Nov 21, 2016

Make Your Pictures Like A Professional With Your DSLR

Both amateurs and professionals ask themselves the same question and that is “how can I take a better picture?” But the main difference between someone who shoots photos for a hobby and those who are considered professionals is that pros now only know everything about the camera they’re using, but also know how to recognize various factors and use them to their advantage in order to produce excellent work. Provided below are some advice you can use to take your photography game to another level. 

Use the manual mode 
What separates a professional from an amateur photographer 99% of the time is actually the use of manual mode. With it, you can finely tune every little detail of the picture, including the amount of lighting coming into the lens, what aperture you’ll be using, the shutter speed, metering modes, etc. These are all very important and although most camera modes are good enough to be used in everyday situations, knowing how to manually set the stage for that perfect shot no matter what the circumstances are one of the key aspects of what makes a good photography great. 

Lighting is everything 
Professionals can’t seem to stress this enough, but lighting can literally make or break a photo. Simply adding a few extra light bulbs and light fixtures do not necessarily mean that your subject will be well-lit. In the photography business, artificial light is described as having direction, quality, and quantity. Fortunately, knowing how to recognize and use these characteristics to your advantage is a skill set that is best acquired by snapping a lot of pictures. Sure, you can read up on the matter, and there’s more than enough information circulating the internet about this subject, but nothing can replace the first-hand knowledge you get with trial and error. 

Composition is key 
One of the simplest ways of getting a professional looking photograph is to improve the composition. Where you put your subject, how you position the shot and what perspective you’ll be using are the small things that separate a good photographer from a mediocre one. For example, never center your subject unless you’re shooting a portrait and even then try to incorporate the background into the shot. Other aspects of the good composition include the angle in which the photo is taken, the point of view, framing and most important rule of all, the rule of thirds. 


Don’t be afraid to use accessories 
There are a number of different pieces of equipment photographers use to get the most out of a shoot. These include special lighting fixtures, movable and fixed tripods, ND and color reducing filters and, of course, lenses. What type of lens you’re going to use depends heavily on the type of photography and depending on the situation, you might have to carry and use more than one. A top of the line lens can set you back a pretty penny and the ones made by Canon and Nikon can literally cost you in excess of several hundreds of dollars. If that’s too much, you can always try using sigma lenses, as they provide pretty much the same results for the fraction of the price. 

Make up for your mistakes in editing
This is very important, as no matter how many hours you put into post-processing, nothing can fix a poorly taken picture. That said, editing software such as Adobe Photoshop can be used to crop, edit the photo and play around with the lighting, fix exposure, shadows, contrast and even lens distortion. But in order to do so, you need to shoot RAW photos. Unlike JPEGs, RAW is an uncompressed image format, which makes it ideal for later editing, but have in mind that focus and ISO need to be manually set before shooting, and once the picture is taken there’s very little you can do about them even in Photoshop.


It doesn’t really matter whether you’re using an old point-and-shoot you got for your birthday or the latest and greatest professional DSLRs have to offer. The most iconic and timeless photos have been taken on cameras which are inferior even to those in an average smartphone. There’s a lot to be learned about photography before you become a professional and nothing beats the first-hand experience, so take in the advice we’ve given you, let it settle, grab your camera and whatever you do, don’t stop taking pictures.

Author Bio: Aside from primary area of interest and expertise in business consulting, Ian could be tagged also as a passionate sport fan, nature and photography enthusiast, always trying to keep up to date with tech innovations and development.



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

1 comments: