how to take better photos

Everyone has cherished photographs of the important people, places, and times in their lives. Then there are the ones that you thought would look great - but just didn’t work out.
How can you get more cherished photographs and less of those that just aren’t very interesting?
No matter what type of camera you use. From the simplest point and shoot to the most sophisticated 35MM single lens reflex, following three simple rules will help you to improve your photography.
1) Know the theme or subject of your photograph.
2) Focus attention on your theme or subject.
3) Simplify your photograph.
Let’s go into each step a little further...
KNOW YOUR SUBJECT OR THEME:
Is the subject of your photograph your Aunt Edna? Or the Grand Canyon? Or the majesty of nature? Whatever you subject or theme, make sure you have an idea of what is is as you look through the viewfinder. Which leads us to our next step.
FOCUS ATTENTION ON YOUR SUBJECT OR THEME
Just because Aunt Edna is in the viewfinder, that doesn’t mean that your eyes will be drawn to her when you look at the print. Too many times folks create photos with distracting elements that pull the focus from your intended subject. What can you do to create focus on your subject? Here are a few techniques:
1) Placement. You may have heard of the “rule of thirds”. This is simply dividing your frame into thirds and placing your subject on one of these imaginary divisions. Thus your subject will be slightly off center. This makes for a more interesting photograph, one that will help “pull focus” onto your subject.
2) Relative size. This is simple. Make sure that the subject you want to focus on is large in the frame relative to other elements in the picture. Fill the frame with your subject!
3) Framing. This is a very versatile technique, there are many ways to “frame” your subject. For instance, you could frame your Aunt Edna sitting on her front porch. Frame her either by the vertical porch posts, or the horizontal porch railing, or both. There are many ways you can frame a subject. When photographing a distant scene, such as an expansive landscape scene, try framing the subject with a nearby object. A tree or fence line (framing along the bottom) works well for this. You’ll frame the subject and help to enhance the sense of distance. If your camera has a zoom lens, a wide angle will aid in creating a longer depth of field for distance shots with nearby framing elements. Also, if you can control the aperture on your camera, using a higher f-stop (smaller aperture) will also help create a longer depth of field. (More on how to use depth of field below)
4) Lighting. You can use selective lighting to help create emphasis on your subject. For example, you can compose your photograph so that your intended subject is lit while other elements of the picture are in the shadows.
5) Converging lines. An example could be your Aunt Edna walking down a path in the distance. The sides of the path appear to converge in the distance, creating the emphasis on Aunt Edna. If you camera has a zoom lens, use of a wide angle helps to exaggerate this effect.
6) Selective focus. This is another use of depth of field. Instead of using depth of field to give a sense of distance in relative sharp focus (shorter focal length and/or small aperture), you can use a shallow depth of field to create a selective focus on your subject. Your subject is in sharp focus, while surrounding elements in the picture are out of focus. If you have a camera with a zoom lens use a longer focal length (zoom in). If you don’t have a zoom lens, move in close to you subject if you can. If you have aperture control with your camera, use a larger aperture (or lower f-stop) to create a shallow depth of field. Using these techniques, focus on you subject and surrounding elements will be out focus, thereby creating a selective focus with emphasis on your subject.
Depth of Field tips:
1) The longer the focal length of your lens (i.e. “zooming in close), equals less depth of field. (see number 6 above)
2) The shorter the focal length of your lens (i.e. “zooming out”), equals greater depth of field. (see number 3 above)
3) The smaller the aperture setting (higher f-stop setting), the greater the depth of field.
4) The larger the aperture setting (lower f-stop setting), the smaller the depth of field.
5) At any aperture setting, there is about twice the depth of field behind the point of focus as in front of it.
Let’s not forget our third rule for better photography...
SIMPLIFY!
You’ve decided what the subject or theme of your picture is, and you’ve used one or several techniques to help emphasize that subject or theme in your frame. Now you need to look in your viewfinder and notice what elements you see that are not crucial. You have Aunt Edna nicely framed in you viewfinder, off to one side just a bit (the rule of thirds), very nice. Do you need the garbage cans along the wall of the garage in your picture? For that matter, do you want the garage showing at all. These may be elements that just add clutter to your photograph. Get rid of them! move the garbage cans, or move Aunt Edna, so that you don’t see the garage. The point is to eliminate unneeded clutter in your pictures to help produce clean, sharp composition of your intended subject.
What to do if you have an “automatic everything” camera.
Many cameras today are “point and shoot” types with sophisticated chips inside that take care of all the focusing and exposure (shutter speed and aperture) tasks for you. This can be great, except you loose the control you might want to create a more interesting photograph. Don’t despair. There are ways that you can “fool” your automatic camera into giving you the settings you want. If your camera has “automatic program” modes, as most do these days, you can select the program that will give you the kind of exposure settings you’ll need to use some of the techniques described above.
For instance. Most cameras will have a “normal” mode, some sort of “slower speed” mode (this may be called something like “landscape mode”), and a “higher speed” mode (sometimes called “sport” or “action” mode”. A slower shutter speed will mean a smaller aperture setting, and a greater depth of field. A faster shutter speed, on the other hand, means a wider aperture setting, and a narrower depth of field. You can adjust your automatic mode to best suit your needs.
BONUS TIP:
The most common reason that some pictures turn out blurry or apparently out of focus isn’t really due to the focus at all - it’s called “camera shake”. Make sure that you are standing with your feet slightly spread apart and support your arms against your chest to help support your camera and keep it steady. The best way to eliminate camera shake is to use a tripod. This is especially true when you are taking pictures in a low light situation or any time that your exposure settings utilize a slow shutter speed.
To recap, keeping these 3 steps in mind as you take your pictures -
Know what your subject or theme is.
Emphasize your subject or theme
Simplify your picture
will help you take more interesting pictures of your loved ones, travels, treasured moments.