As I'm kind of in long-time relationships with my camera and I really like photography, I decided to pick up some working tips and ways to improve your photography skills or even to get them if you're a newbie. I'm not pretending to be a super pro at it, but these tips work for me, so I just hope they might be helpful for other people too.
1 \\ Get a good camera
I believe that you can do wonderful photos even with your phone if you're talented, inspired and if you really want to. And now phone cameras take really nice photos. But when it comes to the actual quality, having a lot of settings and, after all, HQ pictures, you need a good camera. It doesn't even have to be a DSLR camera. Marketplace offers nice mirrorless cameras with changing lenses for different budgets. And I totally get it, when you're on a budget, especially if you're not even sure if you'll really get into it. So try something not really pricey for the beginning and, if you feel a need, you can buy something more serious (and expensive) later.
2 \\ Lenses
Oh, well, I still use sometimes my Kit Canon lens 18-55. But I also have another one and I really want to buy a couple more.
Lenses are a really important part of the whole photography process. The choice of lenses depends on the genre of your photography.
NOTE: to beginners I would suggest learning with fixed lenses (especially 50mm), they are not that expensive and it's a good practice.
3 \\ Use natural light
I love using natural light, it's the best helper and maker for taking interesting photos. If you're a blogger, you should understand how important natural light is for product photos, fashion/style/street photos and so on.
I would suggest learning how to work with natural light at the beginning as well.
Whilst looking through the camera's viewfinder you should consider all the details in a picture you're about to snap. Some stranger on the photo, shadow on the face, mascara crumbles under model's eyes? I know, that it's easy to fix some minor mistakes while editing your photos, but I prefer taking a good quality photo straight away and save time later.
It takes time to learn to notice all these things and it comes with experience, but you better should keep it in your mind since the beginning.
5 \\ Try different angles
Well, there are some rules about photography. And yes, we all know that some rules were meant to be broken (not like really meant, but you got the idea). Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that you have to try different angles to just know how you can make your photo look more interesting and creative. Even if you make a mistake and cut the model's elbow or wrist or head out of the photo, you'll just know that it's not good, it doesn't look well, and you'll get an experience.
I love Photoshop and Lightroom. And I know that sometimes you have to take off of a photo some things that you don't want to be in it (get back to the 4th point) or fix something or just make your hair look thicker or something else. And it's OK to use editing software for correcting colors, retouch, but don't use too many filters and color settings, cause at the end your photo will look extremely unnatural and too overloaded.
7 \\ Less theory, more practice
This is the best and the most helpful point. You know, you can't learn something only from reading books, articles, posts or from watching YouTube videos on "How to take a nice photo", right? Theory is good but the best way to learn anything is by practicing. Take any camera you have, go outside, ask your friends to be your models/capture land views or anything that is around you/take photos of room decors, and find your style.
Were these tips helpful to you? Please share yours in the comments :)
xx, D
