There is not one rule of thumb to follow when it comes to making a stunning and professional photograph. The only thing to know when you first begin in photography is that it is going to take some time before you are able to take stunning shots.
However, without general guidelines you may wander off the trail quite readily. This is why we have opted to provide you a list of things to focus on. If you follow it through, you will be able to concentrate your efforts on learning how to take expert shots.
Pick Your Spots Carefully
If you take your time to assess the magnificent photos captured by your colleagues, you will start to discover certain patterns. There’s a special one that emerges from the heap of the miscellaneous others – unique perspective.
You can easily notice that some of the photos of world-famous architectural masterpieces are simply more magnificent than others. Why? Because a photographer chose an interesting place to take photographs from.
Practice Composition
Every terrific photo follows the principles of terrific composition. If you are totally unfamiliar with composition in photography, the first thing you should learn is the rule of thirds. You should examine your photo as if were a tic-tac-toe (3×3) board. If you check the work of your colleagues, you will soon discover that they place interesting objects on the intersection of these lines.
This bit requires a lot of practice. After some time, you will develop an instinct to place the objects of your photography in these areas.
Play with Lighting
Lighting is also one of the factors that plays a vital role in the making of a stunning photo. If you are a beginner photographer, you should start by learning a few tricks, like when to position the object behind and facing the light source, how to leverage lighting to emphasize something on the photograph, etc..
If you like to shoot photos of landscapes and city scenes, try focusing your photography attempts on taking pictures during the golden hours. If you take photos indoors, you’ll have to invest into some lighting equipment to play with.
Photo Editing Is Essential
All of the stunning photos that have been recorded in the modern history of photography have been tampered with. Lightroom and Photoshop can make a stunning image from the normal and”meh” photographs. You should definitely start post processing your photographs if you want to wind up with diamonds in your hands.
On the other hand, many photographers don’t have time or just don’t want to get involved in image editing. If you belong to this group of individuals, you can outsource your image editing to professionals with years of experience in image post processing program.
Start Learning Exposure
We have saved the toughest for the end – exposure. Since it is possible to control the exposure with ISO, aperture and shutter speed, you’ll have a lot to learn about how each of these affect your image, and eventually have the ability to take extraordinary photos.
Learning exposure is very important because you will find yourself taking photos in tricky lighting situations, and that is where your knowledge will truly shine. If you wish to learn how exposure affects your photos, load them into any image editing software and check the histogram. The graph to the left indicates that the picture is too dark, while the graph shifted to the right indicates the reverse.
And bear in mind, nothing beats raw expertise and continuous practice.