10 Tips To Take Photos

I have decided to publish this article to share some advice from an amateur of photography to others, and on the network there are a great variety of articles that discuss technical matters of photography and this isn't what I wish here, rather I intended to share some useful advice that I would have liked to read as I became interested in the world of digital photography. These advice will be useful both for those who only take family photographs by chance and for those who are formally interested in artistic photography.

1.- The theme

Most of us start taking photos of anything that's happened to us thinking we'll accidentally find a great image. It's important to choose an issue to be photographed about. Some people love to photo people, others love to photo plants, buildings or landscapes. The best way to get closer to photography is by defining an issue, this can help us to concentrate on some kind of photographs and will make our sessions more productive.

The theme can be as simple and complicated as you choose, a theme could be for instance "shoes" and we can take photographs of shoes in different locations and situations. A complex issue could be "dignity" that may require photographs of people in situations that highlight their loss or gain from dignity, perhaps a beggar asking for alms, a masonry working, a mother nursing his child, an old man feeding doves, etc. Each image of a topic as "dignity" can be interpreted in many ways.

The choice of a theme doesn't mean that we will just close ourselves to some kind of photographs, what I have found very constructive is to work about projects, each project can have its own theme, for example, for those living near the forest or field a project can be photo mushrooms and with that project they can plan where they have to go to take their photographs and even what type of equipment they have to get with you. To work about projects is a great experience.

2.- Composition

The composition is what makes a good image, with composition we referred to the information we seek to communicate the image, the elements we decide that they come out or they don't come up with. Some aspects of the composition are worth noting:

• The frame: this is essential, most homemade photographs are often bad because people do not properly frame the image, let's suppose that you will take a photo of a group of friends, first thing I would ask myself is will this image look best horizontally or vertically? That I want them to come out in the photo, just the faces, from the waist up, full body? If I'm taking a full body photo I will have to care about details as if I did not cut his feet or some of his head, nor leave a lot of space up his head or his feet and some of them that I have been a 30% of them that I have been a 30% of them and that I have been a 30% of them that I have been a ten. Of course we also have to care about focusing the image accordingly according to what our main goal is.
• The elements: When you have the freedom to remove or put elements into a photo we have to take the time to do so, that image could have been perfect we have taken that chair or plate with food remains from the table. When you look through your camera's goal or display with a critical eye at the eletons that come out of your image.
• light, color and contrast: regardless of technical issues it's always good to seek a good contrast between the colors or figures of a photo. For instance if it's an image that they plan to take in a pat and black make sure that the light contrast is enough to figure out what's going on in the image.
• Distance: sometimes when we see something we will immediately capture with our camera but it's advisable to test different distances between the target and us with either an approach to the lens or a physical approach to find the best image.
• Angle and perceptiva: objects gain different characteristics depending on their perspective and angle from which they are photographs. If you photo an upper-down plant it may look very common but if you lay down on the floor and photos from bottom-up can become an interesting figure. Don't be shy and experience.

The best images have some drama, some mystery. Maybe if you look at the façade of a house, you don't have a lot of interest but if you look at a window of an open house that creates some mystery, who sees an image with an unconscious wish to know what's inside, who's there and how fascination comes from the mystery. Try to add dramatism to your images with all the above points, also choosing if the image will look more interesting to color or in black and white.

3 - patience

There are images that are from the moment, the moment goes as fast as it gets, however there are other images that can be planned more, especially when you are photographing a static element. The key to get the best image is to have patience, give time to seek best distance, best angle or best direction to participants. When choosing you to take a family photo of a food because you are the nephew who always takes photos you have to remember that at that moment you are the director, you have to say how to accommodate people where they should put their place, etc. They have given you the power and you have to exercise them, don't take the photo if you're not sure they'll come out perfect.

4.- Several shots

That's basic, don't take a single photo take several, be it an image of people, landscapes or objects make sure to take several photographs with different angles, distances and settings. Then you can check the photos with details on your computer and choose the best or best. I usually take about 4 or 5 photographs as soon as I can and if the situation's difficult I take at least 2.

5.- Rafagas

A great trick that has been useful to me is to have photo bursts, many digital cameras have this type of function that allows the camera to continue to take photographs while keeping the trigger pressurized, so instead of pressing and releasing you leave the trigger pressurized and several photographs are taken in a row. That's how you avoid them from getting moved, as often by the pulse or place they move their images a little, it's also a good choice to take action photos, for instance someone bouncing or running. I always wear this trick and I have no blurry photographs.

6.- The memories

Whether your digital camera uses SD memory, memory stick or another, there's a good trick to using several, that's, instead of using a 4GB memory you could use 4 1GB memories, this's better because if something happens to some of the memories, for example, that's damaged, they haven't lost all the images, but if you just used a memory you'll lose everything. Just make sure you have enough spare memories at your hand.

7.- The tripée

That's an essential tool for those who take this hobby seriously, there are many situations and benefits that are useful:

• When you want to take a photo with someone, this is one of the greatest problems with group photos, someone should take the photo and they will not appear or they should be asked to or a third party passing that photo but will surely have a bad photo (without care for everything we saw at item 2). Thanks to tripand you can take your photos by planning how long the camera will take to take the image or better even using remote control that for many cameras comes as an accessory or can be bought separately.
• When you wish to take an image with great precision without moving or have to wait a while to get an event and while you can't be holding up the camera because it weighs.

• When there's little light, be it at night, at evening or inside a room. When there's little light, less photons (light particles) come up to the sensor of the camera, and so there are tiny more dark spaces in the image, that's what's known as "noise." They may have noticed that in many of his photographs, that's when a surface in his image acquires a granular texture, similar to how a television with bad reception looks. The noise can be reduced with artificial light, with longer shots (long shutter) playing with the lens opening or even with software, but the noise becomes more problematic and clear as we move the camera while taking an image. Even if you don't get it, the only movement of our pulse's enough to ruin an image with little light. In these cases the tripée allows to have the static camera while capturing the image.

Some people have been hesitant about buying a tripé because they think it's gonna be really uncomfortable to load it, but my experience has been really good. The tripies are usually very light, even with carbon fiber and have cover to save them that can be hung from their shoulder. I have been walking in the field, in archaeological areas and climbing volcanic stones with a tripée and have been useful and have been more and more and more.

There are three types of tripies by their size: large (the camera can be put up to the head), small (the camera can be put up to the waist) and miniature (they are the size of a hand). I advise to have a big and a miniature. The big one is far more useful to both take group photos and photos of landscapes and objects, and as its height is adjustable you can have the same size as a small one. The miniature tripé is useful especially when photos are taken inside and the camera can be put onto a table or other furniture and the miniature tripé can be conveniently arranged. The latter is very useful for meetings, dinners and events of that kind, but I only recommend that you buy them with your camera as some cameras, especially those with interchangeable lenses are very heavy for the support of some of these tripies.

There are also monopies, these will serve many times but as their characteristic they have only one paw instead of three they cannot hold themselves so they will be useful for group photos. Overall, tripié is better but the advantage of tripiums is that they are smaller, lighter, they can be installed more quickly and at some museums they do not allow tripiés but sometimes if they allow tripiums.

8.- Red eyes

Red eyes are a common effect on photographs with low light, especially nocturnal light as with low light our pupils are more open and with flash being fired the blood vessels inside the eye are reflected in the image leading to a Red Color.

Most digital cameras have a function against Red Eyes that works quite simply, simply shoot the flash twice, first shoot it without photo to cause our pupils to close and then shoot again at the time of photo, all in a second. It's best that as long as they take photographs at night or at low light locations they use this function but note that energy consumption will be higher so that the camera's battery can last less.

Another way to avoid Red Eyes is with artificial light at the place leading people's faces to get enough direct light to close their pupils.

9. The equipment

Okay, for those with more sophisticated cameras and they take this more seriously here are some advice about how to plan the equipment for each project and how to transport it:

If our project is outside (beach, countryside, town) it's advisable to have as little equipment as possible as after a few hours it will become very heavy. I recommend selecting lenses according to the type of images to be captured, for example if we are to focus on close-ups we will have to wear our remote-zoom lens.

It's best to have the lens put and try to exchange as little as possible outside as we run the risk that powder particles will come and be put into the sensor. Most sophisticated cameras vibrate the sensor every time it lights and lights up the camera to get rid of these particles but it's best to avoid risking.

To transport the equipment select an appropriate bag or backpack. There are specialized backpacks to carry cameras that contain moors that absorb blows and compartments for accessories, if they transport your equipment into a bag or backpack anything may be damaged, especially if they are going to walk a lot. I have a backpack that even has its own rainwater.

independently of the lenses and filters they have with them, don't forget to check before they leave and have spare memories and a cloth to clear the lens, I recommend some that are suede. Also if necessary remember to have spare batteries and its tripé or single foot.

10.- The practice makes the master

The best way to improve your images is to constantly experience, try and get photos of all kinds with a variety of themes until you find your favorite themes and get your own technique. Be ready to practice, put as a goal to take a daily photo, a great way to do this is to conduct a documentary project, for example to have a photo of a daily object for a year, can be a plant or even a construction, at the end of the year you will have a documentary that you will have to presume. Some people better care about taking photos of loved ones, how about if they get a photo of your child and document their lives for a year or your partner...