Best photography tips for beginners

1. Don’t stress about the quality of your digital camera

It’s easy to find yourself going round in circles when it comes to photographic equipment, and all too easy to believe that the camera gear you own is holding you back. But really, it isn’t: any camera is capable of producing a stunning picture.

Yes, there are some digital cameras that will give you a wider dynamic range and others that may have a more responsive AF system.

But ultimately, the success of a photo comes down to its composition – what you choose to include (and leave out) of the picture, and how you arrange it in the frame.

2. Choose the right shooting mode for the job

Your digital camera’s scene modes are fine for snapshots, but if you want to take more creative photos then step up to the more advanced semi-automatic shooting modes.

Aperture Priority (A or Av on the mode dial) is the one to choose if you want to control the depth of field – how sharp your photos are from front to back. As a result, it’s a smart choice for portraits, landscapes, macro photos – pretty much everything!

Aperture Priority is a semi-automatic mode: you set the aperture, and the camera then sets a corresponding shutter speed for a ‘correct’ exposure, based on the camera’s reading of the scene.

Shutter Priority (S or Tv) works the same way, although you control the shutter speed instead, with the camera setting an appropriate aperture. This makes it a good shooting mode to plump for when you’re shooting sports and action.

Program mode (P) is like an advanced fully automatic mode, where the camera sets both the aperture and shutter speed.

However, you can rotate the camera dial to ‘shift’ the aperture and shutter speed combination in order to get a different effect while still maintaining the same overall exposure.

This makes Program mode a good choice for on-the-fly shooting where you just want to be sure you’re going to get the shot.

3. Don’t feel you have to use the camera manually

We’re first to champion the benefits of taking as much control back from the camera as possible for consistent results. But here’s the thing: many of the automatic camera settings give perfectly good results.

Take white balance, for instance. The Auto White Balance (AWB) setting does a decent job in many situations. It may go a bit squiffy in mixed lighting, and it can leave sunsets looking a bit insipid, but overall it’s pretty good at neutralising unwanted colour casts.

The camera’s autofocus system is generally a much faster option than manual focus – although you’ll get more accurate results if you tell the camera where you want it to focus by manually selecting one of the AF points in the viewfinder.

Auto ISO can be another life-saver. Here, the camera will raise and lower the ISO sensitivity as you move from dark to bright conditions, improving your chances of taking a sharp photo.

4. Wait for the right light

This is what photography is all about, really: thinking about the light in terms of its quality, quantity and direction, and how it suits the subject.

To reveal detail and reduce the contrast of a scene, shoot when the light is soft and diffused. Outdoor portraits and macro photos look great when shot under bright but overcast skies. Less so at midday on a bright, clear day – the light is just too harsh.

Landscape photographers set their alarms for the early hours for a reason. The rich, raking light at sunrise (and sunset) adds warmth and texture to rural and coastal shots.

Experiment with backlighting and taking photos when a subject is lit from the side for more dramatic results. Shoot with the sun behind you by all means, but make sure your shadow doesn’t creep into the photo.

In short, keep an eye on the light and find a camera position that best takes advantage of it.