Alright so here are 10 Photography Tips and Tricks to improve your photos.

Alright so in the last couple of days I checked some of my first photos and I noticed a couple of things that I want to share with you because these tips always helped me to improve my own photography and maybe these tips can help you to get better results as well. So here are 10 Beginner Photography Mistakes and how to solve them.

1 Eliminate Camera Shake
One of the biggest bigger photography mistakes is camera shake because this causes blurry photos especially if you try to take photos handheld. I mean yeah in most cases I simply don’t use a tripod because it’s not practical all the time but of course there is a way to get sharper images in these situations even without a tripod. 

And step number one is to hold the camera steady with both hands while taking images. Especially if you use a lens like the 70-200 for example your setup is really heavy and that makes it harder to get steady shots. So always use both of your hands to hold the camera and your lens to reduce as much shakiness as possible. Even if you have a small lens – like a 35mm – you should always use both hands to stabilize the camera because even tiny movements can actually affect the final result.

2 Shutter Speed
Another really important step is to use the right shutter speed. Especially if you take pictures handheld you always have a small tiny movement and that’s why it’s not good to use a really slow shutter speed because it can happen that your camera needs way too much time to take the image while something is still moving around.

If I take photos handheld I mostly start at 1/125 and then I take a couple of test-shots to see if I need to adjust that. Of course if it is windy outside I mostly use a way faster shutter speed but that is just something you have to figure out while you are out there because each situation is always different. So always double check your camera settings to avoid this problem and actually learn how to adjust your camera settings fast.

3 Have Fun, don’t plan out too much
One of my biggest mistakes that I did as I started taking photos was to set my focus on just planning my shots. But in the end – while taking photos – I had to change things up to get the result that I needed. So I simply wasted a lot of time planing all kind of unnecessary things and exactly that’s why I always recommend to just do some basic planning and to get the rest done while taking photos. Stop thinking. Just get out there and take photos. You will get a couple of good results if you don’t rush your photography session and if you just be a little bit creative.

4 Flash
But now let’s move on with number 4 and that is all about the build in flash. I absolutely don’t like to use that at all. In most cases if you take a picture with such a flash the light is harsh and unnatural and that’s why I highly recommend to not use it. Especially if I take photos with a smartphone I always turn off the flash completely because in most cases it just ruins the photo. But of course the question is: What should I do if it’s too dark? Well instead use additional lights like a softbox or all kind of other light sources to brighten up the set and to take these images or use a tripod and a slow shutter speed to make the image brighter. In most cases it just looks way better if you try to get this natural light feeling. So don’t use the build in flash especially if you use a Smartphone to take your images.

5 Simple Backgrounds
So now let’s actually talk about a really important tip and this one is all about backgrounds. I highly recommend to use simple backgrounds to not overload your images. Don’t try to put too many things into one image always keep it simple and try to set a focus in your images by using leading lines or a nice bokeh for example. That makes it way easier to understand the composition and to let something stand out in your image. 

6 Aperture
Next let’s talk about Aperture. I know, I know, I know most people like to use an F-Stop of 1.8 or 2.8 for example to get the nice blurry background but sometimes it would be way better if you would increase the f-stop to get more and more in focus. Especially if you take product photos for example it is really important to get the key element in focus and it isn’t always possible to do that if you stick to 1.8. So actually don’t be lazy here and change things up to improve the image. Just a blurry background won’t turn a bad image into a great one. 

7 ISO
And that’s the perfect opportunity to talk about another camera setting. ISO. As I started taking photos in the manual mode I thought increasing the ISO is always bad. And that’s not true. ISO can actually help you to get good results. Of course that doesn’t mean just use the max ISO and everything will be fine – noise is still a problem! – but if you use that much ISO that you need to take the image you will get good results.

8 Camera vs Lens

Another big mistake is to just focus on the camera. I get a ton of questions on Instagram like “What camera should I buy?” and I don’t know which camera is the best for you because I don’t know what kind of photos you want to take and what kind of equipment you already have or need. In the end you need to decide what kind of gear you need to get the results that you want to have. But just to have a good camera doesn’t mean that you get good results and a lot of people simply forget lenses completely. In most cases a midrange camera in combination with a good lens is perfect to take stunning images but if you combine bad lenses with a great camera the image quality won’t be as good as it could be. So that’s why investing in good lenses is way more important than buying a new camera body. 

9 Look at old photos to notice mistakes

Tip number 9 is one of my favorite tips and here I want to talk about old photos. I highly recommend to always make a backup of your favorite RAW files of a photo session. And the reason is that you can always go back to these files to see how your photography style changed over time. Sometimes I had the feeling that nothing changed but as soon as I take a look at my older photos I realize that a lot has changed and how I improved my own work. So always keep a backup of your photos.

10 Always try something new
And tip number 10 is to always try new things. Especially if you hav a favorite photography genre it is most likely that you try to find the easiest and quickest way to get the results that you need but that leads to the problem that you simply repeat the same steps over and over and over again. And exactly that’s why I highly recommend to always try new things as soon as you start to copy and past your own work. Maybe try a new lens or different camera settings or just completely ignore your best practice and try to find a new and fresh perspective. Especially these steps will improve your overall work as a photographer because if you just do copy and past work it won’t help you to learn new things. 

Stay Frosty!

——————

Our Presets, LUTs & Templates: https://shop.digitalabsorption.de/

www.digitalabsorption.de

E-Mail: info@digitalabsorption.de

➥ Subscribe On YouTube ⇢ https://bit.ly/2Bn7aaq
➥ Follow me on Instagram: https://bit.ly/2S6tws1
➥ Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DigitalAbsorpTV

Gear:
● My Main Camera : https://amzn.to/30sGZMD *
● My Second Camera : https://amzn.to/2Ljw7bv *
● Perfect Camera To Get Started : https://amzn.to/2UgcXrj *
● Microphone 1: https://amzn.to/2ZDPUYg *
● Microphone 2: https://amzn.to/2ZEVFoO *
● Microphone 3: https://amzn.to/2zw1gTF *
● Interface: https://amzn.to/2NJN8yv *
● Monitor: https://amzn.to/2NMcjkd *
● Headphone: https://amzn.to/2UhPGFd *
● Softbox: https://amzn.to/2L7O26m *
● Cheap Smartphone Tripod: https://amzn.to/2MMfSXT *
● Cheap DSLR Tripod: https://amzn.to/2HxuciM *
● Drone : https://amzn.to/2NHWv1C *
● GoPro Hero 7 Black : https://amzn.to/3eZ6oT9 *
● GoPro Chesty : https://amzn.to/2AfcJuL *
● RF 35mm : https://amzn.to/2zUs4xa *
● RF 24-105mm : https://amzn.to/2PPFCoA *
● EF 50mm : https://amzn.to/34mUOg9 *
● EF 18-55mm : https://amzn.to/2UI2wgx *
● EF 10-18mm : https://amzn.to/2POPFKw *
● Tamron 70-300mm : https://amzn.to/34wudxl *
● Additional Music : https://artlist.io/Bjoern-1377240 *

*Affiliate-Link Disclaimer: Some of these links are affiliate links where I’ll earn a small commission if you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.