Question by Juju: photography tips for beginers?
I am getting the canon rebel t4i soon and I need some basic, simple, easy photography tips that I can understand.
I am new to all of this and I am 13
Best answer:
Answer by Photographe
Best time for landscape photography: Basically when the light is coming from the side.
– 30 minute before the Sunrise.
– Sunrise.
– 30 minutes after Sunrise.
– Late in the after noon till 30 min after the Sunset.
– After a thunder storm, even at 12pm you could get amazing result because of the contrast.
Time to avoid landscape photography:
-When the sun is above your head, because the light is harsh and everything is lit the same way.
Best time for portrait photography:
-The best natural light will be the same as landscape photography when the sky is clear.
-You can use reflector like this to help you bounce light on your subject.
-If it’s overcast, the clouds act like big diffuser, the light will be very soft but also very flat, you’ll need a flash unit to work off camera, the pop up flash won’t give good result.
To help you create more pleasing image use the rule of third as guideline.
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/rule-of-thirds.htm
Spend some time on Cambridge in colors tutorial section and make sure to read your T4i manual.
Have fun!
Give your answer to this question below!
Go out and shoot, that is the best practice you can get. Let Youtube help you, there’s a lot of free tips online. Check out these; ThatNikonGuy, Photoextremist, JaredPolin and DigitalRev.
Find a photoclub in your area, you can get a lot of tips there. When you start photographing they can also tell you what you should improve on.
And get out of Auto-mode. Force yourself to go full manual, it will tale some time but it is worth it.
When you get the camera the very first thing you need to do is read & study the Owner’s Manual that comes with it.
The next thing you need to do, if possible, is enroll in a photography class. Since you’re only 13 this might not be possible. If it isn’t, then you’ll need to study on your own. There are four main components of photography you need to learn about: Light, Exposure, Composition and Depth of Field (DOF). These sites will help you.
LIGHT
http://photographyknowhow.com/quality-of-light-in-photography/
http://photographyknowhow.com/direction-of-light-in-photography/
Light is the primary ingredient in photography. Learning to “see” the light and “read” it takes time and practice.
EXPOSURE
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/learning-exposure-in-digital-photography
Everyone interested in photography needs to know and understand the Exposure Triangle which consists of ISO/Shutter Speed/Aperture. Although the focus is on learning to shoot in Manual, its still needed information so you’ll know and understand what happens if you’re shooting in Aperture Priority (you select aperture, camera selects shutter speed) and change the aperture or if you’re shooting in Shutter Priority (you select shutter speed, camera selects aperture) and you change the shutter speed. ADVICE: Shoot in either Aperture or Shutter Priority for a few months before trying to shoot in Manual.
COMPOSITION
http://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/10-top-photography-composition-rules
All too often beginners place their subject dead-center in the frame. This seldom gives a pleasing result. Learning about Composition will help you avoid this mistake. Later, after you’ve gained more experience, you can experiment with bending and/or breaking the Rules to develop your own style or express your vision.
DEPTH of FIELD
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm
Learning what DOF is and how to control it and use it will enhance your pictures. Often pictures of people or nature pictures will need a shallow DOF to isolate them from the background while landscape pictures need a deep DOF so everything from an object close to the camera to as far as you can see is in focus.
Shallow DOF:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drifter45h/7308480918/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drifter45h/7308480458/
Deep DOF:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drifter45h/3529681412/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drifter45h/4032748624/
Since there is a big difference between looking and seeing, here is an article that deals with Seeing Photographically.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/aesthetics-1.shtml
We all see differently. We could be standing side by side looking at the same scene and see different photographic opportunities or one of us might see no photographic opportunities.
As you can easily see there is considerably more to this photography stuff than just buying a camera. All of the references may seem overwhelming at first but don’t despair. Read each reference and then practice what you’ve read. Feel free to email me with questions.
Ed’s Editorial:
The worst advice I see in here is this: “Just go out and shoot and shoot and shoot! Take hundreds of pictures! That’s how you gain experience!” Sure it is – if all you want to do is take snapshots. A chimpanzee could do that.
Good photography requires thinking. You must train yourself to actually THINK about Light, Exposure, Composition and Depth of Field BEFORE releasing the shutter. At first this may be a slow process but with practice it soon becomes almost instinctive. You just do it automatically without even thinking about it. Even when you’re out without your camera you’ll be looking at the light, thinking about how you’d compose the picture, how much DOF you’d want, how to set the exposure – all without consciously thinking about it. Now if all you do is point & shoot point & shoot point & shoot then you’ll never really develop this skill and your pictures from April of 2014 won’t look much different than your pictures from April of 2013.
NOTE: Caps used for emphasis since Yahoo doesn’t give an option to use italics.
Read. Study. Practice. Repeat.