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How to take photos: The
Most Common Mistakes |
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Also see
'How to use your SLR' articles.
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Basic gear you need:
 | A pair of eyes (perhaps
with glasses) |
| A good sense of judgement |
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The
Aim:
| To get rid of the junk |
| Learn to spot the
not-so-good photos, so you only keep the cream |
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How: We all like to
think of ourselves as masters of our art. We might proudly sport our
favourite pictures to our friends. They'll support us by saying, 'yeah,
that's a great cat picture', but it's actually... Here, learn what to avoid
in your photography,
and how to spot the junk.
Same image as above, but cropped. Notice that there is not a clean and
crisp line around the dolphins; it looks a little blurred. |
<
Distance Blur. F9, 1/250, iso100, 75-300mm Sigma zoom lens at 225mm.
The object was probably 500m away. If you use a long zoom lens, then the
tiniest of movement will be exaggerated increasingly according to
distance. A long zoom lens used on a portrait model that's relatively
close will show little or no blur, but a distant object would show lots.
I've seen another photographer suggest for lenses or lens lengths: 200mm
lens should use 1/200 sec shutter speed; 300mm lens: 1/300 sec; 500mm:
1/500sec and so on. It's not a hard and fast rule, but helps. Also, a
tripod (or at least a monopod) would help a great deal. Also note that
some lenses (and some cameras) are more accurate than others at
focusing. |
 |
< Flash
Usage. Often your onboard camera flash gives the wrong shadows, or
is an over-kill. Here, it would have been better to use a tripod and the
available light, or forget it. Ever wondered why the top level 'pro'
cameras don't have on-board flashes built in? |
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<
Vignetting. Notice the dark corners at the top? That's the filters
I've stacked on the front of the lens, or the wrong lens hood. It might
even be a low quality zoom lens that might be pulled right back. This
can also be created by using an aperture of f1.4 or similar on some
lenses. |
 |
< The
subject is out of focus. Make sure the little red square that flashes
(to signal the camera is focused and ready) has flashed on the subject,
and don't wait, take the picture ASAP. Here, the stones are in focus,
but not the cat. Be sure to aim for the eyes. |
 |
< Poor post
processing (or bad settings within the camera). You can adjust the
levels in the Image > Adjust > Levels part of the menu, to retain some
good colour. Also see "Basic Post Processing" in
PhotoShop Tutorials. |
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< Noise.
(not sound) It's the speckled look that you get in dark pictures or with
cheaper cameras. Maybe
your camera was set to iso800 or something. If you're using a
point-and-shoot, use a flash, and use something more like iso400. Also
see here.
For a good camera, see "Which Camera?". |
 |
<
Under exposed. It was quite a cloudy day, not the best of conditions
to be photographing in. If the cloud were thinner, or I could use a
longer shutter speed (not good for trains), then it might look a little
more vibrant; but not much. |
 |
<
Over exposed. Here, too much light has affected the picture. This
could have been reduced by using a polariser or Neutral Density
filter. The over exposure occurs when the
sensor has received more light than its capacity, and so we get these
blow outs, where no significant amount of digital information can
recover the detail. |
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<
Poor composition. A touristy
photo, with information signs, the subject isn't at an interesting
angle, and it looks far from the tranquil Zen we would expect of a
Shinto shrine |
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< Harsh shadows.
Yes, a 'fill-in' flash can help reduce them, but avoiding shooting in
the midday sun is better. |
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< Less
than perfect. For common photos (like flowers), these days you've
got to do more than take an ordinary photo of something pretty. This
flower has dirty leaves, chewed petals, an ugly background, we're
looking down onto it (a nothing-special angle), and we're not even
zoomed in. |
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< Blur.
A zoom lens was used, but on a monopod, so there shouldn't be much blur.
However, 1/125 shutter speed was used, and it seems that this wasn't
fast enough. Perhaps 1/200 would have been better. (Notice the eyes are
not clear or crisp. |
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< Sky
Problems. This is a problem when too much light hits the sensor and
the sensor is quickly saturated. It happens on film, but much less so.
Use either a lens hood or a polariser to prevent this, when the sun is
strong, intense, and on the side, and slightly in front of the camera. |
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< Sun
soaked. Here, the sun is shining into the lens, giving a washed out,
sun-dried look. A lens hood could have prevented this. |
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