by Johanna Draper

Created on: January 22, 2010

Most anyone can point a camera at something and shoot a picture. But not everyone can point a camera and something and take a picture that looks awesome.
There are a number of things to think about when you take a picture, if you want it to come out nicer, and maybe even more artistic!

Here are a few basic tips to help you take better photographs.

Sharpness: If there's one thing that completely ruins a picture, it's blur. Don't you hate it when you see a thumbnail of an awesome picture, only to find out it's blurred when you zoom in for a closer look?

Make sure you hold your camera steady. One thing you will often see photographers do when taking pictures is holding the camera tightly against their face, while standing with their legs slightly spread to keep their balance. In low light situations, this will help a lot! Make sure you press the shutter button gently to ensure your camera will not jerk suddenly while taking the picture.

Composition: A well framed shot can go a long way to making a photograph better. Don't center your subject, but rather move your camera so that the subject is a little off center. You can focus on your subject first, and then reframe the picture before pressing the shutter button all the way down.

Clutter: Try to eliminate the clutter as much as possible. In the event that it is just impossible to do away with the clutter, try moving around to find the best angle that shows as little clutter as possible.
Try zooming in on your subject, so that less background will be visible, and what little background is left will be more out of focus.

Multiple shots: With candid shots it is often necessary to take several exposures of the same scene to ensure that at least one will be pleasing. All too often a great shot is ruined because someone had their eyes closed or a funny look on their face.

Use a flash diffuser: In situations where you are using flash, whether it is a popup or speedlight flash, you can buy very inexpensive diffusers that can be placed over the flash.
This will help eliminate hard lighting that washes out subjects faces, and will also help eliminate red eye!

And lastly, don't be embarrassed to take on an odd position to get the right composition. No one will mind if you are laying on the floor to photograph a couple of toddlers playing, or climbing up on something to get a high view.

Practice implementing the above tips, and soon you will start to see some big improvements in your photographs!

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