3 Photography Basics That Every Beginner Needs to Know

I love today’s guest post because these 3 tips are things that I teach often, normally to high school, 4-H, or FFA students who are trying to take better pictures for their organization, yearbook, or school. I also recently judged 4-H photography projects for Champaign County, and referred to these skills in many of my virtual communication with the exhibitors.

Few skills are harder to master than photography. Whether you’ve just picked up your first DSLR or stumbled upon a vintage camera at a yard sale, you need to know how to use the thing before you can develop a stunning personal portfolio or move into photography full time.

Smartphones may have put a high-quality camera in everyone’s pocket, but there are still plenty of us out there who don’t know the first thing about photography. If that sounds like you, fear no more.

In this article, we’ll cover the three most important lessons every first-time snapper needs to learn before they can get to work with their camera.

The rule of thirds

You may well already use the rule of thirds technique without even realizing it. Composition is the life and soul of photography. Paying even the smallest amount of attention to it can dramatically improve the quality of a photograph. A good picture shot without composition in mind is merely good by coincidence. Composition is really that important to consider.

Beyond arranging a set and taking a million photos in different positions, the best thing you can do to improve your composition is to apply the rule of thirds. When shooting your image, imagine it divided into thirds with two vertical lines and two horizontal lines — creating nine equal blocks on your viewfinder. Many modern cameras will have this as a pre-existing setting. Then, when lining up the shot, place your focus within one of these intersecting lines.

As mentioned, this is a technique you can let the camera guide you with or one you can use alongside your own imagination to create more professional-looking images. It’s not a technique you should always lean on regardless of your shot, but it’s a fantastic and essential one to have in your photographer’s arsenal.

Extra tip: In this modern media landscape it’s essential that photographers aren’t just handy with a camera, but that they understand the expectations of their audiences and have versatility with digital tools.

Your skillset shouldn’t just suit what magazine editors are looking for. If you want to work in promotional photography it helps to understand how to edit photos professionally, whether that’s removing white backgrounds or adding your watermark. Having this versatility will improve your reach and strength on everything from your portfolio website to social media pages.

Change your perspective

Boring, amateur photography is pretty obvious when compared with a professional shot. They’re often shot at eye level, giving the pieces a rushed feel that doesn’t add any artistic value to the scene or really capture what was going on beyond the photographer’s immediate view of the moment. This is why changing your perspective is so important.

Selecting a new vantage point to add some energy and life to your photographs is easy.

You can change your elevation by getting closer to the ground to match floor-level subjects.

Changing your angle can add a level of originality to the composition by shooting it from a skewed perspective that changes the entire context of the image.

Finally, a quick change of distance (whether it’s moving away from the subject or getting super-close) can give your shot a sense of space or incredible intimacy with the subject.

These are simple tricks and tips, but ones that may not be inherently obvious to first-time photographers. When shooting, try a couple of different versions from unique perspectives to find the way you want to capture the image and tell the story.

Extra tip: Shoot everything as often as you can! No photographer ever got anywhere by not taking photos. Having a varied portfolio won’t just make your skills seem more impressive to friends, family and potential clients, but it’ll teach you how to shoot new and exciting places. Shoot buildings, people and animals to your heart’s content!

Understand the exposure triangle

Of all the essential skills beginner photographers need to master early on exposure is perhaps the most important.

Understanding exposure and the exposure triangle is all about capturing light. Those of us who have never held a camera before may think the magic of great pictures lies somewhere within the machine you’re using. They couldn’t be more wrong — it’s all about your source of light.

As you take a photo, your camera opens its shutter and lets light in through the lens. This light will then strike the camera sensor, which is then processed as a final image. Aperture, shutter speed and ISO are the three factors of this process that affect how the light is captured and ultimately affects the final image.

Aperture is how big an opening your lens has, which is measured in f-stops. Smaller numbers have a wider aperture, which means more light comes in. This is where to start when trying to develop depth of field in your images.

Your shutter speed is how long the shutter is left open for while taking a picture. This is measured in seconds. The slower your shutter speed the most light you’ll be letting into the lens.

The ISO is how sensitive your sensor is to light. A higher ISO will allow you to take photos within much darker situations and environments. However, it will lead to more noise (or grain, as it’s known). That’s entirely normal, but worth considering when shooting in the dark for the first time.

The exposure triangle won’t be something you pick up after a few hours messing around with a camera. Many experienced photographers struggle with it. However, once you’ve mastered it you’ll notice a significant improvement in your output - just as you will with any of these skills.

Photography is a unique and painstaking skill to learn. It’s a combination of technical prowess, ingenuity and having an artistic eye. Master these basic skills and push forward with inventive shots and locations and you’ll quickly learn a lot about what it takes to be a successful photographer.

Guest post by Kayleigh Alexandra of MicroStartups. Kayleigh is a part-time writer at Writerzone. Also, she helps startups and small businesses find success. She loves spreading the good word about hard-working entrepreneurs from around the world.