- The best camera to use is the one you have with you. Better to use a mobile phone camera than miss the picture!
- Always double check that there is a battery and a card in your camera. Carry spares. Keep a cover handy to protect your camera if the rain starts!
- Learn as much as you can about your camera’s capabilities. Failing that, use the automatic settings until you have time to experiment.
- Slow down! Take time to study what you see in the view finder before pressing the shutter button. Check for different angles to avoid unsightly artefacts and to make the best of the framing.
- Always look behind you and to the sides, try lower or higher perspectives – photos are everywhere. Try and keep horizons level and verticals upright - unless you specifically wish to create otherwise.
- Use a tripod! Both close up photos and landscapes look so much better with no camera shake.
- Be adventurous and creative and don’t be afraid of failure! That’s how you learn
- Be critical of your own photographs and compare them with those in magazines and galleries. Look back on photos you have taken in years gone by and see how you have improved. If you are happy with your images, that is all that matters.
- Good photographs are made by YOU and your ability to see, and not by expensive cameras and lenses.
- Join a local Camera Club! Wooler and District Camera Club is there to welcome you and share ideas and knowledge.
ADVANCED TIPS
- Learn, learn, learn and play with ALL settings on your camera.
- Learn more about your specialist interest from books, internet and by communicating with others – join a camera club and listen to what the judges and speakers say. Very often they are full of helpful ideas and can explain why something works and something else doesn’t.
- There are numerous ‘rules of photography’ - Learn about them and then see how many you agree with and how many you can break!
- Invest in a home editing programme (or use a free one like FastStone – there are many others!) and enjoy playing: cropping, enhancing colour, cloning etc. IF you are happy to do so! Remember editing has been done since the early days of photography.
- Try different formats – square, panoramic, black and white. (Both in camera or in subsequent editing).
- Portraits (and flowers) are very often better taken on light cloudy days. If taking portraits in sun, get the subject to close their eyes and open them when you are just about to press the shutter – no squinting!!
- Use the colours in the sky – Golden Hours and Blue hours can give wonderful effects.
- Even professional photographers use basic settings to help them get ‘the’ shot!
- If all else fails - read your cameras manual! Note: Cameras often don't come with a printed manual. If manuals are wanted for cameras new or old they can be ordered form www.camera-manual.com. The manuals come as a 4x6 printed booklet. So much easier than printing off reams and reams of paper from you own printer.
Joining Wooler and District Camera Club will give you access to this web sites' Members' Area, which has a pleather of detailed advice and guidance on photographic skills and techniques.