Category Archives: Photography

A place to share some of my favorite personal photography and offer tips and advice for hobbyists and other professionals.

Photography

Happy Accidents Photography Workshop… Lesson 5: Intro to editing

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Editing for Phone Photography

As Phone photography grows in popularity and quality, so does the editing capabilities for it! There are numerous apps and options for editing your photos taken with your phone now which makes it simple and fun to edit on the go, right after taking your shots…something that is more difficult to do with your camera and computer! Whether cropping, adding filters or using mobile versions of editing software the options are endless. So what is the best way to edit your mobile photography?

Filters… Filters are easily available in mobile editing apps, social media apps, and right in your devices “photo app”. With the swipe of a finger or press of a “button” you can easily make your image black and white, or give it a dramatic feeling or tone. As with any editing be careful not to overdo it. One of my personal editing rules is that even with the most heavily edited images, they should look like something you could see in real life. Maybe a more vibrant or even a more muted version, but somewhere within a realistic color range. People should be people colored. Grass should be grass colored. There is a popular trend in photography lately where the grass is heavily desaturated and often a very weird sage green color that you would never see anything close to in nature. I get it…grass can often photography a very bright and overwhelming neon green. I often use techniques, presets and actions in my editing to mute this as well and give a softer, more dreamy feeling to the image, but it’s important to keep things close to a realistic I think. Filters (like actions and presets in editing with software) can often add a color cast to the entire image making people and objects strange colors. It’s important to ask yourself if they are really enhancing your image or not.

Quick edit in Lightroom Mobile using cropping and a favorite preset.

Cropping…Cropping is one of the easiest ways to edit a photo from your mobile device to add interest or get rid of unwanted objects/backgrounds. One of the biggest conveniences of using our mobile devices for photography is always having them on hand and being able to quickly capture a moment on short notice. This often means not having time to consider the composition of the shot ahead of time though (refer to lesson 1 for tips on composition). Cropping can take a quick snapshot with less than ideal composition and make it much more pleasing to the eye. Also for the most part, your mobile camera is not made for high quality zooming when shooting photographs. Yes, you can zoom in on a subject prior to taking the photos, but the quality is greatly compromised. Cropping to highlight your image AFTER taking the photo will result in a much clearer and better image while also allowing you more room to play with the composition.

Apps… There are a lot of options when it comes to editing apps for your mobile photography. A quick google or app store search will give you a wide variety of choices. Some provide the ability to add special effects, filters and airbrushing and can be fun to play with. Most have a limited free version to try and then offer more options with the paid version. When it comes to editing my mobile images though, the only app I really need is Lightroom Mobile. If you plan on doing any editing of images from your camera as well, I highly recommend you purchase Adobe Creative Cloud which will give you Lightroom and Photoshop for your desktop, plus the mobile versions. The lightroom app not only allows you to make most of the same adjustments as desktop editing, but you can also install your favorite purchased or free presets and it even has an in-app camera that you can use instead of your phone’s built in camera app which makes it easy to do things like lock in exposure, adjust ISO, shutter speed and try filters, etc. BEFORE even snapping the photo!

Editing images from your camera

The first thing you should learn before you start playing with editing is the difference between shooting in JPEG and RAW formats. If you don’t know which one you are currently shooting in..you are shooting JPEG. So what’s the difference? JPEG is the standard “out of the box” setting for your camera. JPEG allows your camera to do all of the processing for you making “editing” unnecessary. When you shoot in JPEG your camera will adjust white balance, sharpening, color saturation, and other processing. Of course you can still take these images into programs like Photoshop and add more editing on top of these adjustments (like converting to black and white, etc.) but all editing you do will be added to the processing the camera already decided to do for you. I have no idea how this analogy came to mind, but I think of it like ordering a hot dog. If you order a JPEG hot dog, you are going to get ketchup and mustard on it whether you ask for it or not. You can go ahead and add relish, onions, chili…whatever you like on top, but the ketchup and mustard will still already be there. A RAW hot dog (and I don’t mean uncooked, LOL) will be a clean, bare hot dog. You can then add whatever you like to it to make it your very own. There are pros and cons to both formats, so how do you choose?

JPEG vs. RAW

JPEG is the best place to start…and in many cases to stay if you are just learning photography or are a hobbyist and just want to take great photos without HAVING to edit them all. JPEG files are compressed which makes them smaller and means you can fit many more images on your memory card without the expense of buying huge cards. JPEG will also deliver good images right out of the camera allowing you to focus on and improve your photography skills without having to learn editing at the same time, which can be very overwhelming. JPEG images are also ready to share right away. You simply upload them to your computer and can post them wherever you like. RAW images must be processed and converted to JPEG or another uploadable format prior to sharing.

There are a few downsides to JPEG. One of the biggest is loss of quality. Your camera compresses your image in JPEG which in turn causes loss of detail, dynamic range (or the contrast between the lightest and darkest parts of your image), and less vibrant colors due to JPEG not capturing all of the color range your camera is able to capture in RAW. Another big drawback for serious photographers is limited personal creative style since you are starting with a processed image already instead of editing the image to your own particular taste or style. Another downside that can affect any photographer but maybe especially those who are still perfecting their skills, is that you can’t correct images as easily in post processing and some things cannot be corrected at all.

RAW advantages and disadvantages are fairly obvious as they are just the opposite of the disadvantages of shooting JPEG. The quality of your images will be much greater as your camera will capture absolutely ALL of the details that it receives from the sensor. This includes greatly increased color, dynamic range, brightness, and editing possibilities and creative freedom. On the downside the file sizes required to hold all of this extra information is very large meaning they will take up a lot of room on your memory cards, computers and external hard drives. RAW image also HAVE to be post processed which requires time, learning, and special software.

Editing

So the first step in editing a RAW file is to open it up in either Lightroom or Photoshop. If you are using Photoshop, your raw file will automatically open in “Camera Raw”. In Lightroom you can upload it straight into the library for developing. Once the image is open in the software of your choice you will be able to adjust things like contrast, exposure, colors, saturation and a whole world of other adjustments. In Lightroom you will find some built in “presets” you can play with as well. Presets are like a “recipe” for your images. They are a combination of settings that are saved and can be applied to each image by simply clicking on the desired preset. You can then adjust the individual sliders to change the intensity of each adjustment for your image or use the adjustments provided in the preset as-is.

Actions are popular in Photoshop and are similar. Since Photoshop uses different “layers” to edit your image though you are able to essentially turn off or on different parts of the action to your liking, or even paint the action off of specific parts of your image. For instance some actions make backgrounds look great on backgrounds but can cause a strange color an people. You can use a paintbrush and paint the action off of the person, leaving it in tact on the background.


You can create your own actions and presets which is very handy for photographers that frequently make the same adjustments to every photo, or you can purchase them or sometimes find free downloads from other photographers. Keep in mind that the result of your presets or actions will depend on the light and colors in the image you start with and not look the same or even be a good fit for every image.

Homework

  • Using your phone, try editing some images (new or already in your camera roll). You can use the options in your camera to crop or play with filters or download an editing app.
  • If you have editing software already, but have been shooting in JPEG, refer to your camera’s manual and switch your format to RAW. Upload your images into your editing software and practice adjusting things like exposure, contrast, etc. to get a feel for it.
  • Join the Facebook Group and share some images, ask questions, and more!
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Photography

Happy Accidents Photography Workshop: Lesson 4…Shooting in Manual (and some more great phone photography tips).

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One of my favorite iPhone photos

Mobile Photography Tips

In this lesson we are diving into manual photography. Did you know you can adjust the exposure triangle settings on the camera on your mobile phone as well? We touched on this a little in Lesson 3 but I’m going to share a great article written by iPhone Photography School on how to expand your use of the manual features of your phone HERE. (Because it really is a great article and I couldn’t have said it any better or added anything.

I also wanted to share THIS article from 500px which is a photography website that I love and is home to some incredible photography by amazing artists. If you love taking photos with your phone I HIGHLY recommend checking this article out but it also has some great general photography tips for everyone!

Manual Mode on your Camera

It’s time to try being TOTALLY in control of your camera settings! Turn that dial to the “M” setting (on BOTH Nikon and Canon). You have learned how to adjust your aperture in Lesson 2. You learned Shutter Speed in Lesson 3. You learned how to adjust your ISO to compensate for the brightness of your photos when altering these settings. Now you just have to put all of these tools together and make your own choices and you can start experiencing creative freedom with your camera.

In previous lessons I introduced you to the Exposure Pyramid (or triangle).

It will be good to review this again and refer back to it as needed to remind yourself how your adjustments to Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO will affect the amount of light that is let into your camera (and how bright or dark your images will be).

It’s time to make another new friend, who will be your BEST friend when shooting manually; the metering scale.

The metering scale is the green bar across the bottom of your image when you look through the viewfinder on your camera. It tells you when your image is at ideal exposure. That fat pointer in the center of the meter is where your sweet spot is for ideal exposure. The line underneath is where your exposure is sitting at the moment with your current lighting situation and settings. If your line is to the left of the center mark- you are underexposed, to the right- overexposed. As you can see in the image above I was a little underexposed. (Also, it’s a dumb image that I just quickly snapped to get a photo of the meter). Another thing to note is the broken line circle you see on the fruit bowl. That is where your meter is taking the reading from so you should place that on the subject that you want to be correctly exposed when looking at your meter (apparently I was very interested in the bottom of the bowl here).

Now let’s look at the numbers we see across the meter. The 60 to the left is the shutter speed. I would actually almost never shoot at this speed while hand-holding the camera. Any slight movement while shooting from either the photographer or the the subject would cause blur. I try to keep shutter speed around at least 100 when shooting non-moving subjects (obviously higher if the subject is moving). The 4.0 is our f-stop or Aperture. The 2000 is ISO. The 12 is the number of images I have left on my card. Without even seeing the image you can tell that I am shooting in low light by looking at the meter. I know this because the line at the bottom shows that I am almost correctly exposed with a low shutter speed (which allows more light in) and high ISO (which means the sensor is more sensitive to light). In very bright and sunny conditions my ISO would have to be at 100 (the minimum) and in order to get my image properly exposed (the meter line in the center of the meter) my shutter speed would be much higher. That is how the exposure triangle works and how each setting affects another. In a nutshell, shooting in manual is just deciding what is most important to you for each specific image and then adjusting the other settings to get the correct exposure (or get that little line in the middle of your meter).

Exposure

Now we need to talk a little bit about exposure. Shooting manually sounds pretty easy if you just worry about getting that little line right in the middle of the meter. Sometimes it’s not that easy though. Since my daughter is a gymnast, I used that as an example in Lesson 3 when we were discussing action photography and it is a good example here as well. Gymnastics is obviously a high action sport. It also is typically in low light conditions and flashes are not allowed. This means you will need a high shutter speed (which means less light in your camera/darker image) to capture the action, a fairly mid-range aperture makes it easiest to hit your focus (but also lets in less light than a smaller, more wide open aperture) and then to compensate for all of these low light conditions you will need to bump up your ISO pretty darn high. Unfortunately the higher the ISO, the grainier the image. So what’s the solution? Well for me the best solution was to upgrade to a camera that can handle higher ISO better without all the grain. But if that’s not in the budget you might do the best you can, underexpose a little and then brighten your image up with a little basic editing in software like Lightroom or Photoshop. Brightening an image too much in software will affect the quality and can add grain as well, but you can control how much to usually find a happy medium.

Overexposing an image, like missed focus, can be something that you cannot fully correct even in editing software. If the image is too overexposed it will not capture some of the details in the photo at all so even lowering the exposure in software will not bring them out because they were never captured in the first place.

Homework

  • Practice, practice, practice. Seriously, just switch your camera over to Manual mode. Choose a subject (best to start with a still subject- a plant, flower, statue, or a model who will hold still for you). Choose and aperture. Think about how you want the image to look for this step- do you want the whole image fully in focus or just the subject with a blurred background? Try setting your ISO at 100 and see what your Shutter Speed Needs to be set at to achieve a good exposure using the meter. If it is above 100, you should be ready to shoot! Play around adjusting the aperture and in slightly different lighting scenarios and pay attention to what you have to adjust to get the exposure right and how your image turned out. POST some examples in the facebook group (or join if you haven’t yet) and ask questions there.
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Photography

Happy Accidents Photography Workshop…Lesson 3: Action Photography and Shutter Speed

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Probably one of the most challenging and frustrating types of photography to master is action photography. It can also be one of the most rewarding though. Being able to freeze a split second in time that you probably missed with the naked eye can result in some amazing photographs. There are a lot of things that have to happen just right though in order to get that perfect shot.

Capturing Action shots with your Phone.

iPhone shot of my daughter.

The camera technology available in smartphones these days is pretty incredible. I’m not gonna lie, if I’m just trying to get some cool action shots for social media or sometimes even for a little album of memories…I often prefer to use my iphone for many reasons. There are a lot of features that make it easy to get really great action shots.

Bursts~

For most phones, if you hold down the shutter button the camera will automatically take burst photos. This feature works great for action shots because instead of trying to pick the perfect time, you will quickly get several shots of the action and can pick out the best one.

Screenshot from a video

Video~

Another way to guarantee you get just the right moment in an action shot with your phone is to take a video. This method is great if you are wanting both a video and still shots at the same time anyway and also ensures you capture every single second of the action. To choose your still action shots from the video, simply hit the play button and then hold your finger down on the film strip at the bottom. Slide through the strip as slowly as needed until you find the moment you want to capture and then take a screen shot (this can be tricky and you might want to practice how to best accomplish this). Once you get your screen shot you can crop it down to the desired image size.

Light/Shutter Speed

In photography, shutter speed or exposure time is the length of time when the film or digital sensor inside the camera is exposed to light, also when a camera’s shutter is open when taking a photograph. The amount of light that reaches the film or image sensor is proportional to the exposure time. As far as I know (at least for iPhones) you cannot directly adjust the shutter speed on your phone camera. You can however control the lighting which can in turn adjust your shutter speed. When you shoot in areas that aren’t well lit your phone will compensate by slowing the shutter speed to let in more light. This will result in blurry action shots. For sharper shots, shoot in well-lit areas when possible or increase your exposure (slide up that little sunshine icon on your iPhone or tap it on android) to allow more light into the camera.

Shutter Priority Mode

On your DSLR camera the Auto “Action Mode” is called Shutter Priority Mode. It is marked with and “S” on your Nikon camera and “TV” on Canon (which stands for “Time Value” because “S” would be too obvious). When using this mode you can choose your shutter speed and ISO and the camera will adjust the aperture. Remember our friend the Exposure Triangle from Lesson 2?

If you look at shutter speed, the faster your speed (best for action), the less light will be allowed into the camera. Therefore, your ISO will need to be higher and/or your camera will adjust your aperture to be smaller (or wider open). Using this mode is an easy way to get some good action shots in good light. This may be the best option for you if you are trying to capture action shots of soccer, baseball, football or other outdoor sports and activities. As you may have noticed though, my daughter is a competitive gymnast. Meets are indoors and usually the gyms are poorly lit (at least for action photography). Also, flash photography is prohibited in gymnastics because the flashes can be distracting which is dangerous for the gymnasts while they are practicing or competing. In this type of situation, Shutter Priority mode can be tricky because your camera will most likely set a very small aperture which can make it difficult to focus on your subject. Once you learn to shoot in manual mode (choose ALL settings on your own) you can meet somewhere in the middle and then, if needed adjust your brightness with some basic editing (we will cover both of these in future lessons).

So when and why would we want to use a long exposure (slow shutter speed)? Well, slow shutter speeds are used for when you want to capture the motion, instead of freezing it. When working with slow shutter speeds you will want to use a tripod because the exposure time is long and it will be nearly impossible to hold the camera still throughout the entire exposure which will result in the whole image being blurry instead of just the motion. Photographers often use slow shutter speeds for waterfalls, to catch headlights and taillights of traffic in motion, and for fireworks. It is also useful in very low light settings when you are photographing a still object but need more light.

Focus

In Lesson 2 I discussed focus in general. The same rules apply in action shots however your subject will be (obviously) moving so you will have to adjust your focus along with them. This will happen every time you hold the shutter button down halfway prior to taking your shot. If you want to be able to take a lot of shots quickly without refocusing for every shot you might consider changing your camera settings to allow for something called “Back-Button Focus“. Back button focus is not only helpful in action photography, but ALL photography because you can quickly take several shots and only refocus when you want to. The way it works is be removing the focus actuation from the shutter button and instead assign this function to a button on the back of the camera. Now when you shoot, you’ll press your back-button to lock focus and then press the shutter to take the image. This is especially helpful for moments like when my daughter is competing on the balance beam and I know her distance from me is going to be the same throughout her routine. I only need to set the focus once and then can raise the camera whenever I want and shoot. The focus will stay the same and the shutter button will immediately capture the moment instead of trying to find the focus. I have set my focus button to use the AF-ON button on the back of my camera. Your camera’s manual (or google) will tell you how to reset this for your camera.

Continuous Shooting Mode

Continuous shooting mode on your camera works in the same way that “bursts” work on your phone. By holding down the shutter button, your camera will take several shots continuously which can help you capture just the right moment in action shots.

Homework:

  • With your phone, try the different action techniques listed above (pets and kiddos make great subjects).
  • Move your camera to Shutter Priority Mode and practice some different action shots. Adjust the ISO and Shutter Speed and see how it changes your aperture. Don’t forget to watch your focus.
  • Post your images in the facebook group!
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Photography

Happy Accidents Photography Workshop…Lesson 2: Focus & Aperture

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In Lesson 1 we talked about composition, or what you will be photographing and how it will be placed in your image. Obviously that is one of the most important elements of a good photo, however FOCUS is just as important, if not more. It doesn’t really matter what you are photographing if it’s blurry or if your focus falls on something in the photo other than what you want to be the center of attention. Focus is something that cannot be fixed in editing.

“Phone”tography

iPhone photo of my daughter’s eye
iPhone photo of Beaver Lake, Arkansas.

Even if you have a big fancy camera, truthfully most of us take the majority of our photos with our phones so I thought I would quickly touch on the focus feature on your phone has that you might not be taking advantage of.

I have an iPhone so the above image shows what it looks like when I take a photo. I’m in portrait mode here which mimics the blurred background you can achieve with your camera. You can click on the little “f” in the upper right corner to change your aperture or “f-stop” (read about aperture below- even if you only use your phone for photography). The yellow box on the screen shows where the focus in this image is landing. You can tap anywhere on the screen to adjust what you want to be in focus. On an iPhone you can also hold this box down to lock the image in focus. It will then display AE/AF lock on the screen. This means that you can now move your phone around to change your composition and your camera will remember what item to keep in focus. The AE stands for Auto Exposure which is sets the aperture and shutter speed for your image and will also be locked. Although it’s not related to focus, another handy feature you might not be using is the little sunshine you see to the right of the focus box. This is the exposure adjustment. Sliding this up or down with your finger brightens or darkens your image. Androids vary in how to use these features but a quick google search will result in instructions for your specific phone.

Focus in Auto Mode

Auto Mode focus sensors

Now it’s time to pull out your camera. We are going to start in full Auto Mode. On a Nikon, this says “Auto” in green with a picture of a camera on your dial. On Canon it is an “A+” in a box in green (I have found Canon enjoys naming thing with not-so-obvious names). This mode let’s your camera do all of the thinking and decision making including the object(s) in focus. When you look through your viewfinder and press your shutter button halfway down, your camera will find the objects to focus on. As you move your camera around a scene and press the shutter halfway down again it will find new objects to focus on. You can tell what the camera is focusing on by a box (or boxes-depending on your camera) that appears in the viewfinder on the object(s) you are focusing on (see photo above). This can come in handy when it is obvious what your subject is and you don’t need to make any adjustments to add artistic elements or adjust settings for action, etc. however it can be limiting if you are trying to focus on an object in a scene other than what the camera finds to be the most obvious subject or if you are wanting to change your depth of field to blur the background more or make your subject stand out.

Aperture Priority Mode (AP/AV)

We are going to take our first baby step out of full Auto Mode and dip our toes into choosing some of our own settings and setting focus on our own in Aperture Priority Mode. In Aperture Priority Mode (AP on Nikon dial and AV on Canon because again, they like to be different) you will choose the aperture setting and ISO. What are those? Well, now seems like the perfect time for you to meet my friend, the exposure triangle:

Aperture

Aperture affects the Depth of Field of an image by restricting light. When you adjust your aperture you are adjusting the amount of light you let into the camera lens. An F-stop is the size of the opening in the camera lens. A smaller number means a larger opening and more light coming in. This will result in your subject being in focus but the background being blurry. That blur is also known as “bokeh“. A larger number means less light being let in and more of your image being in focus. Smaller f-stops (or more open) can be used for a single person or object or for shooting a large scene but wanting to single out one object. A larger f-stop (or narrow opening) is best for landscapes or large groups of people where you want to make sure everything is in focus.

This ring image was shot with fairly wide open aperture (small f-stop) and the focus was set on the bride’s ring. You can see the same depth of field as the ring across the entire image is in focus. The both the background behind her ring and the groom’s ring and area in front of it are not in focus and you see that lovely bokeh.
Blurring lights in the background is my favorite use of bokeh.

To adjust the aperture on your Nikon press the +/- button and then turn the dial to adjust. On Canon it is and asterisk button and then turn the dial. Your f-stop choices will depend on your lens, not your camera so you will notice your options will change as you change lenses. This will be something to consider when you are deciding which lens to use for a particular shot.

Aperture setting button on a Canon 5DMkIII

ISO

ISO is how sensitive the image sensor is to light. Higher ISO = more sensitive to light (brighter image). What does this have to do with focus and aperture? Well, nothing directly. But remember how we discussed that a smaller f-stop or aperture resulted in letting more light in and a larger f-stop resulted in less light? What if you want to take a photo of a large crowd (so you need a higher f-stop number) but you are in a low light area (and you don’t want to use a flash)? You can simply adjust your ISO to make your sensor more sensitive to light. In good light your ISO can typically be set at 100 but you are going to have to pay attention to your shutter speed on this as well. Your shutter speed will show in the lower left corner when you look through your viewfinder. While in AP/AV mode your camera will choose this setting for you depending on what ISO and aperture you select. While we won’t go into shutter speed a lot until the next lesson, for now it’s important to know that if this number goes below 100 your image might not be sharp due to motion blur (either your subject or any slight movement of the camera). If you notice this, increase your ISO and/or lower your f-stop (aperture). Remember that exposure triangle above? ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed all affect each other. Another thing to note is that a higher ISO will make your image grainier or add “noise” to the photo. The highest ISO setting you have will depend on your camera as will how well your camera handles high ISOs before the image is too grainy or noisy. On both Canon and Nikon models the ISO button is labeled “ISO”.

Focus

Once you leave full auto mode, you will now be able to choose your own focal points. When you look through the viewfinder your camera will no longer search for and decide which object to focus on. Instead you will see a pattern of tiny squares or focal points. You can choose which focal point you would like to use instead of the camera choosing for you. Although this is good news because now you can try your hand at some more creative shots, you will also quickly realize it is your responsibility to make sure that focal point is exactly where you want it before you press that shutter all the way down. The wider your aperture (or the lower the f-stop) the smaller the area in focus will be which means you will have to be very precise when placing your focal point. Again, how many focal points you have will depend on your camera. My first DSLR, a Canon Rebel XT had a whopping 9. My next camera, the Canon 7D which I now use as my back-up camera has 19. My 5D MKIII has 61! Guess what, they all worked fine. Having more focal points just gives you a few more options in the way you set up your composition as you can place your subject at any one of the points in your frame.

To select your focal points on a Nikon I believe you press the arrows in the circle around the “ok” button (Nikon people…correct me if I’m wrong). On a Canon, you press the button marked with this square and then either turn the dial on top or toggle to select your focal point. Interestingly, I realized I use the dial to move right and left and the toggle to move up and down.

AF point selection button
Dial
Toggle

Homework

(These exercises will be best for learning purposes in decent daylight hours)

  • Choose a subject and with your camera in full auto mode take a few shots while paying attention to the focal points and making sure your image is in focus.
  • Move your camera mode to AP/AV (Aperture Priority Mode). Practice setting your focal point on your subject. Take several shots using different focal points. Try some using the “Rule of Thirds” and also centering your subject. Write down your settings (or note that you can see them by pressing the “info” button on your camera).
  • Change your aperture. Take a few shots with a wide aperture (low f-stop number) and some with a higher f-stop.
  • Share your images, ask questions, and mark your “unit” as completed on the facebook group. (If you aren’t a member yet, click the button and join!).

Don’t be shy about sharing photos on the Facebook group…that’s the best place to learn and we can ALL learn from each other! Share your best photos but also the ones that didn’t turn out the way you planned or that you don’t know why they turned out the way they did. Also share your settings with the photos!

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Photography

Happy Accidents Photography Workshop…Lesson 1- Composition

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Welcome!

This is the first lesson in a series of photography posts I will be sharing. These posts are helpful tips, lessons and tutorials to improve your photography skills whether you are a Instagrammer, hobbyist or serious photographer. There will be “homework” assignments at the end of each post for you to practice the tips and information I have shared. I also have created a Facebook group for everyone using these lessons. PLEASE join this group…it is where the fun stuff will be. In the group you will be encouraged to share your assignments and photos, get critiques, find links to new posts and lessons, and more!

Click here to join the Facebook Group!

Composition

Whether you have a great camera that you are trying to learn how to use, have been doing photography for a while and want to get more serious about it or just love taking iPhone photos for Instagram, learning good composition is always the best place to start. No matter how good of a technical photographer you are or how great your editing skills might be, the composition of your photo is where the good stuff is and without it no amount of skills or editing will create a great photo.

Yesterday a Happy Accident happened. I was getting all caught up on Facebook and a friend posted some wonderful photos she took of her beautiful girls. I was scrolling through them when I came across one that made me stop. The composition was nothing short of magical. There were just SO many things right about it. I knew right away I wanted to play with it in Photoshop. As soon as I was finished cleaning up from dinner I sat down to my computer and had SO. MUCH. FUN. with this photo. I went back to her post to share my creation with her and found that another friend of hers felt the same urge to play with it. That’s what I call an inspiring photo! I was already preparing to write this post and thought this was a fantastic example of great composition. With her permission I’m sharing her image here:

And here is my edit:

While my edits may have added to the image, it already had the important elements that can’t be edited into a photo to make it great. It was just a pleasing, happy photo without any editing at all.

So how do you achieve great composition? Well, sometimes it’s just plain luck but there are several techniques and tricks that can help you turn “snapshots” into works of art…or at least make them more interesting. Here are a few of my favorites:

The Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds
Rule of Thirds
Rule of Thirds

By definition the Rule Of Thirds in photography is a type of composition in which an image is divided evenly into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, and the subject of the image is placed at the intersection of those dividing lines, or along one of the lines itself. This often makes the image more interesting or pleasing to the eye than placing the subject directly in the center. I’ll be the first to admit I break this “rule” a lot. There are often times that placing your subject smack dab in the center or along the bottom or top of an image works best. So which should you do? I follow my gut but if you are new to this rule chances are you are already in the habit of centering your subject most or all the time. While you are experimenting with this technique try taking a couple of shots for each photo. Center your subject in one and then take the same shot but use the “Rule of Thirds”. Which do you like better? In time you will start to learn whether following the “rule” or breaking it works best for each specific shot.

Centered (and square cause I stole it from my Instagram page, LOL).
Centered

Leading Lines

This composition technique refers to lines in an image that lead the viewers attention to the main subject of the photo. This could be a road or path, a staircase, fence or many other objects that can create lines in a photography. Leading lines are a great way to add interest to an image while still keeping the subject the center of attention.

**Note…Railroad Tracks are often used for leading lines. While they may work well for this purpose, I am strongly against shooting on railroad tracks. It is illegal and dangerous. Even non-working tracks are a bad idea because these photos often encourage other people to try railroad track photo shoots. Regardless whether you are a professional photographer, hobby photographer, or parent please DO NOT SHOOT ON RAILROAD TRACKS EVER!

Framing

Another great way to add interest to your image while still drawing attention to your main subject is a technique called “framing”. This technique, like leading lines, uses other objects to draw the eye to your subject. With framing instead of using lines to lead to your subject the objects you use wrap around or partially around them to frame them. Architectural elements, tree branches, archways, and windows all work well as common frames.

Patterns

Finding and using interesting patterns is a technique that can add interest, texture, and depth to your images. Plus they are just fun! Patterns can come from interesting background objects, fences, quilts, blinds and even light!

Try new angles

When taking photographs we put a lot of thought into the position of our subjects. This can be nerve wracking when shooting kids and pets who often don’t appreciate our pose ideas or like to sit still for long. One of the easiest ways to add some creativity to your images though is for YOU to change positions. When shooting kids and pets, try getting down on their level. Try taking some shots from above your subject or below when possible to mix things up a bit.

Rule of Space

This rule states that if the subject is not looking directly to the camera, or looks out of the frame, there should be enough space for the subject to look into. This technique creates intrigue in the minds of the viewers. A good example of this rule is my friend’s photo of her little girl from the beginning of this post. This rule also applies to photographing a moving object or subject. There should be space for the subject to travel into. For this rule, I like to think of the edge of the image as a “wall”. In my example image below, if there was a lot of space behind her and she was all the way to the left edge of the image it would feel strange and like she was facing the imaginary wall created by the edge of the photo.

Avoid Limb Chops

The term limb chops refers to cutting off a subjects body part in an unflattering way. This does not mean that you have to include a person’s entire body in every image. There are just good and bad places to crop bodies in your frame. For instance at the wrist or ankles looks awkward and like you lopped off a hand or foot. The diagram below shows good and bad places to crop limbs and bodies.

Background

While you are focusing (both literally and mentally) on your subject, it can be easy to ignore the background. The background can make or break your images though. Even with Photoshop skills, it isn’t fun to try and remove garbage cans, cars, or random people from the background of your otherwise wonderful photos. Before shooting, check out your background and if necessary and possible move or turn your subject to get rid of unwanted items in the shot. Life doesn’t always happen in front of pretty backdrops though. When shooting kids and candid moments or memories are happening… capture them first, regardless of the background. Then try moving them to slightly different area or angle to see if you can get a better shot. There are tricks you can learn both in your camera settings and editing that can make unsightly backgrounds less noticeable but it’s still always a good idea to keep unwanted items out of your shots when possible.

Homework:

  • Pick a subject and plan a little photo shoot. Try using the “Rule of Thirds”. Take the same shot centering your subject.
  • Create images using 2 other techniques of your choice listed above.
  • Join the Facebook group if you haven’t already and share your images!