7 tricks to take better photos

While many people are gifted with photography, most of us have to practice regularly to produce beautiful photos. Applying the 7 tips below may help you a lot.

1. Self-adjust the exposure

When adjusting the exposure mode, the photographer can take full control of the aperture and shutter speed . That means that in order to get a good image, you need to consider whether you want to capture or blur the movements and depth of field for each shot you take. If you manually adjust these parameters, instead of using the automatic ISO selection of the machine, you can also determine the noise of the image.

Self-adjust the exposure for each photo

Many professional photographers understand the rules when setting the exposure parameters themselves, but they still use semi-automatic mode to prioritize aperture or prioritize shutter speed for added convenience. Using manual exposure mode makes you think about more exposure and control the picture you take, which will be very good.

2. Check the histogram

Checking the histogram of each photo is a great way to understand light and exposure.The histogram is a fairly simple chart that shows the number of pixels with brightness values ​​running from 0 (black) to 255 (white) and the highest point in the graph showing the brightest region. If the chart is too high to the right, then the picture is bright and many pixels are burned. Meanwhile, the high chart on the opposite side indicates that many areas of dark light in the image can completely turn into black.

Regularly check the histogram chart when taking photos

Examining the histogram of each image will help you get a complete view of the bright and dark areas on the image as well as the effect of the exposure to the histogram (and to the image). Along with that, you will easily know how to set the exposure so that you can get the photo you want.

3. Use the camera's metering mode

As well as viewing histograms, using spot-meter mode will help you better understand the exposure . The matrix metering system (matrix) or multi-segment system is designed to work with all areas of the image while spot metering helps to measure at every precise position on the image. This mode helps to suggest settings for exposure to create mid-tone areas. This means that you must be really careful when choosing spot metering, too bright or too dark, the image may be overexposed or dark.

Use point metering mode when shooting

4. Customize white balance

Many photographers rely on the machine's automatic white balance system to obtain standard color images and, in the case of natural light, this is a safe solution. Some people use preset values ​​to use for each of the different lighting conditions and very few people use the fact that they are taking raw pictures and can adjust the white balance only. with 1 click after shooting.

Adjust manual white balance

However, if the photographer manually adjusts the white balance, it is easy to understand the color and white balance of the image. You will also see the resulting image as soon as you finish shooting instead of having to edit it on your computer and know right away if you have taken a photo like that or not.

5. Take a picture with a lens focus

Zoom lens makes shooting easier because instead of carrying a kit with multiple lenses, you only need 1 or 2, depending on what you shoot. However, a minus point of the zoom lens is that it makes the photographer more lazy. Instead of approaching the shooting subject, we tend to zoom to capture.Moving towards the subject or around the subject to capture allows the photographer to explore new camera angles and often produce interesting shots.

Use 1 lens focal length when shooting

One way to make me practice the habit of exploring shooting subjects is to limit the use of zoom lens and instead use a prime lens . If you have a lens collection, pick one and spend a day or a week using it, and it's alone. If you have a zoom lens, choose a certain focus and only shoot with that focal length. Along with discovering new camera angles, the photographer also better understand the depth of field at each focal length - with a certain aperture, the larger the focal length, the more shallow depth of field . This will help you decide the size of the focal length and the aperture you will use and have more creative shots.

6. Share a picture every day

Sharing with everyone the pictures I took (and watching other people's photos) is a great way to evaluate photos you've taken and get constructive feedback that improves skills. There are many websites and applications that can help you, including Instagram, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter or Photocrowd.

Every day share one of the best pictures I took

However, instead of persecuting people with too many photos, pick out the one that you think is the most beautiful and share one piece every day . Accepting a one-piece challenge every day also means that you regularly cultivate your skills and are always ready to open up new opportunities. The pressure to share a picture every day will also give you the motivation to take beautiful pictures.

7. Self-assess your photos

Practice your habit of evaluating the photos you take on a scale from 0 to 5 - 0 is the worst picture and 5 points for the best picture. Along with focusing on evaluating photos and classifying beautiful photos - bad photos, you will get a detailed view of the mistakes you have made, thus improving.

Evaluate your photos on a scale by yourself

For example, you often have a habit of taking wide-angle shots, which are fine but quite confusing. Before choosing a shooting angle to make the image less cluttered, get closer to the subject, look for a more alternative angle and you will get better photos. Evaluating photos will also help you choose the photos you want to share.

Author: Angela Nicholson