Friday Photo Tips

Welcome to more Friday Photo Tips. With the holidays almost upon on us, It's the time of year that most of us will be shooting a lot more than usual in the way of photo's. So if you've got a few spare moments, check out your camera gear and make sure you have everything you need to get those great pic's. Meanwhile here's my next set of tips.

6. Shutter speed

Always check your shutter speed before you take a photo, it’s a common mistake especially when shooting in something like aperture priority, a mistake I often made when starting out. A good speed to start with for action shots would be 1/500 of a second this, will freeze the movement in most shots giving a sharp image. Depending on light conditions you may have to go up to 1/1000 of a second or higher. For longer shutter speeds, such as for light trails, you're going to need to drop the speed to a second or ten seconds at these slow shutter speeds a tripod is necessary to reduce the chance of blurred images.

7. New techniques

Trying new techniques can improve your photography no end.

Whether it’s a zoom burst, panning or off camera flash, you have options to get images that can be different from the norm or allow you to keep shooting when nothing’s going right and inspiration fails.

8. Join a club

Being a member of a club or photographic community whether online or physically has many benefits. Apart from being among likeminded people, there’s a wealth of information that can be gained from more experienced photographers. Clubs will usually run practical sessions, talks and photo walks as well as getting involved in national and international competitions. Online groups and forums will offer so much information, everything from news, reviews, tips and general photography chat that, it would be impractical to list them here. In both however you should be able to get feedback and constructive criticism on images and advice on how to take your photography to the next level.

9. Polarising filter

It’s the one filter you should buy above all others. What the filter will do is reduce reflections and glare from water, glass or metal, give more vibrant colours in skies as well as protecting the front element of your expensive lens. Be aware though, the filter will cut down the amount of light entering the camera, usually by 1-2 stops so you’ll have to adjust the camera settings accordingly. The most popular type of filter shape is the circular (as opposed to the square type) which screw onto the front of a lens and are turned to give the desired effect. Buying a circular filter to fit your biggest lens, say 77mm, and a set of step up rings means you can also use it on smaller lenses instead of buying one filter for each.

10. Try a prime lens

If you have access to a prime lens try using it exclusively for a day’s shooting. The great thing about these lenses are the shallow depth of field you can get from the large aperture, typically F1.8 and, the sharpness of the image. The most popular primes are 35mm and 50mm (although these aren’t the only available) and because of the fixed focal length you’re going to have to think more about what and how to take an image. OK, so you’re going to lose some shots that would normally be no problem with a zoom lens but, by thinking about the photo, composition, aperture etc there will be shots you may have overlooked before.