Post your best photography tips.

[Nick McC]

This isn't a question so I figured it fit here best.

This thread is for you to post the best photography tips you have picked up while shooting, no matter how minor (I assume we can avoid the most basic composition rules though) or obscure.

I have picked up two since posting in the critique forum.

1) When shooting a full moon use the sunny f/16 rule. (Don't remember who posted that one.)

2) "...they say cloudy weather really brings out the colors." (polarbeardiggers referring to the colors of the trees in an Autumn picture of his.)

We can either quote the person before and just keep adding to the list to make the full list of tips easily accessible (maybe bold/italisize the one(s) you added), or just post them individually - I'll let the next poster decide :thumbsup:.

[Dylan8i]

getting a bad picture is better than getting no picture.

[susaan]

"Go back to auto mode,concentrate on composition,learn the rules,then try manual again,when you understand the basics"

"Slow down"

"Find a mentor"

All good advice given to me,at various times,this year.

[Grandpaw]

I think one very important thing to do before going out each time to shoot is to check ALL the settings on your camera. After taking the pictures I want I tend to experiment in changing the ISO level, white balance, light compensation plus or minus and other settings. I have done this before and forgot to reset then back before shooting the next time and have caused myself some problems.

Another thing to do is to get familiar with what your camera is capable of doing and learn how to set the camera to get the results you are looking for. Knowing what your camera is capable of but not knowing how to get it done or not being able to remember due to lack of practice will always hold anyone back, Jeff

[jorgemonkey]

1. When wondering whether to stop & take a picture of something, go for it.

2. After a shoot, reset camera settings to your "normal" settings

3. So you charged your batteries last week. Day before the big shoot, stick em all on the charger just to be sure.

[Wild Wassa]

My two tips are questions.

How many 1/250th of a second exposures ... can you do within a 1/60th of a second?

,,, and if you added the exposure times together, of all of the exposures that you have taken, how many seconds of your life have you actually captured?

Shoot heaps.

Warren.

[Grandpaw]

My two tips are questions.

How many 1/250th of a second exposures ... can you do within a 1/60th of a second?

,,, and if you added the exposure times together, of all of the exposures that you have taken, how many seconds of your life have you actually captured?

Shoot heaps.

Warren.

My D80 will shot 3 a sec so in 1/60 i would say one shot, It depends on the FPS of the camera, Jeff

[Nick McC]

Awesome advice, especially returning your settings - I can't tell you how many times I have shot an iso 100-200 picture at iso 800 because I never set it back/checked.

When shooting a sunset, drop the exposure a couple ticks to exsentuate (?) the colors and further sillhouette the foreground.

[megan]

--buy a Holga.
--if you say to yourself, "Wouldn't it be cool if..." Do it. Try it. Because it might be cooler than you think. Or it might be cheesy. And then you'll know.
--Don't be afraid of mistakes, learn from them.

[another view]

Don't squat with your spurs on.
Always drink upstream from the herd.

Yeah, OK - shoot a lot, but analyze your results and decide why it worked or didn't work. Go back a few days or a week later and look again. Was the shutter speed too slow? Not enough depth of field? Try it again. Shooting a lot is important, but have a reason why you're doing it.

Look at the light. Quality, quantity, direction. Learn how different light looks when photographed (i.e. overcast vs. sunny vs. somewhere inbetween, etc) and where different subjects might benefit from different types of light. Good photographic opportunities don't come around that often, be ready for them when they happen.

[reverberation]

Know your light, what time of day and year. Understand what you are doing and why, do anything you feel without apology...

[Jimmy B]

These 2 stand out
All ways check your strap
All ways check your settings
One that I would like to pass along
Be able to set up your tripod and camera in the dark if you can't you may miss the shot.
Jimmy B

[jetrim]

One I stumbled on recently...

When you resize your photo for display on the web, sharpen or resharpen the reduced image before saving.

Number one complaint I see in the critique section is that images are "soft" (and not just mine either LOL). Hitting sharpen once or even twice before saving seems to do wonders for getting an 800 pixel wide image to more accurately represent the 4500+ pixel original.

[gahspidy]

Alot of good ideas and tips here.

Always remember to bring with you in your bag, some spray paint, hack saw, chain saw, dynamite, ladder, wirec cutters and swiss army knife, so that you can manipulate the landscape to look picture perfect!
Well, maybe not. . . .

I notice from being on these forums a few years now and reading through many comments that quite alot of photographers, especially those just starting out usually just shoot one or two shots of a scene or subject that they found worthy enough to shoot.
I feel it is important, in addition to your checklist of technical settings and so on, to attack a scene or subject with many shots varying your settings and compositional approach.
When I come upon a scene, I will hit it at least 3-12 times varying my perspective and framing of it. Many times I may change lenses as well and hit the scene with different focal lengths. Looking back on the images later also becomes a great learning tool in comparing the different compositions and effects of varying focal lengths.
If you see something you like , and you stop and take only one shot, then I think your cheating yourself of the potential within that scene.
there are many times when you only have that one shot chance, but by learning from looking back at what works and what does not in your past shoots will help you nail that one shot deal with better results.

[danic]

Frame the shot with your view finder, lower the camera away, then frame the shot again and see if there is anything different.

[EOSThree]

Photograph the light.

[Dylan8i]

oh heres another good tip!


don't try to take pictures with a blender, it just won't work, and you may end up losing an eye: always use a camera.

[walterick]

Shoot the weather

[another view]

All ways check your settings

Reminds me of another - have a standard "zeroed out position" for your camera. For me that usually means Matrix meter, aperture priority, f5.6, single point auto focus. Whenever I change any of these modes (spot meter, manual exposure and focus, etc) I try to remember to "zero out" the camera before I move on.

[freygr]

Make sure you have a camera with you most of the time.

[Didache]

Just two tips from me:

a) MOVE YOUR BUTT! We have all seen people with their mobile phone cameras just holding them up where they are and taking a snap of something that caught their eye. This is fine, as far as it goes. But watch a GOOD photographer, and he/she will move around to get the best angles, to get closer/further from the subject, to attain the best composition. The best picture you will take of something is almost never from the first angle you see it from.

b) TURN OFF THE AUTOMATIC MODES! Good creative photography involves a knowledge of the effects of aperture, shutter speed and iso. A photographer will never REALLY learn how these work unless they bite the bullet and turn off the auto modes. It will be painful at first, but within a couple of weeks these things will become second nature - and then he/she will be able to handle different light, control depth of field, and all the other factors that go into making a really good image.

Cheers
Mike

[adamsti]

When it comes to motorsports and aviation photography, I'll repeat what many have said, "If it moves, shoot it". Remember though, slow those shutter speeds down, if you can see any of the cars wheels, they must show some movement. When you shoot planes with props, do not shoot any faster than 1/250, or 1/320 if your at the pylons at Reno.
A photo so sharp you can see if the pilot shaved in the morning, is a bad photo if the prop is frozen.

[Axle]

Don't be afraid to walk up to people, and stick a lens in their face at events. Capture the moment, the expression, the emotion. Sometimes posed shots just don't cut it for that.

Always shoot in Colour on your camera, you can always make it b/w in software later.

Always keep your original files separate...never save over them.

[poker]

Take your time looking at photography done by the best of the best. Literally sit there and analyze it for a very long time.

Never stop shooting.

Print and frame your best....appreciate your hard work.