Here are my best top ten photography tips that will help you take your photography to the next level.
1. Use a Tripod
Panoramic Photos
Using a tripod is not essential to make a panoramic image. If you are looking to supercharge your panoramic shots tenfold then use a tripod. Using a tripod for panoramic’s has huge benefits, the main benefit of a tripod is that it will let you get your ISO down to 100. Being able to get your ISO down to 100 allows you to maximise your camera’s quality, plus you are reducing camera shake at the same time.
Time-lapse Photography
Use a tripod and start making some awesome time lapse videos. Using a tripod for a time lapse is essential to maximize the movement in what you are trying to capture, could be clouds, waves or even moving people. I highly recommend A using a time-lapse calculator, that will calculate how long you want your footage to be and it will tell you how many shots to take. The only downside to making a time-lapse is waiting for your photos to finish up, especially if its freezing cold and have forgotten to pack a nice hot cup of coffee. Head over to you tube for more time-lapse photography tips.
Time-lapse Photography
One thing that definitely needs to use a tripod is attempting to take photos of the moon or the stars. With a tripod, it is possible to capture the stars and even the milky way. All you need is a high ISO, long shutter speed and the lowest f/stop available.
Quick tip: Manual mode, High ISO 6400 or higher, the lowest f/stop available and around 25-30 seconds.
Long Exposure photography tips
Using a tripod allows you to keep your camera still enough to get some really cool looking long exposure photography. With this effect, you can create this mystical effect in the water, create motion in the clouds and very effective on waterfalls. Starting with long exposure photography I would highly recommend using an ND filter, or even an Adjustable ND filter. With this filter, it will allow you to keep your shutter open for longer in the daytime to create the long exposure effect. TIP if you don’t have an ND filter you can always make do with a pair of sunglasses, you will lose a bit of quality and will look a bit strange trying to put sunglasses on your camera. But it does work.
Quick tip: Aperture Priority, High f/stop, ND filter and ISO 100 .
Light Trails
Another very cool effect you can only get with a tripod is light trails. Set your camera up in the direction of any moving lights, this works very well with traffic and capturing the movement of cars.
Quick tip: F/stop, variable depending on desired effect F/16+ for starburst, Shutter depends on the speed of lights, ISO 100
2. Avoiding Camera Shake
The Reciprocal Rule
This rule is just a guideline that you can use, so you can quickly choose the right shutter speed. The reciprocal rule is when you are hand holding your camera. Your shutter speed should not be lower than the effective focal length.
What this means is if your focal length is at 100mm, then your shutter should not go any lower than 1/100 of a second so the basic formula is: Shutter Speed = 1/focal length
examples: 50mm = 1/50 of a second, 120mm = 1/120 second, 200mm = 1/200 second and 300mm = 1/300 second
Holding Camera steady
This sounds very simple and I am sure everyone thinks that they try their hardest to keep the camera steady. There are a few things that you can do to help you to keep your camera more stable.
- The sniper position (a personal favourite, be prepared to get dirty)
- Lean on a wall to brace.
- Tuck your elbows in.
- Wrap your camera strap tight round your hand
3. The Exposure Triangle
Holding Camera steady
The exposure triangle is crucial in getting the picture that you have in mind. This principle works with your cameras automatic exposure modes Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority mode. This does not work on manual as you are controlling the exposure yourself.
Example: Set Aperture Priority mode, then chose your required f/stop, your camera then automatically chooses a shutter speed to give you the right exposure. If your camera automatically chooses a shutter speed too long to be able to get a handheld shot. You then either use a tripod or increase your ISO which will then force your camera to choose a faster shutter speed.
4. Rule of Thirds
Composition
This has got to be one of the most used composition rules out there and it can make a huge difference. To follow this rule of composition, you need to place your subject or point of interest where the lines meet on a cross-section. You have four choices so play with so have a go and see what looks best. If you are taking photos of a landscape choose one of the horizontal lines to place the horizon on, showing more of the sky or more of the foreground.
5. Choosing the right ISO
Don't be afraid to use a high ISO
ISO is one of the most important factors to try and balance with everything else. You have got to ask yourself, do you want an image with less noise and more camera blur or just a bit of noise but a really cool image? The image above I took in New Orleans, it was coming close to midnight and I didn’t have time to set the tripod up so I quickly put the ISO up to 6400. Although you can see the noise in this image, it is still one of my favourite images so do not be afraid of a little noise.
6. Creating Depth
Creating Depth with a subject
Another one of my favourite photography tips is to create depth with the use of a subject. The subject could be anything from a rock, flower or even this old piece of junk. By having a definite foreground and background makes the image look 3D and more attractive.
7. HDR Photography
3 Photo HDR image
I personally love HDR photography, however it’s not to everyone’s taste. The advantages of HDR photography is that your camera can only take pictures at a fixed dynamic range. So by taking three or more images, it lets you create your own high dynamic range image. For example, the image I took above has three images, the first is underexposed by 1 stop to catch all the detail in the sky. The second image is exposed how the camera would take it and the third is overexposed catching detail in the foreground. Once all these images have been put together in Lightroom merge to HDR, it produced the top image with more detail in the shadows and highlights.
8. What to do in bad weather
How to make the most out of bad weather
Sometimes you head out for that perfect sunset scene, but instead of the nice sunset, you are greeted with one of the most depressing sights in front of you. What do you do? The image above is a perfect example of this, I travelled for 2 hours in the hope for that perfect sunset. I climbed to the top of the hill to wait for the epicness to unravel and take the perfect photo. That is how it was supposed to happen, instead, I climbed the hill an hour before sunset to look for the perfect spot, once I found it I set up the tripod. With the tripod all set up, I finally saw the gloomy sight in front of my camera, the sky was dark and grey and not much detail at all.
Sunset was approaching and it still looked the same and no hope of any change, but never give up as you only need one break in the clouds for that epic photo. I was not so lucky and sat there freezing my tits off, and no photos but I was determined to get something to come away with. I climbed back down to the beach and see there was some nice contrast in the black and white pebbles on the beach, instantly a no brainier and decided to try some black and white images. Although they were unplanned images, I was happy to come away with a couple of decent photos.
I advise do not give up on that perfect sunset but if you get stuck with some views that are so dark and gloomy that you just want to get back to the car in the warm. Try and take some black and white images.
9. Creating movements in images (Panning)
Expressing movement when panning
Another one of my favourite photography tips is to give panning a go. Panning is very good at showing the movement in a photo. To achieve this effect you will need to set the shutter speed to about 1/160s to 1/320s depending on how fast the subject is moving. This Shutter speed is fairly slow for moving vehicles, so the trick is to press the shutter while following the car until the shutter has finished. It may take a few shots to get a good one but keep practising.
10. Give wire wool and light painting a go
Experimenting with wire wool
A really cool way to get some awesome looking images is to try setting some wire wool on fire and spinning it above your head creating some cool looking sparks. This technique can be dangerous so be careful when attempting this.
To get this effect you will need a piece of rope a whisk and some fine grade wire wool. To set up the wire wool and whisk you will need to tie the rope to the whisk and cut the rope to length. Then stuff wire wool into the whisk like a cage.
First, you will need to set the camera up on the tripod and set your focus to the spot where you are going to be spinning the wire wool. To do this you may need the help of a friend to stand in the spot, I then shine a torch and light them up to set the focus.
The first thing you need to do is set the camera, I use a self-timer of 10 seconds to give me enough time to get in position and set the shutter speed to about 20 seconds at about f11 and 100 ISO. I then set the timer off run over to the pre-focused spot set fire to the wire wool and spin it above my head to give the effect above. Give it a go and experiment with different location and even do it just as the light goes down for even better results.
