Tips for a great photo!

It has never been about the camera or the lens when it comes to clicking a good photo. Yes, they do play a major role in the picture quality but a monkey having a flagship DSLR doesn’t make it a good photographer!

So how do you make your ordinary picture extraordinary? Pretty simple. Given below are a few tips to capture an amazing picture

The right aperture.

What is Aperture? In the simplest terms, it is the depth of field. Aperture is usually denoted as f/1.4, f/2, etc. Greater the f – number (or smaller the aperture i.e. ½ is smaller than 1/1.4), larger is depth of field. So what is depth of field? If the depth of field is more, it brings both the foreground and background into focus. Greater the aperture, the background is blurred and the foreground comes more into focus.

While shooting landscape photos, it is best suited if aperture is very small so that the entire shot comes into focus. Likewise, when shooting a portrait, it is advisable that the aperture is very high so that only the foreground is in focus.

ISO: 400

Shutter Speed: 1/400 s

Aperture: f/5.0

Focal Length: 56.0 mm

ISO: 400

Shutter Speed: 1/125 s

Aperture: f/22.0

Focal Length: 18.0 mm

The right ISO.

ISO is the level of sensitivity of your camera to available light. Lesser the ISO, lesser the sensitivity to the light. Lower ISO is to be used when there is ample light around the subject of the picture. In darker conditions, higher ISO is to be used to capture photographs without the help of a flash. Every camera has a base ISO for example few of the Nikon cameras have a base ISO of 200 while Canons have a base ISO of 100. Lesser the ISO, better the quality of the photograph. It is recommended to click pictures at the least possible ISO so that it is clear. Higher ISOs will cause ‘noise’ or ‘grains’ in the picture thus decreasing the picture quality. Lower ISOs can be used to click pictures in Sunny – Moderately lit conditions while higher ISOs should be used in Dark – Very Dark conditions.

The right shutter speed.

A picture with the perfect ISO and aperture would be useless if the shutter speed is not proper. Shutter speed is the amount of the camera shutter is open to expose light into the camera sensor. Higher shutter speeds are used to capture fast moving objects but risks the photograph being dark. Lower shutter speeds could add a blur to the photograph if the camera is not held still but allows more light into the sensor. Shutter speed is very important as a picture can be clicked at a lower ISO but a higher shutter speed to capture quality photographs in low light conditions. Lower shutter speeds require a tripod as even the most minor shakes could ruin the photograph. Meanwhile, increasing the shutter speed to a very high value could also be a problem as not enough light will be exposed to the camera lens hence making the photograph darker.

ISO: 800

Shutter Speed: 1/20 s

Aperture: f/5.0

Focal Length: 45.0 mm

Fill the frame.

A common mistake everyone does while taking photographs is to leave a lot of space between the subject and the edge of the frame. These only apply to photographs containing a subject and not plain landscape photographs. If a lot of space is left between the edge of the frame and the subject, it makes the subject look small and insignificant. But on the other hand, the picture would look awkward if the subject is zoomed in to an extent where his/her head is cropped off.

ISO: 640

Shutter Speed: 1.0 s

Aperture: f/4.5

Focal Length: 42.0 mm 

Shoot in RAW format.

When I bought my first DSLR, in the initial days, I would always shoot in JPEG thus ruining the quality of the photograph while processing it. Shooting in RAW format captures all the details in depth allowing you to process the picture without the risk of decreasing the quality. Picture in RAW format need to be processed by your computer before it can be used. RAW also consumes a lot of memory space as the picture is uncompressed. In contrast, a JPEG consumes lesser memory space compared to the RAW format and the picture is ready to use. But that is the deal. The picture in JPEG is already processed by the firmware of your camera thus any further processing done in the system would ruin the quality. Pictures taken in JPEG are compressed and hence the colour and the resolution of the picture is lost and and on some cameras there is slightly more noise in a JPEG than its Raw version. If memory space is not an issue, pictures taken in RAW offer a great deal more compared to picture in JPEG. Also, RAW pictures need a special software to process which is easy to acquire. I recommend Adobe Lightroom as it is very efficient and user friendly.

One last thing!

Most of us would have bought a DSLR to capture memories and click great pictures. None of this can be achieved without experimenting with it. Unless you drop your camera, you cannot break it. You cannot ruin your camera by changing the settings and clicking pictures. You cannot break it by experimenting with the different modes and presets present. It is a crime to click pictures in auto mode unless you’re really unfamiliar with the model.

Choose Aperture Priority to have control over the aperture but not shutter speed or Shutter Priority to manipulate the shutter speed but not the aperture or Manual Mode where everything is in your control.

While candid pictures do make great memories, it is advisable that you plan your picture in advance and set your camera accordingly so that you don’t lose out on a moment.

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