How to Instantly Take Better Photos - 5 Simple Tips
Hey there and welcome!
If you’re new here, my name is Liam. I’m a Photographer and Filmmaker from Vancouver in Canada, and I wanted to share five tips on how you can improve your photography, things that I've learned over my seven year’s experience.
First of all, this definitely is not going to be a gear video. I want to leave you with practical tips that you can take with you next time you go out with your camera to get some better results. However, that being said, I did want to quickly mention what I have been shooting on recently, and that is the Canon EOS R7 and some of the RF glass. \\I show you this because the R7, although a great camera, is still multiple rungs from the top of the professional Canon lineup. All I'm trying to say here is that you don't need the best and most expensive equipment to make great images; it's way more important to know about your gear, know the techniques to use: at the end of the day, it's an art form, and art comes from within. So, without further ado, let's get into our five tips. And I will give you a bonus tip at the end.
Train your eye
I'll tell you a quick story about my own photography background. In high school, I believe it was in grade 10, my social studies teacher and rugby coach at the time started a photography club at my high school. There were only about six of us that ended up joining, and it was very small, very low-key, but he taught me some great things that I truly think have really launched my interest in photography. One of the projects that he had us do in this photography club was to select 100 photos that you liked. Not 99, not 101, but 100 exactly.
The reason being is that when you set a particular number of images that you need to compile, you have to start making selections about what you do and do not want to include. It's a super interesting exercise. is it really flexes that brain muscle and your eye muscles in figuring out what it is about a photo that you actually appreciate that you actually want to replicate in your own work. This can be as simple as the colors being used, the editing style, or maybe a little bit more complex uh in the type of subject matter that is being captured and the framing, the way that that is being placed and how you can create feelings by placing subjects in different parts of the image with different proportions. Maybe you really like a photo because it has a very wide aspect ratio, a panorama of sorts.
The point is there could be any number of details in an individual photograph that can catch your eye. And one of the best training exercises to do is to really flex that muscle and figure out what it is that you like in other people's work. What do you appreciate? What do you want to take with you?
2. Learn your equipment
Now, I said this wasn't going to be a gear review, and it won't be. I know I showed you the camera that I'm shooting on. The truth is, it really doesn't matter. Some of the best images I've ever taken were on a Sony a6000 back in the day, an entry-level camera with a kit lens, a non-fixed aperture range. But at the end of the day, what really matters is what's in front of the camera and how you can optimize the equipment that you do have with you. As the old adage goes, the best camera is the one that you have available. There are a million great resources on the internet findable with a quick Google search that can tell you for any given lens what part of its focal range is going to be the sharpest, what aperture settings are going to provide the sharpest results, and they're going to be able to give you fantastic information that you can take with you when you're shooting to help shape your creative vision. Similarly, when we're talking about camera bodies, there's a lot to know about each individual one. First of all, knowing the ergonomics of your particular camera is without doubt one of the most important things that I could urge you to learn without feeling like it is just part of you and that you can instinctively do things without having to dig through menus really makes you present in the moments, able to capture the subject matter so much more effectively. And I found that as soon as I started getting more comfortable with any of my new cameras, that's really when the best work started to be produced. You can really make it your own. Customize buttons to suit your needs, your needs, not somebody else's needs. And make sure that the setup you have is really, really working on your side and not against you. It's going to make a world of a difference when you get out there. And as I said, it's something that has drastically improved my work every time I switch cameras.
3. Think more about Locations and Settings
It's often times a very telltale sign that somebody's a beginner photography when their work looks like they just went for a walk around the block or into their backyard. There is nothing wrong with this because with the right approach that can be fantastically artful and beautiful as well. Sometimes it seems like that type of photography is lacking some intention. And what really changed with my work was when I stopped going with the whims of where it was easy to go or convenient to go to take photos. More often than not, the times where I've really gone out of my way to go somewhere that I think is going to be interesting and unique, it's paid off a thousand times. Second to this, and on the same subject, is when you choose a location, think about the timing of when you're actually going to be there and what you actually want the scene to look like. This can be as simple as planning to avoid the crowds if it's in the summer and there's a lot of tourists. It can also be a little bit more complex in figuring out which way the sun is going to be shining in your scene at any given time of day.
4. Lighting
As somebody who spent a lot of time working in film and videography as well as doing photography, I can tell you this. One thing that the video world has a total leg up on over the photography world is how they manipulate scenes using lighting. I have learned so much in working in those environments that have been able to be translated into my photography. things like approaching a scene and understanding the light that is present, understanding it so that you can manipulate it with the tools that you have. These tools, they can be as simple as screw on filters on your lens and they can be bigger and more complicated like diffusion panels and bounces and much more. Fundamentally, photography is all about light. The light is what provides energy to the sensor and that is what we interpret as an image. So, understanding how the light operates and the science behind the light is really an interesting topic that I believe everybody should just know a little bit about. And it makes for some very interesting reading and is something that when you take it into the field, those readings and those learnings are going to serve you so well. Just being able to understand what's going on a little bit more so that you can increase the quality of your work by manipulating that light and working with it instead of working against it.
5. Patience
If you've made it to this part of the article, you've probably already exercised a decent amount of this, but number five is patience. Circling back to the earlier story that I told, my high school teacher had a great great quote that I rehearse in my head often when I'm in the field.
“A great photographer once told me that capturing the beauty of life is less about where you are and more about how long you're willing to wait.” This quote has always resonated with me, and is one that I carry with me every time I go into the field and I make sure that moments are not being skipped over.
6. Make photography social
The amount of people that I've met that have turned out to be great friends, the amount of amazing people that are in the online communities. Delve into that because there are great people out there just waiting to connect and share ideas. The work that you can put out there when in combination with other people is sometimes way better than what you can do on your own. So, I wanted to leave you with that fun one. Make it social. Have fun with it.
I really hope that these have helped you. I would love to hear what it is that has spoken to you the most; if you have any other tips that you wanted other photographers to know, you can also reach out directly because I would love to talk about that.