Improve your photography with these 5 easy tricks
Keywords: composition, guides, tips
Do you want to take better pictures? Sure you do.
In these days of instant gratification our Nikonians professionals have noticed that some of our members don't want to wade through a pile of technical explanations. They just want good pictures — fast.
If fast is what you're looking for we have it condensed into five easy tricks.
A Nikon D7000 DSLR camera
Here they are:
1. Center is not better
2. Step closer
3. Switch perspective
4. Leave lead room
5. Take three shots
There it is, decades of professional photography, condensed into five easy tricks, and the key to success is you should use at least three of them with every picture you take.
Quick Exercise
Take a look at the following series of A and B shots. Decide which you like better, and let's see which of the five "tricks" were combined to sway your choice:
Fishing
Group Shot
Limbo
Photographer
Runner
All of those B shots above share Trick number 1. Use this and you will see instant results.
Originally written on July 25, 2011
Last updated on February 1, 2019
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7 comments
Mark Hubbard (MarkHubbard) on January 31, 2019
I've been making photographs since about 1960, but at 69 I find that I need to start over. I treasure a few of the photos I've taken over the decades (most of which were made on medium-format film), but the vast majority of my output has been dreck. I welcome this opportunity to go back to the basics. Thank you for getting me started, Tom.
Ray Milbrandt (iiKaptain) on March 11, 2014
Thanks for this... Interesting to look think and shoot to get the best out of what you see.
Daniel Buckenmyer (dbuckenmyer) on February 11, 2014
Tom, I respectfully disagree that the photo of the band lacks lead room. Since the front man is looking back into the photo (his head turned to the left) the lead room is the whole rest of the shot. You managed to nail all five suggestions with this shot.
Christina Polychronopoulos (xronop) on February 1, 2014
Photos make it easy to get the idea across that "center is not better"!One can see easily the difference between them. Thank you.
Harry Chen (charry3892) on January 28, 2014
Images were explain everything in simple way more than words,good job. Thanks
Johnathan Cartwright (cartwrightjm) on December 29, 2013
Good tips for a beginner, and being a beginner I know have a place to start for composition ideas.
Thomas B. Padgett (DrTom60) on August 5, 2013
As a work in progress photographer, these tips make me think more about composition. It forces me to think and not just put everything in the center of the frame. Thank you