My Photography Lessons Learned

Contemplative Sophie
Originally uploaded by Poundstone.

I believe I've said this before here: I used to suck at taking photographs. The viewfinder on my digital camera changed my life. All of a sudden, what I saw was what I got, and photography became more like composing a little piece of artwork, which I'm good at, instead of a frustrating technical experience.

But the other things that have transformed my pictures into something much better than they had been: Three simple rules.

1) Turn off the flash. Use daylight and lamps to your advantage. If you're in lower light, overexpose the photo a bit. (That is, turn up the exposure a few notches. Consult your camera's manual.) You can also use the photo editing software to lighten up a picture if it's too dark. In my experience, these options are always better than flash pictures. Always.

2) Take one, if not two steps closer to your subject. Don't be afraid to cut off the top and bottom of your subject. Closer is almost always more interesting.

3) Take a bunch of photos. With digital cameras, there's no downside to taking a whole mess of pictures. You just delete the rejects later. Presto! You're much more likely to get the shot you love if you're willing to take a bunch to begin with.

The only caveat with this rule is, as Frank Horvat says, "Photography is the art of not pushing the button." In other words, wait for the RIGHT shots. Eventually you'll be able to feel when the right shot is in your viewfinder. And it's so satisfying to catch it.

There. It's off my chest. Hope these little rules help somebody out there as much as they helped me.