Photography 101: Top 6 Tips for Beginners

Are you a complete beginner, a student starting out or need a refresher on your photography skills? Ian Howorth shares his basic tips and techniques to start creating photography. Over to you, Ian.

Everyone’s a photographer now. The smartphone in your pocket comes with an excellent integrated camera, while apps and online editing tools make it simple to turn even the most mundane snap into something truly impressive. But, for truly outstanding images, it’s still impossible to beat a standalone camera. The trick, of course, is getting the best from it.

1. Learn how to use your camera

If you want to take better photos—no matter what kit you’re using—you need to start at the beginning. Most people want quick fixes and simple tricks when it comes to improving their photos. However, if you really want to up the quality of your images, you need to sit down and learn about your basics.

Learn how shutter speed, aperture and ISO impact the exposure of your shots, and learn how they relate to each other. This is called the exposure triangle.

You should also learn about your basic camera settings. Once you understand these integral photographic tools, you can begin experimenting to see how they affect your artistic efforts.

2. Experiment with depth of field

Playing around with depth of field is a great way to get people excited about your photos. It’s one of the main things that will separate your images from photos you’d see on an iPhone.

When it comes to depth of field, use a large aperture — a smaller f-number, like f/1.8 or f/1.4 — to blur the background when taking portraits.

Use a smaller aperture — with a larger f-number, like f/5.6, f/8 and up — when shooting architecture and landscapes to get more of the foreground and background in focus.

3. Control your lighting

Lighting can have a huge impact on the look and feel of your photos. Often, something as simple as moving your subject to face a window can transform the image and turn your photo from a throwaway snap into something special.

When you look at a scene, your eyes can expose for shadows and highlights at the same time. A camera will never quite be able to imitate your eyes. This means your photo of a beautiful sunset or summer landscape won’t look the same in-camera as it does in person.

To get the best results when using natural light, use the light meter in your camera to measure the shadows and the highlights in your scene. You can then choose your average shutter speed and aperture readings for your photo.

4. Bounce your flash

If you’re taking photos in a low-light situation, you’ll probably need to use a flash to capture the scene. If you’re using a built-in flash, it will simply light the scene. If you want to make it look a little more artistic and have more control over the lighting, invest in a separate flash. This will allow you ‘bounce’ the flash off of walls and ceilings to create a softer light.

5. Spend time on your composition

Composition is arguably the most important element of photography. Improving your composition will level up the quality of your photos and help you get more interesting shots. I would go as wide as possible. Including more context in the frame will help to make your shot more interesting and tell viewers more about the scene.

Another important rule is to keep any lines in the image straight, as straight as you can. The edges of doors, windows and buildings should be parallel with the frame wherever possible. Don’t be afraid to kneel, step back or stand on something to help straighten the lines in your image. Essentially, you want to make it as Wes Anderson as possible.

6. Consider upgrading your camera

The camera gear you use will have a big impact on the look, feel and quality of your photos. A great option if you’re upgrading from a smartphone is a mirrorless camera. Mirrorless cameras are a lot smaller and lighter than DSLRs, making them perfect for nights out, holidays and festivals. Like DSLRs, mirrorless cameras can be used with a variety of lenses—including vintage and secondhand lenses. This is especially good for photographers on a budget.

Read more tips and techniques on the MPB content hub.