Photo Excellence

Have you ever wondered why your photos never seem to be as good as those other dudes on Flickr? Heck I do. Maybe we need to think about it a bit more. My thanks to photographer, Marketing Manager and my friend, David Healey (no, not the footballer) for permission to pass on his thoughts on some basic steps you can take to achieve better results. Believe me, he knows what he's talking about.

1. Never buy a camera without an eye level (optical preferably) viewfinder, unless you are willing to carry a tripod with you.

2. The larger the film format or sensor size, and the higher the quality setting that you set your digital camera to, the better quality will be the end result – all other things being equal.

3. Never fall for the lie that it doesn’t matter how you take it, you can always sort it out and make it a decent picture in the darkroom/computer: you cannot ‘make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear’. Get it right before you take it.

4. Read the manual.

5. Invest in a tripod.

6. Spend money on high quality lenses, rather than exotic camera features.

7. Hold the camera properly: assuming it has a viewfinder, hold it up to your face with both hands holding the camera. For an SLR hold the camera in your right hand, and use the left to support the camera from below the lens with your thumb the left i.e. holding the lens in your palm of your hand.

8. Use daylight wherever possible (…it gives much more natural lighting than flash) and have the subject side lit. Light coming from behind you will lead to boring, shadowless photos, and light coming from in front of you (expect in certain circumstances like sunsets) will lead to lens flare and your main subject will be in shadow.

9. Take photos (in Europe) before 10 am and after 4pm in the summer (or 11 am and 3pm in winter) as the illumination is warmer (so more pleasing to the eye) and shadows longer.

10. Lean to avoid the two (most often confused) basic errors of photography: camera shake (resulting in double images – see 4 and 6) and incorrect focus (possible even with an autofocus camera). Unsharp mask in Photoshop will not solve these basic errors.

11. Before you take the photo, look carefully around the viewfinder (or screen if that is all you have) to see if
- there are things (e.g. road signs) that you do not want in the picture
- the composition is poor e.g. a tree is growing out of the subject’s head
- or the subject is too far away i.e. too small
- or there is something in the foreground of your nice landscape which is visually distracting
Recompose the photo.

12. When pressing the shutter release, there is not need to surprise it by sharply jabbing it. Press it gently first to allow the camera to work out the focus and exposure, and then press it all the way down gently to take the photo, when you and the subject are ready.

13. Use a tripod or other means of steadying the camera in poor light.

14. When taking landscapes or big views turn the auto flash off…it will not help to use flash because the main subject is so far away.

15. Once you get the photos, work out why some did not work: improve your technique by thinking about your photos and looking at other people’s. Bin the bad ones.