Top 5 Photography tips for beginners

No matter what we do in life, when you start something new you are a beginner. Photography is no different. There is more to it than just picking up your phone and snapping a picture. If you are serious about taking your photography to the next level, than you’ve come to the right place. First things first. Do you have yourself some sort of DSLR? Good! Than here are my 5 tips for beginner photographers.

Number 1: Forget auto

If you are trying to get better photos whether you are planning on doing this as a full time job or just as a hobby, you need to get off auto mode. Don’t get me wrong auto mode is great for beginners. But if you want to take better photos you need to forget about auto and go full manual.

You’ll have better control of the photos you create. Whether you use a super slow shutter speed to get some motion blur. Or adjust the aperture to get that sweet depth of field. You need to be using manual because auto just won’t cut it while trying to accomplish those effects.

Number 2: Exposure Triangle

Learn how ISO, Shutter speed, and aperture effect your photos. Those three things together are called the Exposure triangle. Once you understand how they relate to each other, your photography will greatly improve.

Number 3: Composition

Understand composition ideas and understand that they can be broken. You should already know about the rule of thirds. You know, when your photo is broken down into a 3×3 grid and your subject is on one of the intersects. That is the number one “rule” in photography.

So naturally you wouldn’t want to put your main focus dead set in the middle. But than again sometimes do.

Leading lines is another type of composition. Most of the time the focus of your image is right in the middle leading you further into the photo.

Here is just a simple list of different types of compositions:

• Rule of Thirds
• Leading lines
• Centered Composition and Symmetry
• Fill the frame
• Frame within a frame
• Rule of Odds
• Golden Triangles
• Golden Ratio

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Number 4: Like it RAW

Learn to shoot in RAW format rather than JPEG. As far as I know all cameras are set at default to shot in JPEG. So you need to change to RAW. You can even shot in RAW plus JPEG. It just will take up more space on your SD card.

Two things to know about shooting in RAW. One you have better control on your edits after you take the photos. Two you need to have a program that can edit the RAW files. I use lightroom and photoshop. If you don’t have the Adobe Creative Cloud you can always find free programs by doing a simple google search. There are even free apps on your phone that can edit RAW files. But lightroom and photoshop are the best out there.

Number 5: Phones are Friends

Now I am not saying use your phone for your photography. What I am saying is with so many apps out there use your phones apps and wifi to help improve your photography. Most cameras nowadays have apps for your smartphone that can connect to the camera. It helps so you can see what you are looking at. An example for what I am taking about is this. Say you change the shutter speed with the app the view on your phone changes so you know if you have the correct settings. Changing the settings can help you understand how changing the shutter speed, aperture, or ISO affects your exposure in “real” time instead of at home.

So there you have it. 5 tips every photographer should know. You need to leave it off auto. Learn that triangle because it is really important. Know that rules are meant to be broken. Unlike a steak which is best at medium rare, photos should be taken in RAW. And lastly although I don’t advise using your photo to take epic photos with, there are plenty of apps to use on your phone to help with your photography.

Leave a comment down below if you have any other tips that you have found helpful. Remember to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest at KozmoPhotos. It will help you stay up to day with all the latest post and photos.