Tips For How To Take Better Photos – Getting Started

Here's more good stuff on how to take better photos. This is the fifth in an ever-expanding series of episodes about how to do this. 

The important bit of photography is the taking of the photos bit. But how do you do it? And more importantly, why are you taking that photo, and what of?

More food for thought that will help you to take fewer photos but better ones.

In this episode, I tell you.

·         How to get started taking photos.

·         The stuff you should think of before you take a photo.

·         Why taking fewer photos is so good.

·         A quick word on my one photo rule.

·         Who cares about your precious photos? (No one unless they are really good!)

·         What if I use a phone to take photos and not a camera?

·         What if I use a film camera?

·         And finally, what I do.

All explained in plain English, without the irrelevant detail, in less than 27 (ish) minutes!

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• 15:01 (Cont.) Tips For How To Take Better Photos – Getting Started

Transcript

Hi, and a very warm welcome to Episode 176 of the Photography Explained podcast. I’m your host, Rick, and in each episode, I will try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 27 minutes (ish) without the irrelevant details. I’m a professionally qualified photographer based in England with a lifetime of photographic experience, which I share with you in my podcast.

Here is the answery bit

Before you take a photo, be clear about what you are taking a photo of. Make sure that the camera settings are correct technically and that they are right for the subject. Think about what you are doing and make sure that you are in the best position for the photo that you are taking. Raise your camera to your eye, look carefully at what you can see in the viewfinder, and take one photo.

Stop and review what you have captured. Look at the photo critically. Ask yourself these questions.

• Do you like the photo?
• Is the composition pleasing?
• Is the photo technically correct?
• Can you take a better photo than this one?
• Can you be bothered to spend ages editing the photo?
• What do you not like about the photo?
• And finally, why would anyone other than you be remotely interested in this photo?

These are the questions you need to ask yourself. The point is this: I would encourage you to spend time thinking about what you are taking a photo of before you take it, and then look at what you have taken a photo of.

This might sound obvious, but the more you do this, the fewer photos you will take and the better your photos will become.

And the other questions that I mentioned in previous episodes.

I have covered these things already.

• Decide what you are taking photos of.
• Decide why you are taking the photos.
• Who are you taking the photos for?
• What are you going to do with the photos?

So, we are back to the questions I already mentioned.

Do you like the photo?

Well, it’s an excellent place to start. Do you like what you are looking at? Have you captured the main subject? If you love what you have got, great. Move on. Find something else. And if you don’t, how can you take a better photo?

What do you not like about the photo?

This is a great way to look at a photo. Rather than asking what you like, ask yourself what you don’t like in a photo. If you can identify bits that you do not like, you can take another photo without them. Doing this really applies the thought process to taking better photos.

Is the composition pleasing?

Have you captured what you wanted to capture? Is the subject matter the star of the photo? Is what you are looking at on your screen what you hoped it would be? Have you missed something? Are the elements in the composition arranged in a pleasing way? A well-balanced composition is easy on the eye. Have you included everything you wanted to include? Have you missed something? Have you included stuff that you do not want?

Is the photo technically correct?

Getting the correct exposure is a given these days. But even with the amazing kit we have today, we still have a challenge capturing the range of lights and darks that we need.

So don’t expect to get everything that you can see—a camera cannot capture in a single image the range of lights and darks, also known as the dynamic range, that we can see. You can use high dynamic range techniques, of course. One for another time.

Of course, you want to capture as much light as possible, but you do not want to underexpose or overexpose the photo—there is a delicate balance there.

The photo has to be sharp, with what you want in focus and sharp and what you do not want not as sharp. You need to decide if you want a shallow depth of field or a large depth of field.

And of course

Can you take a better photo than this one?

It's always worth asking yourself: Can you do better? Is your photo okay? Can you spend some time on what you have and turn OK photos into great photos?

Can you be bothered to spend ages editing the photo?

The final clinching question, which comes with experience. Be completely honest with yourself – can you be bothered editing a photo? I have got home after going out and creating a whole heap of masterpieces. Do you know what? When I got home, I had some photos I didn’t like, and I could not be bothered to edit them.

When you get home, have this thought in mind when you go through your photos.

And finally, why would anyone other than you be remotely interested in your photo?

The ultimate question. Friends and family will probably say your photos are great. They don’t want to upset you; they want to support you and your photography, but they might not know what they are talking about. No disrespect to your friends and family. But they might not.

No – I am sorry but your benchmark is not your best friend, it is a stranger who does not know you and sees your photo in isolation somewhere with no backstory. All they have is your photo. That is all. 

So, would a stranger like your photo? Would your photo pass the swipe-by social media experience?

It is a harsh world out there; remember that.

A couple of other things.

Tripods

I use a tripod. Using a tripod helps my compositions. It slows me down, helps me refine my compositions, and helps me take the best photos that I can technically.

So, if you have a tripod, and the situation permits, put your camera on a tripod and take your time.

The One photo rule

Check out episode 152, How My One Photo Rule Will Help You Take Better Photos. What I say is this.

Try to get one new photo, one photo which is the best that you can.

That will focus the mind nicely.

The actual taking photos bit.

Check out another previous episode, episode 3, titled How To Take A Photo. This is the actual how-to bit. I want to spend some time on how you actually press the shutter button and how you use the rule of thirds when you are taking your photos.

There is a lot to this, so I am happy that I have not tried to shoehorn it into this episode.

The talky bit

This might all sound long-winded and painful, but this can be a quick process with practice. What I want you to do is think before you take a photo. I have already told you what I want you to think about. Why should you do this?

If you just go out and take loads of photos without any thought, you might end up with a load of rubbish photos, photos that you do not like and that you don’t really want to spend time editing. You might also get disillusioned with photography; you might feel like just giving up and doing something else.

This happened to me. I got bored with my photography, as I was taking loads of rubbish photos. I did not like them and did not enjoy my photography.

When I started to think about what I was doing, my photos started to get much better. I am not saying that I turned good pictures into great pictures, not all the time, but they definitely improved. I increased the chances of getting high-quality images, which is my priority.

This is what I want for you.

Now, I suggest that a small percentage of people who are actively into photography will do this. So, the very act of thinking will put you above a decent proportion of other photographers who are not doing this. Thinking costs you nothing and will help you take better photos.

I apply my one-photo rule. I try to get one photo that is good enough to go into one of my portfolios. That is always my aim.

If I can get just one photo that is good enough to replace another one in a portfolio, that, for me, is mission accomplished.

What if I use my phone to take photos and not a camera?

You can still apply the same care and attention to what you are photographing; only how you take the photo changes. I keep saying this - smartphone cameras (trying to be android phone inclusive here even though I hate the term!) are just other devices that we can use to take photos.

What if I use a film camera?

All of the above applies, apart from the fact that you can’t check what you have taken a photo of like you can with a digital camera. But you can take the same photo with your phone and see what that looks like.

And in saying that I am blurring the edges and potentially upsetting some film photographers. Move on, Rick.

What do I do?

I try to take one photo —the best photo that I can. Not necessarily a perfect shot, but the best shot that I can. My one-photo rule is my one-photo rule, and I love it. I spend more time thinking than I do taking photos.

I walk around, I look, I see, I think, everything that I have said so far I do, and I enjoy doing this, I have to say. I don't take lots of photos from different perspectives, I look from those different perspectives and choose the best one and take one photo.

And I check what I have got after I take a photo - is that photo enough to allow me to move on to the next thing?

I concentrate on pleasing, well-balanced compositions with interesting light and the highest image quality. I use natural lighting having many years ago fallen out with artificial light, which is why you never hear me talk about flashes, strobes, all that stuff. No, I capture what is there, which has become a thing of mine. My light source of choice is that big orange thing in the sky. I know it's an odd choice living here in England, but it does pop out every now and then!

When I take one photo, sometimes I take just one photo, and that is me done; in other situations, it is one photo of one particular thing, or view, or elevation of a building.

I want one photo of a sunrise and the same for a sunset. If I need to provide 20 photos of a building for a client, and I only take 20 photos, then I have nailed it.

If you are going out taking hundreds of photos every time, think about this.

Are you spending more time looking at the photos that you have taken, trying to find the good ones? No, the best way for me is to take the photos I need to take, and no more.

This is what I do.

Thoughts from the last episode

How to use your gear to get better compositions. I was happy with that. When you look at a professional photographer and their gear, they have that for a reason. That lens costing 10,000 £or $ or Euros (or other currencies, of course) - they haven't spent all that money for nothing. Money for nothing, hmm, someone should write a song called that! No, they have bought that for a reason. And that usually is to get the photos they need to get.

As an amateur photographer, these things feel way out of reach, so they should, for now.

Next episode

I touched on episode 3, How To Take A Photo, and do you know what? I will revisit that in the next episode, which might be a short one. There are elements of that episode that I was going to cover here, but there was too much other stuff, so that is what I am going to do.

Ask me a question.

If you have a question you would like me to answer, email me at sales@rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk or head over to the podcast website photographyexplainedpodcast.com/start.

And if you just want to say hi, please do – I love hearing from my listeners.

Get an email from me.

If you would like to receive a weekly email from me where I tell you what I am thinking about, fill out the form on the podcast website, and every Friday, you will get a lovely email from me.

OK - I am done.

This episode was brought to you by a homemade, wait for it, a chicken sandwich washed down with an ice-cold Diet Pepsi before I settled in my homemade, acoustically cushioned recording emporium. Still no crisps!

I’ve been Rick McEvoy; thanks again very much for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast (it says here) and for giving me 27 ish minutes of your valuable time. This episode will be about 23 minutes long after I have edited out the mistakes and other bad stuff.

I hope to see you on the next episode.

Take care and stay safe.

Cheers from me, Rick