers and service industries dependent on it. The effect on our civilisation is enormous. Practitioners should feel uncomfortable regurgitating clichés. They should be visual missionaries, converting the public to the importance of the medium with the power of their images. Photography can be fun, of course, but its makers have to take it seriously. As well as being attracted to the unusual and unexpected, I am mindful of three things when making a photograph: frame, light and vantage point."

139. Part of a team

Wedding and commercial photographer Kate Hopewell-Smith says: "Learning to direct and pose are key skills for any people photographer, but successful portraiture is down to teamwork. The photographer needs to give energy and enthusiasm - but so does the subject, or the results will not be as successful as they should be."

140. Speak out

Art photographer Cig Harvey says: "Bear in mind that your camera is a tool to help your creativity. I love the idea that our cameras are just expensive pencils - it is what we have to say that is important."

141. Be open

Street photographer Ryan Hardman says: "Don't hide your camera when taking street images, because this often puts people on edge. Just have the camera around your neck and when you see someone exciting, bring the camera up to your eye and snap away. If the subject stops you and asks why you are taking images of them, just politely explain why you have done so and the intentions of your image - for yourself, competitions or magazines."

142. Shoot with a theme in mind

Ryan Hardman says: "Often street photography can be lacking a theme, making the image the photographer has taken become weak or uninteresting. My best advice would be to think about a theme and reason for the capture of street photography other than because the subject was interesting. This will in turn help when you're confronted by a person who is outraged you have photographed them. Trust your gut - if the subject feels on edge and aggressive, don't photograph them."

143. Be street-savvy and sensitive

Ryan Hardman says: "Street photography is not about proving we are in a better place than the subjects. My greatest advice would be to stay away from the homeless or disadvantaged, to make sure as photographers that we are not taking advantage or photographing subjects unethically."

144. Break the fourth wall

Street photographer Ryan Hardman says: "I used to ask for an image of the subject first, but now I take my images without asking - the reason for this is to create exciting subjects that break the fourth wall and look into the lens of the camera, which means the viewer will connect with the image."

145. Have 'fill' light available

Wedding and commercial photographer Kate Hopewell-Smith says: "Location portraits come into their own when there is some beautiful back light to give separation and mood. However, this does leave your subject's face in shade, so use a reflector or an on-camera flash (probably in high-speed sync mode due to fast shutter speeds outside)."

146. Aim for a response

Travel photographer Lottie Davies says: "When processing your files, think about the emotional response of your audience. Do you want people to feel positive about the subject of the image? If so you might tend towards warm, rich tones. If you'd like a sense of calm contemplation, consider a less punchy interpretation."

147. Follow your heart

Nature photographer Roeselien Raimond says: "I firmly believe that your photos reflect what you put into them. So if you choose a subject that you love and that truly fascinates you, this will show. Working from the heart will certainly improve your work."

148. Have a tale to tell

Documentary photographer Marc Wilson says: "The most important aspect of any photograph is the story behind it and whether it will be of interest to the viewer."

149. Don't spread yourself thin

Commercial photographer Maria Falconer says: "When I first started out, I believed that I needed to photograph everything. I dabbled with practically every style and subject available, except maybe wildlife... unless you count pigeons! And yes, of course I learned a few skills along the way, but I quickly discovered that my best images were made when I was shooting something that was important to me - and that could be anything from dance to political issues."

150. Five words

Documentary photographer Marc Wilson says: "Shoot less and shoot better".

151. Go on a photo adventure

Quintin Lake says: "The spirit of adventure is about seeing with fresh eyes rather than venturing to distant lands. Travelling by foot for a prolonged period is the best way of seeing a place anew as the odds are stacked in your favour of encountering an unusual or beautiful event. Remember that photography is but one of many forms of human visual expression. Looking at the other visual arts can give you new ideas for subjects, colour usage, tonality and composition that you can use in your own work. "

152. What and when

"A truly successful photograph can be broken down into two simple components: what is in the frame and when do you press the button? Everything else you control will help shape the success or otherwise of the photograph: the light, the composition, movement, stillness, empty space, colour, focus and depth of field" - Documentary photographer Marc Wilson.

153. Keep calm and create

Commercial photographer Maria Falconer says: "Don't look too hard. Relax and let the photographs come to you."

154. Shoot less, see more

Landscape and fine art photographer Paul Sanders says: "I would rather come home with one shot I have worked hard to perfect in the field than a memory card filled with mediocre images. Far too often we're challenged by our insecurities to shoot more and more, when actually it's better to take your time, refine the image in the viewfinder, carefully compose, and check everything before pressing the shutter button. It's also a cop-out to say, 'I'll fix it in post.' Get it right on-site and in the camera before you leave the location. You should choose the moment you press the button after really seeing into the subject. So once you commit to an image, don't keep shooting unless the lighting dramatically improves. When you are happy, walk away and don't look back!"

155. Behind the photo

Documentary photographer Marc Wilson says: "Technique is important, but the power behind a photograph is the story it tells."

156. The art of light

Maria Falconer says: "Photography itself is a simple matter of using light to make marks. There are no actual rules - just ones that men have made up."

157. Use your screen

Landscape & wildlife photographer Francis J Taylor says: "Learn to use the histogram on your camera's rear screen. When this is used in conjunction with the very useful highlight alert feature, you can ensure you quickly nail the perfect exposure every time."

158. Shoot what you love

Travel photographer Lottie Davies says: "Photograph the things you love. For instance, if you love food, shoot food - if you love adventures, shoot travel or cars, if your favourite place is at home with your family, photograph them. The energy of your enthusiasm will show through and make your images sing."

159. Accept the rain

Francis J Taylor says: "Don't be a fair-weather photographer. Often the most interesting images are created in challenging and adverse conditions."

160. Smile and be selfish

Paul Sanders says: "We are guilty of taking our photography far too seriously, whether we are trying to impress our friends, fellow club members or that tricky judge. Photography is a hobby for many people, and even for professionals it's a privilege to do a job that many would pay to do; so smile, enjoy your time with the camera and, yes, be selfish - this is time invested in you, so shoot what you like and not what you think will win things. It really doesn't matter what other people think of the images you take, but if you truly enjoy what you take pictures of and the time you spend doing it, you may be surprised at the results, and possibly the prizes too."

161. Read this book!

Digital Camera Magazine editor Ben Brain says: "Read 'On Being a Photographer: A Practical Guide' by Bill Jay and Magnum legend David Hurn. It's a delight!"

162. Plan ahead

Francis J Taylor says: "Research your location to find the best time to visit. Remember that the position of the sun changes throughout the year so a location that doesn't work in summer may be perfect in winter."

163. Get inspired by the arts

Ben Brain says: "Don't limit yourself only to photographers for inspiration. Turn to painters, poets, musicians, authors et al..."

164. Use one prime lens

Ben Brain says: "Try using only one focal length (say 35mm or 50mm) for one year: I guarantee it'll make you a better photographer."

Editing tips

165. Hide selection lines

If the dotted line of a selection is making it difficult to see an adjustment you're making, press H to hide the 'marching ants' then make the adjustment without any distractions. Pressing H again will reveal the selection.

166. Stretch out a sky

If you want more blue sky above your subject, go to Image > Canvas Size. Put 20 % in Height, tick the Relative box, and click the middle-bottom Anchor box. Click OK, then make a thin selection along the top edge of the existing sky using the Rectangular Marquee tool. Press Ctrl/Cmd+T to go into Transform mode. Pull the top-middle handle upwards to create headroom.

167. Lose your palettes

To see a pic without distractions, press Tab and you'll hide all the palettes and tools. To restore them, press Tab again. To lose everything except the Toolbox, press Shift+Tab.

168. Lose your unwanted layers

Getting rid of layers you don't need is slow going if you drag them to the trash icon in the Layers panel. To quickly delete one layer, right-click on it and select Delete Layer. If you want to delete multiple layers, hold down Ctrl/Cmd and click on their names to select them, then right-click on one and select Delete Layers.

169. Go full screen

To see your image as large as possible on-screen, press Ctrl/ Cmd+0 (zero). Repeatedly press F to see the pic in different view modes.

170. Add a white border

To apply a swift white border, first open your pic then press D to reset the colours to black and white. Now press Ctrl/Cmd+A to select the image, and Ctrl/Cmd+T to enter Transform mode. Hold Alt +Shift and drag in a corner handle to make a white surround in proportion. Press Return, and you'll have a clean white border with very little fuss.

171. See a single layer

With a multi-layered image, there are times when you want to see what's on a particular layer. Alt-click on the eye icon of the layer in the Layers panel. This will turn off all the other layers.

172. Add a bleach bypass in seconds

To boost contrast and give a stylised look to a pic, press Ctrl/Cmd+J to duplicate the image onto a new Layer, and then press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+U to get rid of the colour. You'll see a mono image, but change the Blend mode to Soft Light in the Layers panel, and the black-and-white layer will be blended with the colour to boost contrast and tone down the saturation, giving an attractive bleached look.

173. Speed up filter use

To repeat a filter and boost its effect, press Ctrl/Cmd+F to reapply the last filter you used. This is a fast way of making blur filters more blurry.

174. Save for the web with precision

When you're saving JPEGs of pictures for web use, make sure you use the dedicated File > Export > Save for Web feature. Set the Preset to JPEG High, and use the options to resize, adjust and compare different quality settings - and even preview it on a web page. You'll find it's a much smarter way than using File > Save As, choosing JPEG, and guessing the rest!

175. Change your mind on filter settings

If you've gone too far with a filter effect and want to dial back the settings, press Ctrl/Cmd+Z to undo the filter. You'll see the image return to its pre-filtered state. If you now press Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+F, you'll bring up the Filter dialog box without having to reselect it. Change the settings and click OK.

176. Use Dehaze for contrast

Found in the FX panel of Lightroom or Camera Raw, the Dehaze slider is designed to reduce atmospheric haze in scenic shots, but it can also be used as a powerful contrast control. To quickly apply a contrast boost, slide it to the right; and to reduce contrast, take it to the left.

177. Pick the right colour

When you need a pure colour in the Color Picker, it's impossible to directly click right in the corner to get pure white, pure black or the colour you have. To get your cursor right to the edge, click anywhere on the Picker and drag the cursor to the corner you want. This will get you the pure colour you're after.

178. Get moving

You can move a layer or a selection in any direction by selecting the Move tool (shortcut V) and dragging the mouse. But if you want to be really precise, you can tap the cursor keys on the keyboard to move the item in 1-pixel amounts. If you hold down the Shift key while tapping the cursor keys, you'll move the item in 10-pixel increments.

179. Be consistent in cropping

When you need a set of pictures all the same size, make life easy by creating a crop preset. Select the Crop tool and in the Options bar, key in the width, height and resolution you want (eg, 21 cm, 29.7 cm, 300 px/in). Now click the first drop-down menu and select New Crop Preset. In the dialog box, change the name if required, and click OK to save your custom size. Use this whenever you need it!

180. Before and after views: the easy way

When you convert a raw file, it's handy to see a 'before' and 'after' version of your changes to keep track of how your picture is progressing. Clicking repeatedly on the Y icon at the bottom of the interface in Lightroom or Camera Raw will cycle through the different modes. To exit, click on the full-screen icon alongside.

181. Recompose with Transform

The Crop tool isn't always the best way to reframe an image. Instead press Ctrl/Cmd+A to select the image, then Ctrl/ Cmd+T to enter Transform mode. Now hold down Ctrl/ Cmd and pull out the corner handles of the bounding box to reshape your image to the frame. When you're done, press Return to confirm. With this method, you can improve composition while you crop.

182. Set your black point

When converting raw files in Lightroom or Camera Raw, Set your black point by Alt-dragging the Blacks slider to the left. You'll see a mask view where true black occurs: this provides a great way to set the darkest parts of an image. You can do the same with Alt and the Whites slider to set a white point.

183. Correct your lens

Before doing anything else to a raw file in Lightroom or Camera Raw, go to Lens Corrections and tick the Remove Chromatic Aberrations and Enable Profile Corrections boxes. This will automatically detect the lens used and compensate for any colour fringing or distortion that's present.

184. Go back in time with Undo

To undo the last thing you did, press Ctrl/Cmd+Z. If you want to step back further, press Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+Z. At the default settings, you can go back up to 20 states, but if you want more, you can increase the number of History States in Edit > Preferences. (Select Photoshop > Preferences if you're using macOS).

185. Make a calculation

To get a great mono conversion, open your image and go to Image > Calculations. In the dialog box, the Source and Layer boxes will be identical, but by varying Channel, Blending mode and Opacity, you'll get different black-and-white results. For high-impact scenes shot with bags of contrast, try Red, Red, Multiply. Make sure the Result box is set to New Document, and when you click OK you'll get a great-looking mono pic.

186. Make a Background layer editable

If you want to move a Background layer higher in your Layers stack, you need to convert it into an editable layer first. To do this quickly, hold Alt and double-click on the layer's name. It will be instantly turned into an editable layer.

187. Clone like a pro!

If you need to clean up an image with some cloning, create a new layer in the Layers panel. With the Clone Stamp or Healing Brush tool selected, make sure that Sample: All Layers is selected in the Options bar. Now clone or heal away, and all the cloning work will be placed on the new layer, leaving your original untouched if you change your mind later.

188. Apply a slick keyline border

To add a crisp, thin, black border to an image, press D to reset your colours to black and white, then press Ctrl/ Cmd+A to select it all. Now go to Edit > Stroke, and in the dialog box, set Width to 10 px and choose Inside under Location. Click OK.

189. Streamline your layers

If you've used a lot of layers, you may find yourself scrolling up and down to find the appropriate one. To get more of them on-screen and avoid wasting time scrolling, click on the flyout menu at the top right, select Panel Options and reduce Thumbnail Size to the smallest option. In cases where you have a lot of layers, you can also pick None to show no thumbnails in the panel at all. Click this and you'll return to your starting point without having to exit the palette and reopen it.

190. Fill with colour the quick way

To flood-fill a layer or selection with your foreground colour, press Alt+Backspace. Use Ctrl/Cmd +Backspace to fill with the background colour.

191. Check your colours will print

Not all colours captured by a camera can be printed, as a mix of CMYK inks can't reproduce the RGB light that created the image. To get a good idea of what will or won't print, press Ctrl/Cmd+Y to view the image in a CMYK preview. You can work on the image in this mode too, so you're always aware of the colours that are out of range.

192. Sharpen in style

To sharpen a pic in Lightroom or Camera Raw, go to the Detail panel and set the Amount that gives a crisp result on a detailed, in-focus area on the preview. (Radius and Detail are often fine on their defaults of 1.0 and 25.) Now hold Alt and increase Masking until only the edges show in white. This prevents you sharpening areas that don't need it.

193. Switch Lasso tools on the fly

When making a selection with the Polygonal Lasso tool, you can quickly switch to the Freehand Lasso by holding the Alt key. Draw around your area, and when you release Alt, you'll be returned to the Polygonal Lasso.

194. Make new layers without fuss

To create a new layer above the one that's currently active, press Ctrl/ Cmd+Shift+N and you can give it a name in the dialog box before clicking OK. To do it even quicker without a custom name, press Ctrl/ Cmd+Alt+Shift+N.

195. Build up grads gradually

After applying a Graduated Filter to darken a sky in Lightroom or Camera Raw, use gentle settings at first, then right-click on the Pin and select Duplicate. This gives you a second grad and a stronger effect, which you can drag into position and edit further, This is faster than creating new grads from scratch.

196. Warm up a shot the fast way

To add a swift warm-up effect on a landscape, press Ctrl/Cmd+L to open the Levels palette, and click RGB. Select the Red Channel from the list, and move the middle slider a little to the left. Now select the Blue channel and move it a little to the right. This creates an amber colour cast to the whole image, giving an instant warm-up effect.

197. Balance your colours

Colour temperature isn't fixed in a raw file, and both Lightroom and Camera Raw make it easy to warm up or cool down your shots. The best starting point is to pick the appropriate preset (such as Daylight or Cloudy) from the drop-down menu next to White Balance in the Basic panel. Then, you can fine-tune the results to your liking using the Temperature slider.

198. Change your mind on filter settings

If you've gone too far with a filter effect and want to dial back the settings, press Ctrl/Cmd+Z to undo the filter. You'll see the image return to its pre-filtered state. If you now press Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+F, you'll bring up the Filter dialog box without having to reselect it. Change the settings and click OK.

199. Darker edges

To quickly create a vignette around an multi-layered image, click on the top layer in the stack and press Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+Shift+E. This will collapse everything visible into a new layer. Now go to Filter > Camera Raw Filter, and select the FX tab. Under Post Crop Vignetting, move Amount to the left for a dark vignette, or right for a bright one, and adjust the look with Feather Roundness.

200. Stay in control of contrast

Curves is an amazing tool that offers the connoisseur's route to contrast control. With it, you can create an S-curve that darkens lower midtones and brightens upper midtones at the same time. Make a Curves Adjustment Layer, then pull the line down at the bottom and push it up at the top.

201. Zoom smarter

To zoom and out in a smarter way, assign the zoom function to the scroll wheel of your mouse. Go to Edit > Preferences > Tools and tick the Zoom With Scroll Wheel box to enable it.

202. Control your adjustment layers

If you add an Adjustment Layer, it will affect all the layers beneath it in the Layers stack. To make it only affect the layer immediately beneath it, hold Alt and click on the line between the Adjustment Layer and the layer beneath. This 'clips' the layer and restricts its effect.

203. Get help with composition

Call up a little assistance in framing by choosing the right Crop Overlay. Click on the dropdown menu in the Crop tool's option bar, and you can choose from six different options to get you composing like a pro.

204. Spot-on selections

When you're making a selection with a Marquee tool, it can be tricky to be precise with your starting point. Start to drag out the selection then immediately hold the spacebar without releasing the mouse. You can now move the starting point around to get it exactly right before continuing.

205. Sample a colour - fast!

When you're painting with the Brush tool and want to switch to a different colour within the image, hold down Alt, click anywhere on the image and the colour will be imported into the foreground colour swatch.

206. Check your masks

When masking, it's easy to miss out areas when you're absorbed in the imaging process. To check your mask is well-made and complete, hold Alt and click on the mask thumbnail in the Layers panel. This will show the mask alone, and allow you to paint in any gaps. To revert, just Alt-click on it again.

207. Reset if you fluff it!

If things go wrong when you're adjusting the settings in a palette and you mess up the image, the obvious bail-out is the Cancel button. This will exit the palette and restore your original pic. Instead of doing this, hold Alt and the Cancel will become a Reset button. Click this and you'll return to your starting point without having to exit the palette and reopen it.

208. Boost or cut specific colours

Within the HSL panel in Lightroom and Camera Raw, you can radically enhance the colours in a scene by adjusting any of eight individual hues. To ramp up the blue in a sky, click on the Saturation tab and increase Blues, then click on Lightness and decrease Blues. To adjust the colour of the sky, use the same slider under the Hue tab.

209. Benefit from adjustment layers

Because they change data rather than alter pixels, Adjustment Layers are more flexible than pixel-based layers. Instead of copying a layer and making changes to it, click the Adjustment Layer icon and select the type you want from the list. You'll get the same palette, but the changes you make are not permanent. To change the settings later, double-click the Adjustment Layer's thumbnail.

210. Add mono toning treatments

To apply a single colour tint such as sepia or blue toning to a shot, click on the Adjustment Layer icon in the Layers panel and select Hue/Saturation from the list. In the dialog box, tick the Colorize box, then adjust the Hue and Saturation sliders to get the colour and intensity you want.

211. Copy and move layers quickly

If you've placed a cutout on a separate layer and want to use it elsewhere in an image, select the Move tool by pressing V, then hold Alt and drag the mouse. This copies the selection to a new layer and positions it wherever you drag it.

212. Invert your masking errors

When you use layer masks, it's easy to hide or reveal the wrong part of the image by getting black where you should have white. If this happens, simply click on the mask to make it active, and press Ctrl+I to invert the colours. This is much quicker than making the mask correctly from scratch.

213. Flatten the smart way

To crunch all your visible layers into a single layer, click on the top layer in the stack then press Ctrl/ Cmd+Alt+Shift+E. This merges the image into a new layer.

214. See sensor dirt

Smudges of sensor dirt are easy to miss, but if you select the Spot Removal tool in Lightroom or Camera Raw, there's a great way to see them much more clearly. Tick the Visualize Spots box and adjust the slider alongside to see blemishes in low-detail areas like skies. Click on them to clean up.

215. Split-tone a shot

To split-tone a shot and get highlights and shadows in contrasting colours, go to Filter > Camera Raw Filter and in the HSL/ Greyscale tab, tick the Convert to Grayscale box. Now select the Split Toning tab, and adjust the Hue and Saturation sliders for the Highlights and the Shadows to get the colours you want. Use the Balance slider to mix them together.

Read more:

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215 photography tips, video tutorials and techniques to take photos of anything

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It's always possible - and preferable! - to pick up new photography tips, explore new and existing techniques, and improve your ability to conceptualize, create and capture images. Regardless of whether you're a raw rookie, an eager enthusiast or a practicing professional, there's always something fresh to learn or an old bad habit to put right.

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By following the best photography tips for beginners, you'll see immediate improvements in your images!

Whether you want to master your craft or you just snap with your phone and share your images on social media, these are the most useful tips and tricks you can use to improve your photos!

I've put together a list of the best photography tips for beginners with all the techniques that helped me take my photos to the next level when I started. You can apply these beginner's photography tips to any photography style, and you can immediately impress your friends and family!
Best Photography Tips for Beginners

Remember. It's only by mastering the most important aspects of photography, composition, and lighting that you can dramatically improve the quality of your pictures. Get ready to take your photography to the next level.
I divided the list into two sections.

First, you'll find quick best photography tips for beginners.

Then we dive into some more advanced techniques that require a bit more time to be applied.

Take your time to learn. Start by taking a lot of photos and apply the tips you find less challenging. Then experiment with some of the most difficult ones and keep track of your progress.

You'll be surprised by how fast you'll improve your skills.
Don't forget to ask me questions in the comment section below if you need!
Best Photography Tips for Beginners: Quick Tips

First of all, let's start with some quick and easy tips that will take you no time to apply to your daily photography routine.

Tip 1: Hold Your Camera Correctly

Holding your camera correctly is fundamental to have more control and avoid camera shake. You need to gather your elbows close to your body for a stable hold. See the image.

Tip 2: Plan Your Shoots

Do some research. Get inspired and make a list of shots you'd like to take. Instagram is a good way to start. Portrait, landscape, street or any other style of photography. Looking at the work of more experienced photographers is also a good eye-training exercise.

Also, get your inspiration from the work of others like these amazing street photographers.

Tip 3: Less is More

Beginner photographers tend to overcrowd their compositions. Include less elements in your images when you're just starting. It's not hard to create confusion in the viewer if you don't know what you're doing. I'll tell you some rules of composition in a bit. But don't forget that sometimes less is more!

Tip 4: Turn Your Camera Vertically

New photographers tend to stick to the landscape mode.
Turn your camera on the side and start including shots in portrait orientation. This way you'll practice different compositions and sometimes get a better image.

Tip 5: Common Points of Focus

For portrait photography set the focus on the eyes of the subject. If the eyes are not on the same plane of focus, target the nearest one.
In landscape photography, a common rule is to focus a third a way into the picture to get a sharp foreground as well as a sharp background.

Tip 6: Set a Wide Aperture for a Blurred Background

To make your subject stand out, and get a blurry background you need something like f/1.4 or f/2.8. Set your aperture then get closer to the subject and start shooting. Experiment changing the focal length and distance from the subject to see how it affects the background.

Tip 7: Aim for a Straight Shot

This is correlated to how you hold your camera. You don't want to end up with a bent horizon. If your camera allows you, switch on the grid and use the lines to straighten your photo by looking through your camera's LCD or viewfinder. If you fail to do so you'll need to use Lightroom or Photoshop.

Tip 8: Unclutter Your Digital Mess

Organizing digital photos is fundamental if you want to get the most out of your photos. Having your images scattered around will prevent you from use them efficiently. Also, organizing your digital images will save you a lot of time since you won't need to spend hours to find that particular photo.

You need the right software for this task, so here's my list of the best photo organizers

Tip 9: Edit Your Images

Most professional photographers do some level of processing to their photos. Fixing the contrast, recovering shadows, and highlight, correcting the saturation and so forth. For some technical reasons, your camera is not able to capture the same range of color highlights and shadow as the human eye. Post-processing comes to the rescue to fix this limit that all cameras have.

Tip 10: Shoot in RAW

RAW is an uncompressed file format. It keeps all the light and color information of your pictures without data loss. JPEG is a compressed image file. It's processed in-camera. It means when you import a RAW file in Lightroom you can edit more easily since you can benefit from an extended amount of light and color.

Best Photography Tips for Beginners: Challenge Yourself

Tip 11: The Rule of Thirds

There can't be a list of best photography tips for beginners without a section about compositional elements.

Let put this straight: You need to nail your composition.

I found out pretty quick that photography doesn't just mean point and shoot.

You need to research, study, and train your eye on what is a good composition. I read an insane amount of material on photography composition and learned a thing or two about it.

You can learn composition even without a camera, by simply observing nature and also by just experimenting with your phone camera.

After all, the best camera is the one you always have with you.

Photography is a visual art, and to master it, you need to know how to place "objects" within your image.

The most fundamental rule of composition in photography is the rule of thirds. You can apply this rule to any type of photography. It will even work to make photos like your good selfies look better.

Divide your image in an imaginary grid made of nine spaces or boxes. On your camera, you can turn this grid on, and you'll see it on your screen. These boxes will help you position the various elements.

Start by placing the main point of interest at the intersection between two lines of the grid. By doing so, the composition results more balanced.

It's proved by science that the human eye will be captured by that point of interest in the photo. It creates a more pleasant experience to the eye of the viewer.

I've written an article on the importance of the main rules of composition in photography.

You can find it here Rules of composition in photography
To really nail the rule of thirds you can read Understanding the Rule of Thirds in Photography

Tip 12: Play With Motion Blur

At first, this tip might seem scary to most beginner photographers.

With motion blur, you can produce an eye-catching effect by capturing a moving subject. Start by shooting from a moving train or from a car.

Set your camera to manual mode and slow down your shutter speed. Start with 1second exposure. Hold your camera still and balance the exposure with the aperture. Change the shutter speed gradually to see how the results change.

I recommend starting with trains or cars and try when it's a bit dark outside to take advantage of city and car lights and create compelling effects.

Tip 13: Adjust Your ISO

The most natural thing to do when you are new to photography is to set your ISO to automatic (I used to have everything set to automatic really).

But to step up photography game, you need more creative control.

Hence, forget about auto settings.

ISO in digital photography is a measurement of the sensitivity of the camera sensor. To know more, read this in-depth article about ISO.

The lower the ISO, the less sensitive your camera is to light and vice versa. A higher ISO number will make the sensor more sensitive to light so that you can use your camera in darker situations.

You need to know that by setting a high ISO, you can yes, shoot in a dark environment (let's say at sunset or indoor), but it comes with a cost.

Your image will be more "grainy".

To solve this, you can do the following.

If you want to shoot during the golden hour, you could set up a low ISO (start with 100), and use a wide aperture. To balance the exposure and capture more light, you need a lower the shutter speed. You'll also need a tripod.

If you don't want to use a tripod, you need to increase the ISO. This is also true for any dark environment.

Start with ISO 800 and depending on your camera and the light condition, increase or decrease accordingly to get a darker or brighter image. Don't forget that at very high ISO values (6400 or higher), you can start noticing noise.

Tip 14: Set the Right Shutter Speed

The shutter speed is the amount of time the shutter is open. It's the length of time the camera sensor is exposed to light.

If using low ISO in dark conditions, you need a slower shutter speed.

Otherwise, your camera won't be able to capture the right amount of light needed to deliver a good picture.

For long shutter speed (slower than 1/60 of a second), you need a tripod, or the image will be shaky.

Most new cameras today have an excellent image stabilization. This allows you to push the limit of your shutter speed in dark conditions without using a tripod.

This is also one of the reasons I decided to buy my current camera. Because it has an unbelievably good in-body image stabilizer, you can find the Olympus OM-D EM-1 Mark II on Amazon and read my review .

You don't always need to have a slow shutter speed, there will be times when you will want to 'freeze' your image.

For example, when shooting sport or wildlife. In these cases, you'll want a fast shutter speed, like in the image below, where you can see how sharp are the drops of water.

Tip 15: Choose the Right Shooting Mode

If you look at your camera from above, you'll notice some little icons on the dial. P, S (or Tv), A (or Av), M.

For now, let's just talk about A mode.

First of all, as I said, you need to move away from auto mode if you want to become a better photographer.

The symbol 'A' (or 'Av' depending on your camera brand), is the Aperture Priority Mode. In this mode, you will set the aperture, and the camera will choose the right shutter speed.

Aperture has a huge impact on Depth of Field as well.

For example, if you want a shallow DoF, to create a beautiful bokeh on your image background, you'll need a wide aperture value (f/1.4 or f/2.8).

With smaller aperture ( f/8 to f/22), you'll have a deeper area of your image in focus.

In landscape photography, you'll pretty much shoot at apertures from f/8 to f/22 since on beautiful landscapes, you'll want to have everything in your image razor-sharp. From the foreground to the background

Remember, by using this mode, the camera will set the shutter speed to balance the exposure. If your aperture is too small for the current light, the camera will set a longer shutter speed with the risk of obtaining a blurred image.

Unless you use a tripod and there aren't moving objects. An example of a small aperture is f/16. But it's all relative to the amount of light in the environment you're shooting.

The 'S' mode, as you can imagine, will do the opposite. You set the shutter speed, and your camera will choose the right aperture. Very useful for action photos to control motion blur.

To learn more, read The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Camera Settings

Tip 16: Capture Car Light Trails

This is a pretty cool technique. Once you've mastered it, you'll definitely wow your friends.

If you have a tripod you can quickly achieve some spectacular effects by playing with traffic light trails at night.

Here's how.

First, know that by using a slow shutter speed (hence increasing your exposure time), car lights will create this beautiful aesthetic effect that you can't see with the naked eye.

You need a similar setting to what you would use for shooting the golden hour.

Set your camera on a tripod and choose the lowest ISO as possible (64, 100, or 200 depending on your camera). Set your camera to Aperture Priority Mode (A or Av) and start with a small aperture of F/11.

Since you're shooting in aperture priority, your camera will now determine the shutter speed.

To obtain the right amount of light trails in the final image, check that the shutter speed is in the 10 or 30second range.

If it's lower, you'll need to adjust your aperture to get more trails.

Relate article: Photography Tips for Capturing Car Light Trails

Tip 17: Don't Buy a More Expensive Camera

If you've been following me, you'd know already that I highly discourage people from buying expensive gear. Especially if you are at your early stages in photography journey. Don't waste your money on super-expensive equipment in the beginning.

As a beginner photographer, a more expensive camera won't give you real advantages. Moreover, camera bodies become obsolete in a few years with the advancement of technology.

A good lens is where the real value is. Quality lenses last for ages (if you don't destroy them) and don't depreciate as much as camera bodies.

Lastly, a beginner photographer can save some money and invest in a course or travel to a beautiful photography destination.

Tip 18: Light can Make or Break Your Shot

Light is one of the fundamental element of photography.

When taking your photos, think about where the light is coming from. You need to be very careful if the source of light is right at the back of your main subject.

In this scenario, all the shadows and darks will be in front of the main subject. Your image ends up being a silhouette.

With that being said, if you know how to adjust the exposure properly, you can obtain spectacular effects.

Another advice is to not shoot at midday.

Around that time of the day, you have minimal shadows and contrasts. The light reflections are also very unpleasant in a photo.

If you want a more dramatic and exciting image, especially when shooting outdoors, try to shoot during or slightly after sunrise and before sunset. That time of the day is called the golden hour.

During the golden hour, shadows are longer, and the photos have more depth.

Tip 19: Change Your Point of View

When taking photos, most people don't realize that standing on two legs and shooting from eye level often results in a less interesting composition.

The photographer's viewpoint has a considerable impact on the final composition, and it's worth experimenting with different angles.

Change your perspective. If your camera has a tilting screen, try to shoot from a low angle. If you don't have one, don't exclude getting down to the ground level to play with a different point of view.

It could make a significant difference in the final image.

To take it a step further, read my article about Rules of Composition in Photography, and discover how professional photographers compose their shots.

Tip 20: Check Your White Balance

Every photographer has a favorite shooting location.

You'll have yours too. By going back again and again to a location, you soon realize that the light is always different.

As a photographer, you have to deal with different lighting and learn how to manipulate it at your advantage.

By controlling the white balance setting, you can avoid that your image ends up being too blue or too orange, too green, or too magenta.

Light, depending on the source, has many different colors, although our eye is made not to notice it, and it just adapts to it.
Cameras, unlike our eyes, need some help to achieve this.
Thanks to color metering, they're able to adapt to changes in the color of light. Color metering, though, can fail, and different lighting conditions can give you unusual results.

White balance is what comes to help in this case.

You can set it to Daylight or Sunny, Cloudy, Shade, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Flash, K, Pre.

For now, I want you to experiment with Daylight mode.

With this white balance setting, you can shoot outdoor in sunny conditions.

Make sure that the camera doesn't overcompensate red colors.

This way, you'll get more consistent tonalities.

Keep Shooting and Have fun

Only practice will bring you closer to perfection.

This seems so obvious, I know.

If you don't take photos, you can't improve.

It's as simple as that. I'm sorry.

With digital cameras, taking hundreds of pictures is free. So do it!
There's no guide, blog article, or course on the Internet that will make you a better photographing by only reading it or watching a video.
You have to put the effort and keep shooting.
Take your camera with you when you go for a walk with friends. Take photos of nature, capture different subjects, snap away some portraits. Or take pictures of urban spaces. Everything around you can help further your skills.
If you are brave enough and really want to have some fun experiment with some smoke bomb photography and add a lot of color to your photos!

The more you use your camera, the more you become familiar with all the different settings.

At some point, you won't even need to think too much and immediately know how to set up your gear quickly in various situations.

Before you go

I really hope you find these best photography tips for beginners helpful. And if you do, please consider sharing this article on social media and subscribing to my blog, so that you will receive notifications of my new posts.

Creating this content requires a lot of hours of research and work.

Thanks to some technicality of the Internet, by sharing this article with others on your social media, you help me create more content like this.
So I can keep creating content and help other people like you developing their photography skills.

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Top 20 Best Photography Tips for Beginners (That Actually Work)

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By following the best photography tips for beginners, you'll see immediate improvements in your images! Whether you want to master your craft or you just snap with your phone and share your images on social media, these are the most useful tips and tricks you can use to improve your photos!

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This introduction to photography is written for beginners, with several tips and suggestions to take your skills as far as possible. However, writing an introduction to photography is like writing an introduction to words; as amazing and important as it is, photography can be almost limitlessly complex. What separates inspiring photographs from ordinary ones, and how can you improve the quality of your own work? This article lays a foundation to answer to those questions and more.

What Is Photography?

Photography is the art of capturing light with a camera, usually via a digital sensor or film, to create an image. With the right camera equipment, you can even photograph wavelengths of light invisible to the human eye, including UV, infrared, and radio.

The first permanent photograph was captured in 1826 (some sources say 1827) by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in France. It shows the roof of a building lit by the sun. You can see it reproduced below:

We've come a long way since then.

The purpose of this article is to introduce the past and present worlds of photography. You will also find some important tips to help you take better photos along the way.

A Brief History of Photography and the People Who Made It Succeed

Color photography started to become popular and accessible with the release of Eastman Kodak's "Kodachrome" film in the 1930s. Before that, almost all photos were monochromatic - although a handful of photographers, toeing the line between chemists and alchemists, had been using specialized techniques to capture color imagesfor decades before. You'll find some fascinating galleries of photos from the 1800s or early 1900s captured in full color, worth exploring if you have not seen them already.

These scientist-magicians, the first color photographers, are hardly alone in pushing the boundaries of one of the world's newest art forms. The history of photography has always been a history of people - artists and inventors who steered the field into the modern era.

So, below, you'll find a brief introduction to some of photography's most important names. Their discoveries, creations, ideas, and photographs shape our own pictures to this day, subtly or not. Although this is just a brief bird's-eye view, these nonetheless are people you should know before you step into the technical side of photography:

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce

Invention: The first permanent photograph ("View from the Window at Le Gras," shown earlier)

Where: France, 1826

Impact: Cameras had already existed for centuries before this, but they had one major flaw: You couldn't record a photo with them! They simply projected light onto a separate surface - one which artists used to create realistic paintings, but not strictly photographs. Niépce solved this problem by coating a pewter plate with, essentially, asphalt, which grew harder when exposed to light. By washing the plate with lavender oil, he was able to fix the hardened substance permanently to the plate.

Quote: "The discovery I have made, and which I call Heliography, consists in reproducing spontaneously, by the action of light, with gradations of tints from black to white, the images received in the camera obscura." Mic drop.

Louis Daguerre

Invention: The Daguerreotype (first commercial photographic material)

Where: France, 1839

Impact: Daguerreotypes are images fixed directly to a heavily polished sheet of silver-plated copper. This invention is what really made photography a practical reality - although it was still just an expensive curiosity to many people at this point. The first time you see a daguerreotype in person, you may be surprised just how sharp it is.

Quote: "I have seized the light. I have arrested its flight."

Alfred Stieglitz

Genre: Portraiture and documentary

Where: United States, late 1800s through mid 1900s

Impact: Alfred Stieglitz was a photographer, but, more importantly, he was one of the first influential members of the art community to take photography seriously as a creative medium. He believed that photographs could express the artist's vision just as well as paintings or music - in other words, that photographers could be artists. Today's perception of photography as an art form owes a lot to Stieglitz.

Quote: "In photography, there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality."

Dorothea Lange

Genre: Portrait photography

Where: United States, 1930s

Impact: One of the most prominent documentary photographers in history, and the photographer behind one of the most influential images of all time (shown below), is Dorothea Lange. If you've ever seen photos from the Great Depression, you've seen some of her work. Her photos shaped the field of documentary photography and showed the camera's potential for telling powerful stories perhaps more than anyone else.

Quote: "The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera."

Ansel Adams

Genre: Landscape photography

Where: United States

When: 1920s to 1960s (for most of his work)

Impact: Ansel Adams is perhaps the most famous photographer in history, which is remarkable because he mainly took pictures of landscapes and natural scenes. (Typically, famous photographers have tended to photograph people instead.) Ansel Adams helped usher in an era of realism in landscape photography, and he was an early champion of the environmentalism and preservation movements in the United States.

Quote: "There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept."

Do You Need a Fancy Camera?

Apple became the world's first trillion dollar company in 2018 largely because of the iPhone - and what it replaced.

Alarm clocks. Flashlights. Calculators. MP3 players. Landline phones. GPSs. Audio recorders.

Cameras.

Many people today believe that their phone is good enough for most photography, and they have no need to buy a separate camera. And you know what? They're not wrong. For most people out there, a dedicated camera is overkill.

Phones are better than dedicated cameras for most people's needs. They're quicker and easier to use, not to mention their seamless integration with social media. It only makes sense to get a dedicated camera if your phone isn't good enough for the photos you want (like photographing sports or low-light environments) or if you're specifically interested in photography as a hobby.

That advice may sound crazy coming from a photographer, but it's true. If you have any camera at all, especially a cell phone camera, you have what you need for photography. And if you have a more advanced camera, like a DSLR or mirrorless camera, what more is there to say? Your tools are up to the challenge. All that's left is to learn how to use them.

What Is the Bare Minimum Gear Needed for Photography?

Camera. If you buy a dedicated camera (rather than a phone), pick one with interchangeable lenses so that you can try out different types of photography more easily. Read reviews, but don't obsess over them, because everything available today is pretty much equally good as its competition. Find a nice deal and move on.

Lenses. This is where it counts. For everyday photography, start with a standard zoom lens like a 24-70mm or 18-55mm. For portrait photography, pick a prime lens (one that doesn't zoom) at 35mm, 50mm, or 85mm. For sports, go with a telephoto lens. For macro photography, get a dedicated macro lens. And so on. Lenses matter more than any other piece of equipment because they determine what photos you can take in the first place.

Post-processing software. One way or another, you need to edit your photos. The software that comes with your computer probably won't cut it in the long run. I'm not really a pro-Adobe person, but at the end of the day, Photoshop and Lightroom are still the standards for photo editing. For now, it's $10/month for both of them. An open-source Lightroom alternative called Darktable is an option if you're on a budget. Whatever you pick, stick with it for a while, and you'll learn it really well.

There are other things that might be optional, but can be very helpful:

1. A tripod. A landscape photographer's best friend. See our comprehensive tripod article.

2. Bags. Get a shoulder bag for street photography, a rolling bag for studio photography, a technical hiking backpack for landscape photography, and so on.

3. Memory cards. Well, these aren't optional. Choose something in the 64-128 GB range to start. Get a fast card (measured in MB/second) if you shoot bursts of photos, since your camera's memory will clear faster.

4. Extra batteries. Get at least one spare battery to start, preferably two. Off-brand batteries are usually cheaper, although they may not last as long or maintain compatibility with future cameras.

5. Polarizing filter. This is a big one, especially for landscape photographers. Don't get a cheap polarizer or it will harm your image quality. The one that I use and recommend is the B+W high transmission nano filter (of the same thread size as your lens). See our polarizing filter article too.

6. Flash. Flashes can be expensive, and you might need to buy a separate transmitter and receiver if you want to use your flash off-camera. But for genres like portrait photography or macro photography, they're indispensable.

7. Better computer monitor. It's almost essential to get IPS monitor (like this fairly cheap one) for editing photos, rather than a TN-panel monitor. If you don't know what that means, we have an article about the difference. I also recommend a color calibration device so you know you're editing accurate colors. Here's the one I happen to use if you care, but there are a million options.

8. Cleaning kit. The top item is a microfiber cloth to keep the front of your lens clean. Also get a rocket blower to remove dust from your camera sensor easily and safely.

9. Other equipment. There are countless photography accessories available, from remote shutter releases to GPS attachments, printers, and more. Don't worry about these at first; you'll realize over time if you need any of them. Instead, go out and start taking pictures first!

The Three Fundamental Camera Settings You Should Know

Your camera has dozens of buttons and menu options, if not hundreds. How do you make sense of all these options? And how do you do it quickly in the field?

It's not easy, but it's also not as bad you might think. In fact, most of the menu options are things you'll only set one time, then rarely or never touch again. Only a handful of settings need to be changed frequently, and that's what the rest of this Photography Basics guide covers.

1. Shutter speed: The amount of time your camera sensor is exposed to the outside world while taking a picture. Chapter 3: Shutter Speed

2. Aperture: Represents a "pupil" in your lens that can open and close to let in different amounts of light. Chapter 4: Aperture

3. ISO: Technically a bit more complex behind the scenes, but similar to the sensitivity of film for taking pictures in different lighting conditions. Also similar to brightening or darkening a photo in post-processing.Chapter 5: ISO

The three most important settings are called shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. All three of them control the brightness of your photo, although they do so in different ways. In other words, each brings its own "side effects" to an image. So, it's a bit of an art to know exactly how to balance all three for a given photo.

Photography FAQ
What is the oldest photograph? Who took the first selfie? How can I learn photography? What makes a great photo?
This multi-chapter guide goes into a lot more detail about taking good photos, but you may find that some of your biggest questions can be answered more quickly. Here's a quick photography FAQ with some questions we hear all the time:

The First Steps on Your Photographic Journey

In photography, the technical and the creative go hand in hand.

Remember the Ansel Adams quote from earlier? "There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept." If the idea behind a photo is weak, using the right camera settings won't make it better.

At the same time, camera settings still matter. In a way, every technical choice is really an artistic choice in disguise. These settings are worth learning. Your understanding of photography will improve tenfold when you understand how camera settings work.

So, the next few chapters of this guide will cover the most important camera settings: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Then, we'll dive into the deep end of composition. This is how photos are made.

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Introduction to Photography: The Universal Language

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This introduction to photography is written for beginners, with several tips and suggestions to take your skills as far as possible. However, writing an introduction to photography is like writing an introduction to words; as amazing and important as it is, photography can be almost limitlessly complex.