I was very excited when I finally purchased the camera of my
choice and I started taking pictures right away like a professional
photographer. After experimenting with
it for a few days, I realized that taking good pictures is not a child's
play. I was a bit disappointed as the pictures
were not coming perfect, many were blurred and not pleasing to the eye. I started talking to some of my friends for
tips, browsed the internet and also uploaded some photographs for
feedback. It helped me a lot and
gradually I was able to take good pictures.
Later I took a short-term online course to bolster my creativity on
photography. I learned a lot and want to
share with you guys a few tips.
The first thing you should do after buying a brand new
camera is to test out its different modes that are available in your
camera. You should try out its auto
mode, manual mode, movie mode, sweep panorama, and so on. More you engage in its functions more you
would learn about the settings to use in different types of photo taking. Refer to the manual extensively and be
familiar with your camera before you actually start taking pictures.
Read the user manual thoroughly. Many people do not make an effort to go
through the manual that comes along with the camera. They think that all the functions can be
learned by simply playing with them.
That is not true. There are still
many things that are there in the manual that often seem minute but can prove
beneficial from time to time. To know
your camera's functionality, you must read the manual thoroughly.
Follow The Rule of Thirds.
It is a very general photographic guideline that suggests dividing a
photo into horizontal and vertical thirds, then composing to put the critical
elements of the photograph at the intersection of the imaginary thirds. If you are a beginner, this rule should
definitely be followed in order to make your pictures more appealing. Activate the grid lines in your camera in
order to follow The Rule of Thirds (refer to the manual that is given along
with your camera if needed).
Always use a tripod.
It will help you to get rid of the blurriness in the pictures and also help you to become a good photographer. As
you can see, professional photographers always carry a tripod. If you do not have a tripod, you can lean
against a wall or rest your camera on top of a table or some stable objects.
When you take pictures of children, you may get discouraged
as they often blink at the wrong moment.
To prevent this, tell them to close their eyes for a moment and then ask
to open their eyes and smile when you are ready to press the shutter
button. This way, you will have good
portrait pictures.
Try to enjoy your hobby.
Even best photographers cannot always produce good pictures. So, do not get discouraged. Simply enjoy it and keep clicking and
practice more.
Try to take pictures on a cloudy day. Clouds can serve as a good reflector and
produce excellent pictures.
Try to take at least three photos at a time. When shooting pictures of children, you
should try to take three or more photos in a row. This way, you would be able to capture their
movements, which can become oftentimes quite funny or interesting.
It is always best that you know how to set your camera
properly, in accordance to its surroundings, as you will need to take pictures
in different places which will require different effects. Thus, apart from knowing the settings of your camera,
you should also have the ability to switch them quickly.
Try to shoot with other photographers who are more
experienced than you are. This way, you
get to learn a lot of things from them, such as their techniques, their
equipment, their style, and a lot more. Aside
from that, you can also make new friends.
Doing this would certainly offer you an opportunity to learn lots of new
things.
Always carry spare batteries when you are out of your home
shooting pictures. Charge all your extra
batteries and bring them so that you do not miss out on great shots.
As a beginner in photography, you need to find ways to learn
more about it. One of which is to take a
photography course. By going through a
course, it would be easier for you to gather more information about the
subject.
Ask a professional photographer for feedback. By doing that, you would be able to make
improvements on your skills, by listening to his advice.
Some More Useful Tips
Nowadays almost all cameras including digital cameras come
with the facility of movie mode, so why not to use it to capture some beautiful
moments on occasions like birthday parties, weddings, and family gatherings and
you may want to use them to make a short movie using Windows Movie Maker. For beginners as well as professionals,
Windows Movie Maker is the best free video editor that is available and the settings
are user friendly and even a child can operate it. However, when you are using the Windows Movie
Maker for the first time and import video clips to make a short movie, you may
get a message saying "The file M4V00000.MP4 is not a supported file type,
and it cannot be imported into Windows Movie Maker." It may be annoying at first, but do not
worry, as there is a solution to it.
Simply follow the following:
Download Mp4Cam2AVI. It is an AVI converter or joiner for digital
photos and videos and MPEG-4 camcorders.
Convert all your video clips and photos using this software and then import
them into Windows Movie Maker and now you can make a short film without having any
problem.
Another thing you must have noticed that the size of JPEG images
is very large and can be of 100+ KB to 7+ MB in size, may be even more, due to
which it becomes very difficult to send these files as attachments or post in your
social networking sites as it takes a lot of time to upload. About 150 to 200 photos need around 4-GB
space. Now, the main question is - how
to decrease the size of JPEG images and others?
Actually it is pretty simple.
Right click on the picture you want to reduce the size of, click on Open
With and from the list click on Paint.
The picture will now open in Paint, then press Ctrl+S, i.e., save and
close the window. Now, check the size
again in Properties by right clicking on the picture. You will see that the size of the picture has
been reduced significantly, isn't it? Only
disadvantage is that you have to repeat the process over and over again for
each picture as you cannot select more than one picture at a time. I have been following this method for a long
time and discovered it accidentally by myself.
Lastly, it is very much essential to take care of your
camera’s batteries. Camera batteries
need proper care in order for them to last longer. One of the best things that you can do for it
is to let it get drained once or twice in a month. Once it is fully discharged, make sure that
you also charge it properly. This method
actually extends the life of your batteries.
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