Photography has never been more accessible to people as it is now. There is a massive wealth of photographic equipment to choose from, depending on your expertise, budget, and depth of patience.
However, it’s probably best to start out light, and a point and shoot camera such as the Panasonic GH4 is the perfect option. The functionality is simple, the quality is good, and the price is affordable, so you can try it out and see if photography is for you without a massive outlay.
But here’s some other good advice to take good photos if you are a beginner photographer just starting out:
Keep your camera with you at all times
With a point and shoot, it’s very easy to carry around due to its small, light and compact size (plus you should carry a spare battery and SD card too). You never know when a shot will present itself, so you should always be prepared with your camera.
Plan your shots ahead of time
As you are out and about, add to your list, it could be nature, architecture, locations and so on. Also look at the lighting, and time of day and try to consider what time would be best to shoot that particular location.
Change your perspective
What you may consider the norm and familiar can actually become fantastic subjects if just viewed from a different perspective. You can check different concepts of taking photos from various travel photography blogs.
Never stop learning
Photography is a never-ending journey of discovery. Once you feel you’ve mastered one area, there’s plenty more to explore. Not to mention top photographers pushing the boundaries and coming forward with fresh ideas and compositions. Never stop looking for inspiration from these top photographers either, you can learn so much from them.
Get to grips with your camera
The worst you can do is take a bum shot, and it’s not as if it costs anything to process anymore. Because digital cameras display the results instantly, you can check your work and then make changes as necessary to get the desired effect.
Experiment with video
Video is king on social media platforms right now so if you’re hoping to blog about your travel adventures and promote your photography, consider getting to grips with video editing software. It’s easy to set your camera to video mode and create a video that you can edit in the comfort of your hotel or back at home from your laptop or phone.
An all-in-one video maker like Movavi is ideal for anyone looking to share their videos in multiple different formats online as you can easily resize to suit the requirements of each platform.
Consider composition
There’s plenty of free resources on the internet, or you can buy books, magazines, and videos to further your education. The composition is one of the most important areas of photography, and once you’ve mastered the basic rules, you can then start deliberately breaking those rules to come up with unique compositions yourself.
A focal point is not necessarily a subject, it could be a landscape or similar scene with an object that becomes the focal point. But in order to capture the eye, it needs a place where the eye will focus. Here are some ways to do it.
Use the rule of thirds
The rule of what? Again the Greeks are responsible. They discovered the Golden Mean which is similar and the rule of thirds seems to have its origins there.
By dividing your image equally into thirds horizontally and thirds vertically you end up with grid-like noughts and crosses or tic tac toe grid. Where these lines cross are intersecting points, four of them. It’s on these points you would place your subject or focal point. It is pleasing to the eye and the eye is naturally drawn to these areas.
Google rule of thirds for more information. Without a focal point at one these intersections, like a tree or house on a landscape, it would be bland and pointless.
Play with depth of field
When you look at an image you’ll immediately notice the areas in sharp focus and those that are not. By focusing on a particular area of an image using a shallow depth of field or focus and a large aperture, it creates a focal point as it is the only part in focus. A telephoto lens, as opposed to a wide-angle lens, has less depth of field thereby creating more of this effect.
Use editing software
For your best shots, get them across to your computer and use this to edit and post-process your images. Editing brings up a new area of learning, and post-processing is just as important as taking the initial shot.
These tips will make a difference to your outlook and help you produce better photos, but it’s also important to always take your camera with you wherever you go.
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