Four Tips to Take Photos That Don’t Suck
Want to take better photos?
Well, chances are, unless you’re already a professional or very experienced photographer, your photos probably suck most of the time. Now, stay with me. I’m not here to make you feel inadequate or defeated. Photography is well worth the work; it just takes a little time and effort to become proficient!
“But I’m not a sucky photographer! Look at this photo I took on my vacation!”
Sure, we can all point to one or two photos we took that turned out pretty well, but is that the sort of success you can repeat? If you’re honest with yourself, the answer is probably not a resounding “yes!” So, what’s the first step in solving any problem? Admitting that you have a problem!
It can be difficult to admit that we’re not good at something creative, particularly if it’s something we really want to be good at! But think about any discipline, whether it’s painting, woodworking, welding or baking muffins; anything worth doing is going to take practice to become proficient. And in the last example, you might think “hey, I can bake muffins!” Yes, but can you bake them to the point where other people would continuously buy them? Could you really sell enough muffins to be a full-time baker?
The point I’m trying to drive home is that unless you already do this for a living, there’s probably still something to learn. I still consider myself a student of photography (and I doubt that will change anytime soon), even though I’ve been practicing for years now! So, bearing this in mind, what do you need to know about photography to take photos that don’t suck? Here are four of Branch & Vine Media’s tips for being a better photographer:
Stop Using the “Auto” Function!
The auto function might seem like your friend. After all, it takes away a lot of the hard, technical work involved with figuring out what settings you need to get a good shot. However, the auto function is just a basic program that automatically adjusts a bunch of settings all at once based on what the camera’s sensors are picking up. The camera isn’t going to know what you’re trying to photograph or what your artistic vision for the shot might be. If you let the camera make all the decisions for you, you’re at the mercy of whatever it decides.
We’ve already talked about the basic settings on cameras in another post, so I won’t rehash all the details here. While it might sound intimidating to learn all the camera lingo, it’s more than worth it if you’re serious about photography. I highly recommend reading that previous post if you’re committed to improving. It’s geared more toward videography than photography, but all the principles covered under the “Learn How Your Camera Works” section are still completely applicable to photography.
One small caveat I’ll give is that the “autofocus” function is often pretty good on decent quality cameras. Manual focus does offer a LOT of control, but trying to draw a perfect, crisp focus can be challenging when you’re in a run-and-gun sort of situation. If you’re in the process of learning the other features of the camera, autofocus might be a useful aide in freeing up your attention for other things. No matter which approach you take, you’ll never reach your full potential if you don’t take off the training wheels at some point. Knowing how a camera works is half the battle when it comes to getting the best shot!
2. Learn the “Rule of Thirds”.
A huge part of photography involves learning how to properly compose your shots. Many people are surprised to learn that centering the subject in the frame is not necessarily always the best practice for compelling shots.
This is where the “rule of thirds” comes into play. To understand what this means, imagine that your camera’s viewfinder is divided into nine equal zones. You’d end up with three rows of three boxes each. When framing up a shot, you’ll generally want to place your subject in either the right or left “third” of the shot. This often leads to more compelling and interesting shots than you’d otherwise get. If you’re having trouble visualizing how this would look, imagine the opening of “The Brady Bunch”, where the family are all looking at each other from the different squares on the screen. Here’s an example of the imaginary “rule of thirds” grid:
Now, this might seem like an odd rule to follow at first, but let me give a few examples. This year, we did an engagement shoot with my brother and his fiancée. I was experimenting with framing a lot throughout the shoot, and I was curious to test out this theory. While I’ve known about the rule of thirds for a long time, I decided to try it both following and ignoring the rule in a few shots, just to see if it made a big difference. In the first shot, I centered them in the frame:
Center-Frame
It’s a perfectly good picture by most accounts. The scenery is nice, and they’re still at the bottom third of the frame, so we’re still “kind of” following the rule. However, I decided to try it with them offset a little as well.
“Rule of Thirds” Framing
There’s no denying that the second shot has a little something that the first is just missing. There’s something compelling about the way the eye naturally flows from the couple, and across the beautiful landscape. To be fair, this is a slightly better composed shot overall, catching some of the sky and more of the nice landscape in the distance. However, utilizing the rule of thirds still provided a noticeable difference in the overall look and feel of the shot.
Here’s the same shot with the grid overlaid:
Rule of Thirds Grid
Here you can see how the framing looks when we overlay the grid. I didn’t have this in my viewfinder when taking the picture, but practice helps you develop a feel for how to frame shots like this.
Like all rules, the rule of thirds can be broken sometimes, particularly if you’re doing something like headshots or portraits. But just like so many other disciplines, with photography “you have to learn the rules before you can break them.”
3. Research the Equipment
This is similar to point #1, and it’s possible I’m starting to sound a bit like a broken record if you’ve been reading this blog regularly. However, it bears repeating. Learn how your equipment works! Furthermore, if you’re serious about photography, consider investing in some decent equipment. Learning how your camera works is critical, but a camera can only do so much on its own. Some situations simply require more specialized equipment.
You won’t often hear me tell an amateur to run off and purchase a fancy camera, but there are a lot of accessories and supplementary pieces of equipment that are also important for a photographer. Have a lot of blurry photos? Maybe you need a tripod. Can’t seem to get the subject large enough in the frame? Maybe you need a zoom lens. Are your subjects always getting red-eye? Maybe you need an external flash of some sort. Obviously, if you consider yourself only a hobbyist, then your budget is going to be limited, but that doesn’t mean you have to resort to using junk (or nothing at all) to get the shots you want. I’ve often said that decent equipment doesn’t have to cost a fortune, so long as one is willing to do a little research.
And much like I’ve already said in point #1, take off the training wheels, and wean yourself off the “auto” function. It’s hard to overstate how lousy a job the auto function is on most cameras. With a little experimentation, you may find a few automated settings that work better than others, but relying on them is always going to come with tradeoffs. Automated camera settings sacrifice control for ease-of-use, and the more experienced you become, the less you should need them.
4. Be willing to go the extra mile!
Just like anything in life, photography is often a result of the effort you put in. Ever seen a calendar with a gorgeous shot from the top of a mountain and thought “boy, I wish my photos looked that good!” Well, first you have to climb the mountain. That photographer could’ve been the best in the world, but it wouldn’t have mattered if they hadn’t bothered to climb the mountain in the first place.
Photographers are often seen crawling around in dirt, hiking in the mountains, camped out in a tent in the rain, or enduring sweltering heat on a sports field to get the shot they’re after. While I’m not suggesting you need to start running triathlons to be a better photographer (I myself am about as flabby and out-of-shape as they come), you also can’t expect to get great photos if you’re not willing to go where interesting stuff is happening. Sitting in your car, snapping photos with your iPhone is a far cry from hiking out into the field to photograph wildlife.
Photography is often a messy endeavor, and you have to be willing to sacrifice your own comfort now and then if you’re serious about taking better photos.
You may notice that I haven’t talked a lot about specific techniques or pieces of equipment. The reason is essentially that being a good photographer is as much a mindset change as anything else. Smartphones and other pieces of modern technology have been a bit of a double-edged sword for aspiring photographers. While tech has lowered the barrier to entry for photography, it’s also led many people to think photography is easier than it actually is. Like anything, it takes time and practice, but it’s absolutely worth it. The reason I’m so passionate about great photos, is that it allows us to capture moments and memories forever. For example, here's one I shot last Christmas of my mom, daughter and nephew snuggled up on Christmas Day:
This picture would never have been possible without many hours of practice and dedication. I’ll always cherish moments like this, but I feel like I get to cherish them a little more personally when I have a beautiful photo like this to commemorate them.
So, armed with this new knowledge, get on out there and take some photos that don’t suck!
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Cover Photo by Samuel Rios on Unsplash
