So, how can people take better images for posting to Facebook and other social media sites. Follow these simple steps for immediate improvement to your photo taking abilities.

1. Think about the lighting

When taking an image have a look at your lighting. Firstly, make sure that there is enough light to take a photo. I know sometimes this is not possible but consider it carefully before you shoot. Secondly, look where the light is coming from. Unless you are trying for a specific effect never place the light behind your subject. The camera will always focus and meter off the brightest area of a scene so your subject will be dark and indistinct. Rather shoot with the light coming from behind the camera over the shoulder of the photographer. Good images need good lighting to get a good exposure.

2. Use your feet

Sometimes it’s more important to use your feet before your head. Use them to get in closer. Most of the time photos are being taken with cellphones or point n shoots with either no optical zoom or very little. So the subjects are little blips in the photo. Get close to your subject and fill the frame so your see more of the person or object. Don’t use digital zoom as it degrades the image. Try it out and see which image you prefer. I like to see more of the memory I am making rather than all the clutter around scene.

3. Change your angle

Ninety percent of images are shot from in front of the subject approximately 5 feet (1.5m) above the ground. They all look the same, just different people. Change your angle so that you shoot from either low down or high up. Move around from your left to your right so that you aren’t directly in front of your subjects. Turn your camera at a forty five degree angle or hold it high above your head or at your waist. Digital photography allows you to review quickly and see if it works.

4. Think outside the box

Try to come up with a composition that is out of the ordinary. Be creative and take time to think about what you are going to shoot before pressing the shutter button. Look at the scene and ask yourself if you have seen a picture like this before. If you have then try another composition or angle. The key is to experiment.

5. Review your images

Before uploading to Facebook, review the images you’ve taken. Look through them and delete or remove the ones that you aren’t totally happy. Rather upload 10 good images than 50 average or bad ones. A little time taken to ask yourself whether you are proud of the image will ensure that your photo gallery stands out from the rest.

The bottom line is to learn digital photography and apply it so that you become a photographer and not just a picture taker. A little bit of thought and putting into practise some basic photographic principles will help you create images that you can be proud of. Facebook is there to showcase your images so try to upload only your best ones. Just because people aren’t making funny comments about them doesn’t mean they aren’t thinking them.

What I discovered many years ago was that great images and those dramatically inspired photographs don’t just happen. If you were to speak to a National Geographic award winning photographer, you’d find out that there is a process that leads up to the outstanding image. Now I am not going to give you the keys to that type of image because I wasn’t part of the photographer’s process. I am going to give you some basic steps to get you moving towards your personal goal of that perfect image. Before we go on I need to make it clear that the perfect image for you is one that is in your mind and nobody else’s. So here are some tips to head you in the right direction.

1. Define yourself as a photographer

This is really simple and not as difficult as the step sounds. Defining yourself as a photographer means discovering what you like to shoot and what genres you want focus on. This might be landscape, portrait or close-up and macro. If you don’t do this you’ll be a generalist and never focus on what really motivates you to take photos. As I said, the perfect image starts with a process and this is the first step.

2. Learn to think

Once you know what you want to shoot and have an idea of what you really like it’s time to take a step back from the actually shooting and learn to think. Take time out to think about what the final result will be. Begin with the end in mind. If you love close-ups, is it that green tree frog with bright red eyes? Or, perhaps the bee on a bright red flower? Start to visualise what the final images should look like and what you need to do to get to that point. Where you need to go, at what time of day and what equipment you need to take with or plan to buy now or in the future. The perfect image comes from a lot of thought and planning.

3. Take your time

Perfect images can never be rushed. As the golfer who takes a lucky swing and gets a hole in one so are the chances of you getting the lucky shot. By taking your time to find the right location, set up equipment properly and thinking about the image you will increase your chances of that perfect shot. Passion and enthusiasm are sometimes hindrances to great photography because they induce haste and speed which are big negatives to the process.

4. Plan

This is a key component to realising a great image. It includes finding the best location for a perfect photo, preparing your equipment, working out the technical aspects of the image and understanding what the best lighting and other weather conditions will be. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. A good plan will increase your chances a hundredfold of shooting the photo of your dreams.

5. Experiment

Although you have a plan and a series of steps you need to take to get the image in your mind’s eye, don’t be afraid to experiment. Make sure that you implement you plan carefully, this is number one. But be prepared to try out other ideas, angles and settings. You never know what will happen and a variation of your plan may just result in something dramatic and an image that is beyond your wildest dreams.

6. Practise makes perfect

If at first you don’t succeed try and try again. Practise makes perfect is what the old adage says. If the plan doesn’t work out then try it again and again and again and vary it as I said when experimenting. You may get 70% of the plan right or even only 50%. Don’t give up but keep on trying because next time it will be 75% or even 90% percent right. As you go a long you’ll find yourself perfecting your techniques and repeating the successes more often. All this adds to the process and you will find yourself getting nearer and nearer to that perfect image.

Once again, the perfect image is one that is in your mind and not someone else’s. Nobody can prescribe to you what that image should be. It may look like one in a travel magazine or on the cover of Nature magazine or National Geographic but it is still your image. Take the time, plan, experiment and practise until you reach that perfect goal in your photographic journey. As you learn digital photography you will learn something new every day so build on it and soon you will become an accomplished photographer. Happy shooting!

Portraits are traditionally taken in studios by a professional photographer at great cost because we know that we are going to get great images. That doesn’t mean you can’t take top photos of family and friends by yourself. It really is simple if you follow a few key pointers.

1. Location

Always find a great place to take your photos. An area that is interesting and with backgrounds that will show off the person being photographed. There should be no distractions and the background should be simple and uncluttered. A good location is going to complement the overall image. Be very aware of the colours in the scene so that there is no clashing between your subject’s clothes and other elements in the photo. Choose a location where there are a variety of props that will improve the image. These could be a vintage car, a tree with an interesting trunk or an archway, window or stone structure. It gives the subject something to hold on to or lean against. A subject standing on a plain background will make an average image.

2. Get in closer

We are all guilty of shooting images that are not close enough to the subject. Of course you need to vary your photoshoot and take some wide angled shots but the majority of the images need to be shot in close. More detail often means better memories later. Getting in closer does two things, one, lets you see more of the person in the final photo and two, helps to exclude all of the unnecessary clutter you often see in an image. Be aware of the edges of your scene when framing it in the viewfinder or on the LCD. Find the clutter and you won’t have to crop unnecessarily in your editing software.

3. Change your angle and your format

Firstly your angles. By shooting from a variety of different angles such as low down or high up you will change your viewpoint and make a more interesting portrait. So many images are shot from directly in front of the subject and most people have seen images like this. They are average and below par. On the other hand by looking for unique angles you will create a dynamic photo. Secondly your format, a portrait taken using a vertical format may seem the right way to take it. But, if you use a horizontal format it may result in an even better image. And, if you really want to be daring turn the camera 45 degrees and see what results. Key here is to experiment with all the formats and see what you get.

By putting these three steps into practise I can guarantee that your portraits will improve and the resulting dynamic images will place you head and shoulders above your peers. Happy shooting!

An image does not just appear in front of your lens and you just press the shutter button and there it is. Neither is it luck or pure chance. The perfect image starts long before your press the shutter. It starts when far away from the scene you are about to photograph. How to start that process and what route to take to the image is what I am going to help you discover on this exciting journey as you learn digital photography.

What I discovered many years ago was that great images and those dramatically inspired photographs don’t just happen. If you were to speak to a National Geographic award winning photographer, you’d find out that there is a process that leads up to the outstanding image. Now I am not going to give you the keys to that type of image because I wasn’t of the photographers process. I am going to give you some basic steps to get you moving towards you personal goal of that perfect image. Before we go on I need to make it clear that the perfect image for you is one that is in your mind  and nobody else’s. So here are some tips to head you in the right direction.

1. Define yourself as a photographer

This is really simple and not as difficult as the step sounds. Defining yourself as a photographer means discovering what you like to shoot and what genres you want focus on. This might be landscape, portrait or close-up and macro. If you don’t do this you’ll be a generalist and never focus on what really motivates you to take photos. As I said, the perfect image starts with a process and this is the first step.

2. Learn to think

Once you know what you want to shoot and have an idea of what you really like it’s time to take a step back from the actually shooting and learn to think. Take time out to think about what the final result will be. Begin with the end in mind. If you love close-up is it that green tree frog with bright red eyes? Or, perhaps the bee on a bright red flower. Start to visualise what the final images should look like and what you need to do to get to that point. Where you need to go, at what time of day and what equipment you need to take with or plan to buy now or in the future. The perfect image comes from a lot of thought and planning.

3. Take your time

Perfect images can never be rushed. As the golfer who takes a lucky swing and gets a hole in one so are the chances of you getting the lucky shot. By taking your time to find the right location, set up equipment properly and thinking about the image you will increase your chances of that perfect shot. Passion and enthusiasm are sometimes hindrances to great photography because they induce haste and speed which are big negatives to the process.

4. Plan

This is a key component to realising a great image. It includes finding the best location for a perfect photo, preparing your equipment, working out the technical aspects of the image and understanding what the best lighting and other weather conditions will be. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. A good plan will increase your chances a hundredfold of shooting the photo of your dreams.

5. Experiment

Although you have a plan and a series of steps you need to take to get the image in your mind’s eye, don’t be afraid to experiment. Make sure that you implement you plan carefully, this is number one. But be prepared to try out other ideas, angles and settings. You never know what will happen and a variation of your plan may just result in something dramatic and an image that is beyond your wildest dreams.

6. Practise makes perfect

If at first you don’t succeed try and try again. Practise makes perfect is what the old adage says. If the plan doesn’t work out then try it again and again and again and vary it as I said when experimenting. You may get 70% of plan right or even only 50%. Don’t give up but keep on trying because next time it will be 75% or even 90% percent right. As you go a long you’ll find yourself perfecting your techniques and repeating the successes more often. All this adds to the process and you will find yourself getting nearer and nearer to that perfect image.

Once again, the perfect image is one that is in your mind and not someone else’s. Nobody can prescribe to you what that image should be. It may look like one in a travel magazine or on the cover of Nature magazine or National Geographic but it is still your image. Take the time, plan, experiment and practise until you reach that perfect goal in your photographic journey. As you learn digital photography you will learn something new every day so build on it and soon you will become an accomplished photographer. Happy shooting!

Take A Photo Walk

If you haven’t yet heard of a photo walk then it’s time you learnt about this wonderful way to learn digital photography. When I first tried it out, it immediately gave inspiration to my creativity. Creativity needs inspiration and ideas. Our brains need hooks to hang the ideas on. Photo walks focus our minds on ideas and force us to explore our creativity.

So how do photo walks work. If you’re a loner then take your camera and take a walk or if you like to do things together with friends then go out in a group. If you like you can do it with a partner or friend. There are no boundaries or rules. Key here is to just do it. So how is it done? The idea is to agree upon an idea and then go out and shoot it. Here’s how I do it.

1. Choose a theme

This is probably one of the most interesting forms of a photo walk. Before you go out, come up with a theme that is simple and interesting. You can choose a colour or an idea. The important thing is that you agree on something and then do it. You can be as strict or as free as you want. The fun is yours and as long as it gets you creative anything goes, you set the rules. I like colour and for the duration of the walk I choose a single colour and then shoot only that.

2. Select a concept

This is a little more difficult than using a theme. You need to think a little more and those creative juices need to be a little bit more stimulated. So this is how it works. Come up with a concept. For example, love, strength, loneliness, passion, direction or peace. It’s up to you. A good idea is to write a bunch of them on slips of paper and then choose one at random. The reason I say this is that when choosing one you like you tend towards ideas that you find easier. It’s the more difficult ones that challenge and stretch your creativity.

3. Alphabet soup

This is a fun one. Similar to concepts it really challenges creativity yet in a slightly different way. All it requires is that you choose a letter of the alphabet and shoot anything beginning with that letter. Before you go out choose which letter or letters you are going to shoot. You can take one letter and shoot only that one on the walk or you can take the whole alphabet and attempt to get 26 unique images. A variation on this is actually photographing the characters from signs, or, you can look for shapes that resemble a particular letter in the alphabet. There are no limits to the fun you can have doing this.

These three ideas will go a long way in helping you learn digital photography. Remember that if it helps stretch your photographic muscles then, as with physical exercise, it’s good for you. Any form of practise is going to strengthen your creative process and generate new ideas resulting in better images. If the whole process can be fun then it’s a win/win situation. You get to hang out with friends who are like minded and learn digital photography while becoming more creative and a better photographer. Happy shooting!

Sometimes it’s too scary to take the setting off automatic and switch it to the Tv setting. Tv is the shutter speed setting and stands for time value as opposed to the other setter, Av which stands for aperture value. The problem most of us have when starting out is that if we change from automatic we’ll miss or mess up important photos that cannot be recaptured. There is any easy answer to this. Practise. Don’t try using the setting unless you are prepared to take the time to practise.

So what is shutter speed? It’s a simple answer. It’s the amount of time the shutter remains open when pressing the shutter button.

1. Shutter speed is measured in seconds

This is true but most of the time we are shooting in fractions of seconds e.g. 1/250th, 1/100th or even as low as 1/30th of a second. The bigger the number the shorter the time it is open. 1/1000th is open less than 1/60th of a second.

2. Slow shutter speeds need a tripod

If you are shooting anything lower than 1/60th of a second you will probably need a tripod or some support like leaning against a wall or post. A bean bag on top of something is a good alternative to a tripod.

3. Using your lens as a guide

What I mean by this is that if you are using a 100mm lens or the 100mm end of a zoom lens, use this as a guide to the minimum shutter speed i.e. 1/100th of a second would be you slowest speed you could use when shooting with a 100mm lens.

4. Freezing movement

In order to freeze movement in your images you need to use a fast shutter speed such as 1/250th, 1/500th or even 1/1000th of a second. The speed you decide on will be determined by the speed of the action. An athlete would be slower than, say a motorcycle racer.

5. Blurring an image

Sometimes you will want to intentionally blur an image to create the effect of speed. This is opposite to freezing movement so you’ll need to use a shutter speed of below 1/60th of a second. This basically allows the subject to travel across your image while the shutter is open. Faster subjects will create more blur. The key here is to experiment with the subject you want to capture.

6. Shooting in low light

When shooting in low light or taking shots of lighted buildings you need to reduce your shutter quite significantly. Most times you will be shooting in full seconds and need to use the B or bulb setting which allows you to keep the shutter open until you release it.

Remember that you cannot alter shutter speed in isolation to other settings such as aperture and ISO. The great thing about the TV setting is that when you alter the shutter speed, the camera automatically sets the correct aperture for you. In most cases this works but you need to realise that when the light is low and you are using a faster speed, you might not have a big enough aperture setting to let in sufficient light. You may need to compromise on your shutter speed and use a slower setting to capture the shot.

So there are limitations but practise will allow you to learn what works and what doesn’t. Experiment as much as possible to gain the experience to use your shutter speed setting at an important event. Effective use of shutter speed will dramatically improve you photography. Happy shooting.

There are basically three questions here that need to be answered:

1. When do I use aperture priority (Av)

In order to use aperture priority mode you need to change the f-stops or f numbers on your camera. Check out your manual to find out where this is. What aperture priority does is allow you to manually change the f-stops. By setting it to Av it allows you to choose the f-stop and then the camera will automatically set the right shutter speed. You tell it how much light you want to let in and the camera sets the length of time the light will be allowed to reach the sensor, which is the shutter speed. So when do I use this feature in my photography? If you’ve seen those beautiful portraits of someone with the background all blurry then you’ve seen the effective use of the aperture. This is called depth field or depth of focus. The amount of focus in front of the subject and behind it. This is what you see in the portrait image, a shallow depth of field. It’s controlled by using a small f-stop, e.g. f2.8. The opposite happens for a landscape photo which is in focus from the foreground all the way to the background, a wide depth of field. Here you would use a large f-stop of say f22 right up to f32.

2. When do I use shutter speed priority (TV)?

Using shutter priority is even easier. Setting the camera to Tv allows you to control the shutter speed while the camera automatically sets the correct aperture. You want to control the length of time the shutter remains open and then camera will set the correct amount of light that reaches the sensor. Too much light will overexpose and give a very bright white image and too little light will underexpose and give a dark image. The shutter speed is measured in seconds and fractions of a second. Mostly you’ll use the fractions such as 1/60th or 1/250th and so on. Shutter speed is used to freeze or blur action like a motor car at speed when you would use a shorter time such as 1/250th or higher. Blurring action would require a shutter speed of 1/60th or slower such 1/15th.

3. How does aperture (Av) affect shutter speed (Tv) and vice versa?

What you need to know is that aperture and shutter speed are siamese twins. What you do to the one affects the other. This is quite simple. When you set a fast shutter speed of say 1/100th of a second, you need sufficient light to create a clear image, not too light and not too dark. Let’s say under the lighting conditions the camera chooses f5.6. Now, if you want to take a shot of a speeding car you would need to increase the shutter speed 1/250th so that the photo isn’t blurred. Now you have halved the amount of time the shutter stays open. This will cause the picture to be underexposed or too dark. So you have to change the aperture by opening it by one f-stop to f4. Moving up through the f-stops halves the amount of light allowed through and therefore moving down doubles it. There is another setting on your camera called manual (M) which allows you complete control of both aperture and shutter speed but this needs a lot more understanding which I will explain in another article.

To summarise, if you want to change the depth of field you would use aperture priority and change the f-stops. If you want to blur or freeze action you would use the shutter priority. And remember, when you change the one the camera will always change other.

This is why using these two settings is so great. You can choose which one to use for the type of photo you want to shoot and the camera will automatically set the other to the correct setting. Now cameras will not always make a perfect choice for several reasons but most of the time it will be the right one. The key to using these modes is experimentation and practise. So take your time to practise and you will soon learn how to effectively use these two settings.