How to take better pictures and photographs

An award-winning artist gives you easy tips. Apply her knowledge in art to taking photos and see the difference!

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• camera
• film or memory card

1. Wrong! Don't cut your photos in half with your subject! WRONG! In art I instruct students to be cautious that they do not "cut" their painting in half vertically or horizontally. The same holds true for photos. This photo of a wonderful subject is wrong because it cuts the page in half and leads your eye off the page with that long horizontal line in the middle.
2. RIGHT! move the long horizontal and vertical lines away from the middle RIGHT! This photo is much better. Notice how the camera angle has changed so your eye instantly focuses ON the opening in the rock and doesn't stray off the page? Moving that horizontal line down the page helped a lot.
3. WRONG! Too much background detracts from your subject. WRONG! Beginners often want to include a lot in their paintings and photos. Learn to concentrate on what is important. Do you want your viewers to look at the gravel path or the rose? This photo has far too much background in it. It's pretty, but it could be better.
4. RIGHT! Concentrate on your subject. Make it IMPORTANT RIGHT! Now we've moved in to what's important--the rose. Notice how much better this looks? How your eye is instantly drawn to the main subject you were trying to capture? Learn to crop as you take photos, or you can crop afterward using a photoshop program.
5. WRONG! Rule of Odd numbers is broken, and results are not the greatest WRONG! I use what I call "the rule of odd numbers" to help my students in good composition. EVEN numbers like the TWO flowers in this photo do not make as pleasant a composition as an ODD numbered arrangement. Try to group One, THREE, FIVE, SEVEN etc. items in your photos..you'll see a distinct improvement!
6. RIGHT! Follow the rule of ODD numbers for better compositions RIGHT! Notice how the ONE single Iris flower looks so much better than the TWO above. More is not always better. Use the Rule of Odd numbers! Flower arrangers, interior decorators, and artists all follow this rule to make their compositions attractive to the eye.

Tips & Warnings

• There are more principals of art that can help you in photography. You might try purchasing a beginning art book or a basic drawing book to help train your eye.
• You could sign up for a beginning art class to help your photography too.