boy with camera

Boy with Camera - Courtesy-www.fotosearch.com

Photography can be an exciting hobby where you can express your creativity and discover new subjects and new ways of looking at old subjects. However, if you are new to this pursuit, you have a few things to learn before you can fully appreciate photography’s pleasures.

To take great photos, you will want to remember these basic concepts:

1) Composition. Although it has long been said that the whole is greater than its parts, the parts must complement and be in proportion with each other. In photography, you have to consider all the elements that make a good picture. You have to study your subject, the foreground, background, lighting, and focus. This is because any single one of these elements going awry will result in an unsatisfactory picture. You may have a small boy smiling brightly at the camera but if you missed the tree branch that appears to have sprouted from his head, the picture isn’t worth much.

2) Subject. Know your subject. Sometimes you want to show too many things in a photo that you end up showing nothing. If you are unsure of what subject you want to highlight lower your camera, study the area, and consider the possibilities. Your subject doesn’t need to be big or colorful. A small ant can make a good subject. So can a tall tower.

3) The Rule of Thirds. The center of the photograph is not necessarily the best part to position your subject. Research has shown that the human eye is naturally drawn to areas around the center of the picture. Mentally divide the picture into three equal parts both vertically and horizontally. The points in which your imaginary lines intersect are the best places to locate your subject. The areas along the lines are the second best.

4) Foreground and Background. Before pressing your camera shutter, be sure to examine everything in front and behind your subject. Take care to check if there is any unwanted clutter around your subject or anything sticking out of it. A picture of a young girl receiving her first communion could be ruined by little boys giggling in the background.

5) Focus. By adjusting your camera’s aperture settings, you can control which part of your picture will be in sharp focus and which part will be fuzzy. You can choose to have a blurred foreground to direct attention to your subject and its background, or, conversely, blur the background and focus on your subject and foreground.

6) Lighting. Lighting could make or break your picture. Study the lights on and around your subject before shooting. Often, because of the uneven contour of your subjects, light that is reflected on it is uneven. A portion of the subject’s face, for instance, may be shaded. You will need to correct this either by using light reflectors or fill flash, or by repositioning your subject.

There are a lot more lessons to learn to be able to create a great picture, but for a beginner, these are the steps that point you into the right direction.