How to improve your photos

At the Oldham School of Arts and Crafts (yep I was once an Art Student), I learned about photography, darkrooms, developer and all that good stuff long before the advent digital photography.  While some of the 'rules' may have changed with the introduction of binary code, some of the rules have not.  So here are a few tips on improving photographs.

Even with a cheesy camera it is possible to get a good photograph and today's camera-phones would do well in a salad!  There's a lot a camera phone cannot do that other cameras can do, adjusting the light reading for example.  Let's consider the photograph of the folks in the pool...

The problem with this is that there's too much light in the pic.  This is because of the reflected light off the water... but it can be fixed.

The next pic is the fix.. and as you can see there's more detail and a better colour balance.  Even this can be improved upon, but why bother if the fix is good enough.  We're not entering it into a photo competition.  I used Adobe Photoshop LE (an older version of Photoshop) to do the necessary repairs.  There are a number of other photo programs available - for a price - but it's always good to get some independent information about them before buying.

Another program I use is Photoimpact Pro that has additional features including red-eye removal and morphing of photos, just to mention a couple.

When taking a photograph take the following steps:
First, always frame the photograph while taking it.
Second, look out for reflective surfaces such as water or snow that can give a false reading for aperture and shutter speed.  Thirdly, press the shutter and don't jerk it.

Here's another tip... lots of people seem to take photos of themselves in mirrors.  You can use any of the above mentioned programs to flip a photo so that it's the right way around.  Okay, so some of you knew that - but not everyone may have done!  I'm not that keen on camera-phones and given a choice I'd opt for a Canon EOS especially since we still have our old Canon cameras and the lenses will fit.  All you really need is a decent wide angle and a 200 mm telephoto to get some really great shots - as Deb will tell you.

Er... This is Deb... Karin's sister and a really good photographer.

Before we go, it may not have anything to do with taking photos, but Karin's ebook is still available from smashwords Click Here