Congrats! You’ve decided to up your photo game. Consider these tips as you climb your mountain to become the best photographer you know you can be!
Look at professional/excellent photographers’ work and try to pick out the details of what makes it look so amazing
After you’ve analyzed some photographs that are shot very well, you’ll start recognizing certain patterns that serious photographers like to use.
Study the basic rule of thirds for better art compositions
This principle of where to place certain subjects in a frame is used constantly in photography and films for a pleasant image. Also keep in mind, for photography and creativity, rules can be broken and ignored to produce something different or better.
Learn how to shoot on manual settings to have better control of the image
This can also apply to smart phones to a degree. Search online if you can change the camera settings of your particular phone for more control over brightness, focus, etc. Larger cameras like DSLR’s (big cameras) or mirrorless cameras (smaller and sometimes better cameras) are designed to have more manual control for getting that epic landscape shot or beautiful portrait. YouTube tutorials on how to shoot manually with your particular camera model or smartphone would be a good place to start. Learning to shoot manually will also help you to understand the BIG 3 technical settings in photography: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. I will be writing and demonstrating more on how those BIG 3 settings influence how your image is produced.
Bonus Tip: Have fun while learning. Your first few hundred photographs or so - may not be that great when you look back on them. That’s what’s great about this craft. There’s always a way to improve or add on to your skills. Tons of exciting techniques, principles, and new discoveries on how to produce that epic image is out there. You just need to put in some work getting them. Climb that photography mountain and discover the universe! Create those epic photographs you know you can produce!
Me with my micro four thirds camera + cross body bag framed by pink flowers that compliment my mustard yellow sweater. Shot by one of my sisters because no one remembers who really took it, lol.