How to take better photos

Despite technological advances , the registration of two-dimensional still images is still a common way of describing the world . There is no recipe for a perfect picture. In the words of one of the classics of photography Robert Doisneau - "If I knew how to take a good photograph , I'd do it every time" . However, there are tips that can help in achieving the technical correctness of the captured images. Here are my tips :



    Remember the " 4K " .

        composition
        There are the classic principles of image composition, such as the principle of the strong points of the image, fill the frame with the principle , the principle of balance, whether the principle of seeking natural borders. To break the rules , be a reason for that and it will let your conscious choice , not a post-modern fad .

        contrast
        Light is the essence of photography, learn to use the different sources ( sun , artificial , reflected , flash ) . Remember that the ideal of photography is putting tar black , snow white and all the midtones in between. Due to the limited ability to reproduce the full tonal range of the film or digital sensor , you are aware of what choices to give contrast scene. You can expose for the shadows , lights or even additional lighting contrast.

        color
        Wrong color used may interfere with reception of all other elements of the image. Just imagine a picture of a person in the foreground and a red balloon on the other, which certainly distract attention of the viewer . In many cases it works Photography , especially when you want to focus on telling a story . The color photography is worth a look , or contrast colors, or seek to effect monochrome ( using different shades of the same color ) or select specific colors ( hot or cold ) .

        context
        Explore the subject to extract its essence and think before you press the shutter button to answer when you do the photo and what we really want for the show .

    Use stałoogiskowych lenses .
    Not because they provide better optical quality and clarity than zooms , but because they are forced to think about when you're framing . Here are the proposed sets (to obtain given focal length in digital photography should be divided by 1.5 ) :

        Minimum: 35/2.0 and 50/1.8
        Optimum : 85/1.8 28/1.8 +
        Medium: 24/2.8 + 50/1.8 + 105/2.8
        Maximum : 24/2.8 + 50/1.8 + 105/2.8 + 180/2.8

        Zooms recommend for coverage (for convenience : 28-70 + 70-200 for so-called . Full frame ) and digital photography (due to less frequent need to change lenses , which protects the sensor from dirt and often better fit modern zooms to the specifics of CCD and CMOS ) . However, even when using the zoom lenses you should first think about how to use focal length ( wide as 28mm to highlight the foreground and depth of field , or long , and 105mm , to focus attention on the object and isolating it from the background) , and only later crop . To fill the frame , use your legs , turning the zoom back and forth is the best way to get a banal image.

    Use the best materials.
    It does not matter what they are , but if you get them you reproducible and satisfactory results.

        Alone in the days of analogue photography I used : Agfa APX 100 in Rodinalu 1 50 and Kodak Tri -X 400 in D -76 1 1 . Now I know the capabilities of my digital camera matrix and try to remember them . Remember, the higher the resolution of the matrix does not provide better images and high ISO almost always degrade image sharpness and dynamics .

    The camera is a can of knobs .
    Discover all the possibilities, and then only use aperture priority (A) or time (S ) to consciously create the effect you want to achieve in the picture ( large or small depth of field , motion blur zmrożenie or ) . All thematic and image optimization options are too restrictive or distracting.

        Keep in mind that from a technical point of view of the camera corresponds to only a few parameters which are time and stop. The overall quality while choosing a lens ( the focal range , quality, correction of optical brightness) , material (matrix ) on which are recorded image ( the type, sensitivity, frequency response of color ), and of course photographer who chooses the effect they want or it can achieve.

    Use a flash in the sun and turn it off when it is dark .
    So other than intuition . The flash used in full sun aligns contrast and deep shadows liquidation (so-called fill-flash , called fill-in flash ), and in places where it is best to keep their dark nature, using only existing light sources using long exposures .

        You should learn how creative use of flash light , especially portable lights reporter (more on this subject can be found on the internet under the title " Strobist " ) . The main skill is to learn the modifications Lamp ( reflection , softening ) and use the actual unlocking of the camera. It should also be noted that the best control of the flash light and work on manual settings where the flash , the aperture and the camera we choose ourselves. Resulting in effect unobtainable when operating in automatic mode .

    Do not look at the work of others.
    Amateur Photography should be fun, adventure and self- serve . The more consciously sought his own style , proving to be the more interesting results of our work . If , however, already looking for inspiration , you might want to look at her best .


 The Big Picture photos from various agencies , selected by Alan Taylor , "The Boston Globe "Photo Journal  - daily dose of photos from " The Wall Street Journal "
        PDN Photo of the Day - Picture of the day of Photo District News
        Pixcetera - Picture Services AOL
       Reuters: Pictures - Photo Reuters particularly recommend Pictures of the month ,
        Photos | vanityfair.com - pictures from Vanity Fair ,
      Corbis Outline Celebrity & Entertainment - celebrity portraits on the site Corbis
        MediaStorm - multimedia presentations, images and reports ,
        Magnum In Motion - repotraży presentations of the famous Magnum