Luzern is fantastic, beautiful, vibrant city that is worth every photo camera around and every moment to capture. So, why not to get ready and learn some tricks! This crash course contains everything you need to take your photography skills to the next level.
1. Concentrate on What You Can Photograph Rather Than What You Can’t
It’s easy to walk away from a photo opportunity because you don’t feel your camera equipment is not capable.
But learning to think around any potential barriers is how original photos are made. Rather than cursing your lack of an ultra-wide lens when photographing a beautiful coastal shot, take a series of photos and stitch them together for a panorama.
No fast, high-quality portrait lens in your line-up?
Find a location where the foreground and background will be so far from your portrait-sitter that it’s easy to make them stand out, even at higher aperture f/5.6 or above.
2. Position your subject
Besides choosing what to shoot and what settings to use, learning the basics of composition is one of the fundamental ways to improve your photography skills. There are plenty of rules what makes the perfect composition, but the key thing that you should think about when taking your photos is where to position the subject in your image.
It’s tempting to put the subject in the centre of the frame, but this can produce static-looking compositions. The classic approach is to use the rule of thirds, which is defined by imaginary ‘lines’ that divide each side of the image into three equal-sized areas. You then position the main subject on one of these lines.
3. Make good use of space
The space around your subject is nearly as important as the subject itself. First of all, you need to think about how much of the subject’s surroundings you want to include in your shot.
A general rule you should include the surroundings if they add to the photo, such as showing the environment around the subject in a portrait or wildlife image. Alternatively, a tighter composition that excludes the surroundings can help to make the main subject more prominent.
Photographing action, when looking at images of moving subjects, you naturally look ahead into the area that it’s facing towards. For this reason, it’s a good idea to leave more space ahead of the subject for it to move into the photo, otherwise, your shot can end up being unbalanced.
Portraits can also benefit from a similar composition technique. Leaving some space on the side that your subject is looking into instantly creates a considerably more balanced composition.
4. Understand what makes a shot blurry
When it comes to mastering focus, you also need to know why your shots aren’t sharp. You’ll need to spot the cause, fix the problem, then make the photo again.
If the softness is due to incorrect focusing, you may find that areas in front or behind the subject are sharp. if you can’t see any sharp areas, incorrect focusing will give a uniform blur all around each area of the image.
5. Spend the Money on a Photography Trip
Many of us would love to upgrade our slow lenses for faster and better ones, but wouldn’t that money be better spent on traveling to a new location with great photo potential?
You’ll feel motivated to make great photos when you visit a new city or place and wouldn’t you rather do that with your existing lenses and accessories than sit at home with expensive camera gear?
If you want to try and learn these methods -and many more- then book your place now in the upcoming workshop series – Photography Fundamentals– on the following HERE or check out the LiLiCentre Events calendar!
