How to take good photographs. I recently bought a camera due to my interest in photography but I'm not sure what I should take pictures of and how to make them appealing. From angles to contrast and lighting I'm a complete noob. Help
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Here's a few tips:
1) it doesn't matter what camera you have. 80% of what goes into making a great photograph happens outside the camera. Your decisions as to what to photograph, lighting, composition, and in many cases timing, are the most important parts of photography. So don't get hung up with what camera you are using, because it rarely matters (e.g. sports, for example).
2) Read you owner's manual at least once a year and keep it in your photo bag.
3) Study the work of great photographers. Just like how you can't write a great novel by having only ever read pulp fiction, you have to study great art in order to make your own.
4) Everything you ever wanted to learn about photography can be gotten from watching YouTube videos. Subscribe to the following YouTube channels: "The Art of Photography", "Fstoppers," "Bhphotovideo," "The Candid Frame" to name a few.
Do a YouTube search for the exposure triangle, what aperture to use, what shutter speed to use, what ISO to use, these will give you an understanding of the technical side of photography.
Do a search for doing the types of photography that interest you. Other great keyword searches are "composition" and "visual literacy." Photography is a visual language, and like any and all languages, if you don't have a good vocabulary along with a solid understand of its grammar, you can't make great photos.
Lastly is: practice, practice, practice.
The only things which matter are your eyes and your brain. The rest is techie stuff.
Assuming that you have a digital camera ( a given these days), you can experiment at no cost. In my young days we had to pay for film, and then pay to have it processed and printed, or spend hours in a darkroom sloshing around with chemicals.
And beyond all this great advice, think outside the box. There are so many photographers out there and thousands more who want to become a photographer that it’s nearly impossible to find work. Most of these people are so by the book that there is nothing to distinguish them from all the rest. Most will warn you not to get to creative because people are basic and want cliche prints, but that’s the problem, isn’t it? EVERYONE is being careful to keep it cliche. Travel some.. Take a drive. Find that abandoned burned down barn and plant a single brilliantly colored flower amongst the rubble. Have the adorable little girl dress in rags and “find” that flower. It doesn’t have to always be that adorable little girl in the ideal dress on a picnic blanket holding her doll..
Take a class or buy a book, but more importantly get outside and start taking lots of pics of things that interest you. That's how every photographer learns.
Go outside. Look at things that interest you. Press the button. A lot. Then look at what you have produced analytically and decide why you like particular photos. Rinse and repeat.
Sign up for a class locally - perhaps at your community college.
Photo challenges are a good way to practice your techniques.
Here are a few different types of challenges/lessons:
https://www.creativelive.com/blog/photography-tech...
https://captureyour365.com/captureyour365-photo-ch...
https://www.creativelive.com/class/creative-photog...