As a beginner photographer, you might be making some photography mistakes which you must stop for your own good. It is very important for a photography enthusiast to be aware of some of the common mistakes that he/she might be making unintentionally.
This is the reason I thought of share 7 such mistake that you as a beginner might be making, and how you can let go of them. If you click photos using either a smartphone or a digital camera, this post is a must-read for you.
1. Always clicking photos from Eye-level
As a photographer, you get so used to always shooting from eye-level that you stop experimenting. Have you ever realized that hundreds of other people would have also clicked the same frame from the same height?
Be creative, spend 5-10 seconds thinking about the frame before you start clicking photos. Bend down and get low with your camera, raise your hands above and take a top angle shot. This might be a minor change in your style of photography, but trust me you would start clicking creative photos just by changing the level.
Also Read: HOW TO PLAN YOUR FIRST DSLR CAMERA
2. Shoot Wide, Crop Later
Sometimes when you are lazy or are not in a mood of getting closer to a subject, you simply shoot a wider frame thinking that you would crop it later. Sounds relaxing right? This is one of the biggest mistakes that you are making while clicking photos.
If you shoot wide and later plan to crop the photo, remember that you are loosing out on the pixel count and shallowness of depth of field.
It is always better to fill the frame with that is required. If you follow this rule you would get two major benefits. First, you get the full pixel count of the camera sensor as you would not be cropping the photo later. Second, the depth of field that you would get would be much shallower as compared to the wider frame. As a bonus, the perspective would also be a lot different and be complimenting when you get closer to the subject and shoot.
3. Always Place the Subject at the Center
While clicking portraits or a close-up shot, you tent to place the subject at the center of the frame. It looks good when placed at the center, but have you ever tried the Rule of thirds? If you start following the rule, you will realize that when you are placing your subject off-center the frame looks more eye-catching.
There is a tried and tested rule, and one of the reasons why many professionals still use the Rule of Thirds. Be it landscape photography or portraits, this composition tip will surely help you improve your photography.
4. Always Shooting at Lowest Aperture Value
If you own a 50mm f/1.8 or any prime lens that allows you to go as wide as f/2.8, f/1.8, f/1.4, or f/1.2, then you would relate to this mistake. Always shooting at the lowest aperture value might be useful for you sometimes, but in many situations, it could be a blunder.
If you are not an expert at clicking portraits or a close-up shot, you might witness partial blur effect on your subject. The reason for this is a very shallow depth of field because you are shooting at low aperture value.
To get a well-balanced depth of field, try and shoot at an aperture value 1-1.5 stops higher than the lowest aperture value. for example, try clicking photos using your 50mm f/1.8 lens at f/2.8. Now when you compare the f/1.8 photo with the f2.8 photo, you will see that the latter has a well-balanced depth of field as well as more sharpness.
5. Using Auto ISO
As a beginner photographer, you might be click photos in aperture priority or shutter priority mode with ISO set to auto. Take my advice and stop doing so right away, especially in low-lit conditions.
While you are shooting in semi-automatic modes, the camera tends to increase the ISO, especially in low-light conditions. Your camera does this in order to keep a balanced shutter speed and aperture combination. In this situation, your camera might boost up the ISO to a range where you start getting grainy and noisy photos.
In order to keep your photos clear, sharp and grain-free, set the ISO to manual. As a photographer start taking charge of some of the camera settings, as the auto settings might mess up your photo. Practice and few mistakes here and there would eventually make you a well-learned photographer.
6. Exposing for Shadows
Buildings, monuments, and sunset photos are some of the favorite types of photos that you as a photographer might love shooting. Usually, when your frame has the subject along with a well-lit sky, you might end up clicking a blown out sky. This is a frustrating situation, and trust me I have gone through the same.
Later when you come home and start editing that photo, you try to recover the detail from the highlights but fail to do so. There is an obvious reason why you are not successfully able to recover detail from highlights.
Your camera sensor is of such a nature that it can recover details from shadow easily as compared highlights. This is the reason why you should be taking exposure readings of the bright section of your frame, recompose your frame and then click a photo. This ensures that the details are correctly captured in the highlight area, and you can easily recover details from the shadow region during post-processing.
7. Not Using Available Natural Props
When you are outdoors shooting at a park or any open area, you tend to forget a very important aspect of photography. A photographer must always be aware of his/her surroundings and make the best use of naturally available props.
You might be so busy shooting your subject that you simply ignore the props such as leaves, flowers, etc, which can add interest to your photos. Next time when you are shooting outdoors, try using the available props and include then fully or partially to get creative photos.
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