Photography Tips for you friends!!!

Some of you have been asking me questions about photography so I thought I would do a post about it and include some of my thoughts & tips. I am not a professional photographer...but I know a thing or two:)  I am constantly learning and growing more everyday.

~The first thing I can think of is to shoot in RAW, it's just better :)

~Never compare yourself to others

~Find your own creative style

~Take self portraits

~Lots of practice, constantly shooting, always take your camera with you & don't give up!

Lets take your camera off auto! :)

Sharpness

Sharpness is really important to me in a photo and mine are not really even as sharp as I would like. Unfocused eyes really really bug me! To get sharper images I have learned to set one focus point to the center of your viewfinder rather than having all your focus points active. Doing this will allow you to focus on a specific object rather than multiple things in your frame. You can hold the shutter button half way, focusing the center focus point on a flower, eye or whatever. Holding the shutter button half way down will hold the focus on that object while you adjust for the composition you are wanting and then take the photo. 

Aperture

Depth of sharpness is controlled my your aperture ( f-stop) If your f-stop is 2.2, your depth of field will be really shallow, so you will have a blurrier background (bokeh), like the photos above. For a wider depth of field like for a group photo or landscape you will want your f-stop higher like 5 or even 20 for landscapes so that everything in your frame is in focus.

Composition

To me one of the most important things in a photo is composition and I cannot explain really how to do that, you either have it or you don't. I think you can still learn composition by lots of practice though. Paying attention to lines...like horizons, roads & curves... not cropping people at their joints, like at their wrists, knees and ankles. 

Lighting

Lighting is so important too! I love shooting with natural light and try to never use flash. The best time to take photos is around sunset about two hours before the sun sets for that creamy warm light.

ISO controls how bright your photo is. If it's sunny outside you probably only need your ISO at 100, but if it's a dark indoor room you will want it higher. The higher the ISO the more grain you will have in your photo.

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed controls how fast your shutter opens and closes, how much light you are letting into your photo. So the faster it is, the less light is being let in. If you are shooting sparklers or cars driving by at night you would want your shutter speed slower to capture the movement of the light. If you are capturing sports where people are moving you would want your shutter faster to capture their movement fast so that they are not blurry.

I shoot in Manual, which is awesome once you get the hang of it. You can shoot in AV or TV also...AV means aperture priority which means you will set the aperture(depth of field) and your camera will automatically set the shutter speed ( how fast light is being let in). If you use TV then you will adjust the shutter speed and your camera will set the aperture. 

I shoot with a Canon 7D and love it! I use various Canon lenses. I would suggest getting a 50mm 1.8 lens if you are looking for a good first lens ( kit lenses are crap :). This lens is wonderful for detail photography and it's under $100!!! 

I use Lightroom 3 for post processing, it's pretty sweet. I sadly have no clue how to use photoshop, one of my goals this year is to take time to learn it whether that means taking a class or online tutorials...I really want to learn!

Wow this is really loooong...haha! :)

Shoot what makes your heart sing & be true to yourself.

xoxo,

Laura