Photography tips from O2
At O2, we take a lot of photographs. Photos of work, photos of wildlife, photos of sunsets and flowers and other pretty stuff too. While out getting some photos the other day we briefly discussed photography tips and tricks that have worked for us. We figured some of our fellow photographers might be interested in the discussion, so we thought it’d be fun to share some photography tips in this week’s blog post.
Here are just a few quick ones:
– Experiment with angles. Consider every little thing that will be in the frame of a photo – foreground, background, the angle of the subject, the angle of the camera, the angle of lighting or shading, and countless other factors that can affect your finished photo product.
– Consider the lighting of your photo. Most of the time you’ll want the subject of your photo to be as well lit as possible, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get creative with certain backlighting, shadows, and other lighting schemes. Yet another element of lighting is…
– Flash photography. Your camera’s flash can be a useful tool in the right opportunity, allowing you to capture a photo when the situation may otherwise be too dark or too backlit. Don’t overdo it though, as flash can also wash out the subject of the photo.
– Take multiple photos. Sometimes you can take 5 photos of the same thing from the same spot, and for one reason or another, one of the photos will be better than all the others. This is especially true once you get home and upload or develop, and you’ll often be surprised by the look of the finished photo, so it’s worth having multiple takes.
– Be patient. Photography is all about capturing the image of the fleeting moment. Sometimes a photographer must wait for the lighting and the timing and other factors to be just right. Patiently waiting for the right moment can be the difference between a good photo and a great one.
– No really, be VERY patient! Patience is especially important when photographing subjects such as sunsets, wildlife, or anything else that is notorious for not sitting still. For instance, simply waiting for the sun to come back out from behind a cloud can make all the difference.
– Stay steady. A blurry photo usually isn’t a good photo, so try to keep the camera as still and steady as possible. Using a tripod or steadying your camera against a fixed object can help toward achieving clearer crisper photos.
– Know your camera. No two cameras are exactly alike. Be familiar with the shutter speed, buttons, settings, film or memory capacity, and every other factor to your camera. Though they tend to be more user-friendly (or is it user-friendlier?), these factors can even apply to camera phones.
– Be ready. If you hope to get good photos, have your camera – as well as your eye for photography – ready at a moment’s notice! This may seem obvious, but often when you’re out in the field, it’s easy to lose focus on photography. If you aren’t prepared to snap a shot, you aren’t going to get the photos you want.
These are just a few basic photography tips, all casually discussed while out in the field with camera in hand. There’s virtually endless little tricks and tweaks when it comes to photography though. The main point of it all is the opportunity to get CREATIVE! If you have any cool photography tips you’d like to share with us – or for that matter, any cool photos you’d like to share – please do!
To contact us at O2 Creative, give us a call at 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].