Unless you’re a professional photographer, when it comes to getting better pictures most of us have varying degrees of experience with our digital cameras. Whether you are somewhat experienced and have your own online gallery or you’re a true amateur looking to create better pictures of family events and portraits, there’s a lot of things you can do to get better pictures. Here’s a short list of easy tips to keep in mind the next time you’re out with your digital camera looking for that perfect shot. Follow this and even a true beginner can get professional quality images that would be worth placing in a frame or a personal gallery.

8 Steps For Better Pictures

1. Stay on your toes.

First and foremost you need to be ready to go. Keep your eyes wide and be alert. Your prized photo opp could be gone in the blink of an eye. So get all of your gear together and be sure to have it all within reach. You might not see it at first but using a camera bag is a fantastic idea for getting better pictures because it keeps all your stuff at your finger tips and allows you to easily carry it all with you. When everything is in its place a good camera bag will let you organize extra lenses, filters, batteries, memory cards, etc.

2. Get rid of the “red eye”.

How many times has the dreaded red eye ruined what you thought was going to be your best holiday photo? For those that aren’t aware, the red-eye that you see in your photos sometimes is created by light being reflected back out of the eye through the pupil from the retina. It happens most often when using a flash in a setting with low ambient light.

You see, a lot of nocturnal animals have a white compound called guanine in the epithelium (a layer tissue cells) of the retina of their eyes which creates a reflective surface. When light hits their eyes at night the eyes seem to glow. This is the light being reflected back out of the eye. We as humans don’t have this. However, the light from a camera flash is sometimes bright enough to create a similar effect which is what you and I call red eye. The red color of the reflected light is created by the nutrient blood vessels inside of our eye.

The best way to remove red eye in order to get better pictures is to NOT use a flash at all. If you find that you want to use your flash then the best way to ensure that you don’t see evidence of red eye is to ask your subjects to NOT look directly at the camera. Have them focus their eyes on a point just above, below or to the sides of the camera. This way the camera won’t record the light being reflected back from the eyes.

Also, most digital cameras have a red eye reduction feature that actually fires the flash twice. The first flash causes the pupils to contract therefor limiting the amount of light entering and exiting the eye from the second flash. This feature can be very effective in getting better pictures so don’t be afraid to use it

3. Steady As She Goes!

One true nemesis of any photographer is camera shake. This is what causes an image to appear blurry. It’s the motion of the camera or subject but almost always the result of camera movement. Hand-holding your camera is rarely as steady as you think, even if you lean your body up against something for steadiness. There are still ways of getting better pictures.

If your shooting environment insists that you hand-hold your camera then be sure you have both elbows tight in against your sides and both feet firmly planted in a steady position. Once there, some folks would advise to use the cameras view finder instead of its LCD screen to frame your shot.

However, the best way to truly get better pictures that don’t demonstrate any motion or camera shake is to use some kind of “pod”. A tripod offers the most stability but there is also a monopod which has its own unique advantages. A bipod does exist for photographers but they’re not really mass produced by any one manufacturer but can be found with some searching. Here is an article for help on how to choose a tripod and this one will answer the question: So, what good is a monopod anyways?XMVGMGH8H7R6

Once you feel confident that everything is ready to go, as gently as possible, press the shutter button to make your exposure. Beware however as this also poses its own risks. Trying to push the exposure button while not creating any camera shake can be difficult at times. Again, there is a solution for this to make sure you get better pictures. It’s called a shutter release cable or a remote exposure button.

In reality, using a shutter release cable or remote exposure button combined with a tripod or monopod is truly the only way to (almost) totally eliminate the possibility of motion in your images. Follow this link for further thoughts on camera shake.

4. Get up close and personal.

The composition of a photo is a huge consideration when talking about a great photo. Unless you’re doing landscape photography, there are lots opportunities to get up close and personal to your subjects to improve their presence in the picture. Whether you physically get closer to your subject(s) or use camera’s zoom feature or you have a telephoto lense in your camera bag and at the ready, decreasing the distance between you and your subject is a good way to get better pictures. You can dramatically change the impact or the feeling of the image.

5. Snap away!

Back in the day, newspaper photographers used to shoot roles of film just to get that one gem to help sell the paper’s big story. Now, since the advent of digital cameras and memory cards that can hold scores of images you can shoot away just like they did back then without having to worry about the expense of how much film you’re burning through.

Later, when you get to sit down and sift through your images you’ll be sure to find the ones worthy of framing or entrance to your online gallery. Thats how the pros do it. So its easy to feel like a pro when you’re out in the field snapping away at 4 frames per second with your digital camera and all you have to do get rid of the pictures that don’t make the cut is hit “DELETE”.

6. Try a little scene creation.

Creating scenes can be fun and very challenging depending on your setting and your subjects (animals don’t always cooperate when you want them to. ha ha) but the resulting photos can be nothing short of amazing. Try mixing up the composition of the entire photo by changing your subject’s placement in relation to other objects or structures that are to be in the shot.

If you’re only working with one subject, try putting them off to the side instead of right smack dab in the middle when framing your shot. This can make the picture more interesting by having other things in the scene to draw the eye in.

7. Get candid for better pictures

Candid photography truly makes for better pictures and this type of photography is becoming more and more popular.

Candid photography is not supposed to appear posed, so instead of having your subjects focus their attention on the camera, try to get them to interact in some way. Have them focus their attention or thoughts outward toward the rest of the world. You could even suggest that they focus inward as if they are in deep thought or in a reflective state of mind.

Some of the best candid photos are of simple moments such as children playing, two people embracing one another, a person sitting on the beach staring at the waves, a person sitting on a bench feeding the birds, some people waiting on a bus or subway train. Those kinds of scenes can make for some great, even emotionally moving photos.

8. Work with your lighting

Change up your lighting and experiment with natural light. Stronger shadows will result by moving your subject closer to a window. Having your subject on a swivel stool can help because then you are able to make quick positional adjustments in between shots simply by rotating your subject a little to the left or right effectively increasing or decreasing the level of shadow in certain areas.

Obviously the controlled lighting in the studio is more dramatic but positioning of the subjects head in natural light will still produce subtle alterations in the light/shadow balance to accommodate the lack of symmetry in the structural features of your subjects faces.

As usual, avoid shooting outside in the midday sun if you can. Midday sun is very unforgiving and allows for minimal if any shading of your subject. This usually produces very flat looking portraits. However if you are shooting in an area that is normally very dark such as under a fairly heavy forest canopy, then midday sun with a clear sky could be a tremendous help.

There you have it! Try to keep these things in mind the next time you plan on being out with your camera. Remember also to be on your toes when at family gatherings and other events. You never know when that perfect candid photo op will present itself. If you have to, go ahead and jot some of these things down and keep them with you so you don’t forget some of the simple things you can do to get better pictures.