Photography Tips and Advice
Article on Improving your Photographs
Article on Close-up Photographs
Improving Your Photographs Without Spending More $$$
by Grant Collier
Nearly every time I visit a national park or other tourist destination, I see someone with expensive camera equipment taking photographs in poor lighting of scenes that have little or no photographic value. I want to tell these people to stop supporting Nikon, Minolta, Canon, and Pentax until they learn how to take good photographs.
It is my opinion that a good photographer can take excellent photographs with any camera, and that no amount of equipment can improve the photographs of a marginal photographer. Although a professional photographer needs good equipment in order to improve the sharpness of an image and to control several aspects of a photograph, an amateur photographer can take great photographs without spending thousands of dollars on tripods, lenses, camera bags, rain gear, and poly-ethylene, super-durable, triple-refracting, neutral-density, polarizing filters.
Below is a list of tips for improving your photographs without purchasing more equipment. I've compiled this list while watching hundreds of people make the same mistakes over and over again.
1. Avoid other photographers & scenic overlooks. If you see dozens of people gathered around a scenic overlook taking pictures, do not take any photographs there. First of all, your pictures will have little or no originality. The photograph will already have been taken thousands of times in the past. Second, it is very difficult to capture the beauty and grandeur of many scenic overlooks because photographs are two-dimensional and oftentimes can not capture the immensity of your surroundings.
If you want to take photographs from scenic overlooks, try including some foreground material, such as an interestingly-shaped tree. This will help give your photographs some depth.
2. Consider the lighting. Many amateur photographers take their photographs around mid-day because this is the most convenient time to take the pictures. Professionals, however, have learned to rise at the break of dawn and wait until after sundown to get their photographs.
In many situations, the best lighting is in the early morning or late afternoon when long shadows begin to permeate the landscape. These shadows can add depth to your photographs and give your 2-dimensional pictures a 3-dimensional feel.
3. Take your time. I see far too many photographers snap about ten photographs in one minute. In order to get quality images, you need to take your time and get a precise composition. Look around and find an interesting or unusual composition. Then try holding the camera in many different positions or angles in order to see how the composition will change. You will be amazed at how a slight shift of the camera can dramatically improve your image.
4. Keep it simple.Sometimes amateur photographers will take photographs that have no definable subject matter. There will be a creek with shrubs and weeds hanging over it, a log protruding from the left side of the picture, and the railing of a bridge running along the bottom of the picture. The obvious solution here is to keep it simple. If you are taking a picture of a flower, take a picture of a flower. Don't include weeds or part of a road in the photograph.
5. Observe your surroundings. Many photographers are immediately drawn to the most obvious composition. They see an interesting rock formation or a rushing river and instinctively point their camera in that direction. Although you will get some good photographs this way, you will also miss many other photographic opportunities.
The best photographs are oftentimes the ones that you pass over at first glance. A reflection in a puddle, moss on a rock, or leaves floating in a stream can all be good photographic subjects. So, if you carefully observe your surroundings you will likely get pictures that you never thought possible.
6.Experiment. All photographers, no matter how experienced, should constantly experiment with different ways of shooting. The only way to improve your photographs is by trying things that you've never done before. Although you will oftentimes be disappointed , you will occasionally find a technique that allows you to produce truly interesting and unique photographs.
For more photography advice, we strongly recommend the National Geographic Photography Field Guide.
For a photography equipment, we recommend
B&H Photo Video
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