Easy Ways to Improve Your Photography Skills

As a photographer, you may hit a creative wall sometimes. The best solution is to work hard to improve your skills and learn new things.  Sometimes you can over complicate problems like this, searching for some magical trick that will give you the creative perspective you are looking for. Instead of searching for a magical solution, or spending thousands on advanced photography classes, we have a collection of tips to try today to improve your photography and develop your creative eye.

Use Aperture Priority Mode
Aperture Priority gives you direct control over the aperture, and as a result the depth of field.  Fast prime lenses, such as this 50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.2 from Buydig.com enable you to choose large apertures for a shallow depth of field. This helps you create those creamy-smooth, out of focus backgrounds that give portraits a professional quality. However, working with such a narrow band of sharpness means that you must be accurate with your focusing or the entire portrait will look soft.  You must make sure you focus accurately on the eyes when using this method.

High-Key portraits

Deliberately choosing to over-expose a photo to create a ‘high-key’ effect results in a light and delicate look that can enhance feminine portraits and pictures of children. The trick is not to blow the highlights in-camera, but rather brighten up the shot later in software such as Photoshop. Be sure to shoot in RAW to allow you more flexibility when editing.

Shooting in burst mode
Whether you’re taking a portrait of a child or a group set your camera in its fastest drive setting.  Shooting in short bursts will ensure you capture a fleeting range of expressions. It also improves your chances of getting a shot where everyone’s eyes are open in a group portrait. If you still don’t capture everyone’s eyes open or their beaming smiles, having a range of shots taken fractions of a second apart means you can easily swap faces in Photoshop.

Candlelight portraits
When you’re taking photos by candlelight, you’ll need to push the ISO to 1600. Beyond and work with large apertures to allow for a fast enough shutter speed to freeze any motion.  Turn your camera’s flash off and use Manual exposure mode. Switch off any lights, take a meter reading from your subject’s face and get your shot.  If you’re planning a candlelit portrait shoot, use more than one candle. Not only will it increase the amount of light available to make the exposure, but also it will allow the illumination to spread for softer shadows.

Experiment with Color.
Color isn’t the aim for every photograph. Too much color sometimes distracts the viewer from the subject. This is because they wow over the color and then look for a subject. Experimenting with different color hues, such as black and white, or sepia, or even just de-saturating the color a little can help reduce distraction. It’s all about experimenting.

Elevate Your Skills with a Drone
The key for literally elevating your photography skills is to invest in a drone from Buydig.com.  Taking flight offers a whole new world of possibilitie. You can achieve the viewpoint that will allow your photography skills to soar to new heights. Pun intended.

Tell a Story
Probably one of the most important aspects of photography you need to remember is the best images don’t just stand alone, they actually tell a story. The stronger you make the connection between your subject and its environment, the stronger the message and the appeal of the image. Look to include items, views, and backgrounds that complement the subject.

Challenging yourself to try new things is the best way to become better at a skill.  The same holds true for photography.  Take these ideas and implement them immediately into your photography to see a huge improvement in your own skills