Five Photograph tips

I got a call from the local community foundation today. They saw one of my pictures that I posted earlier in the month and asked permission to use the picture for an upcoming Smithsonian Exhibit. I don't know the details, but I said, of course, they could use the photograph. It's the one I posted on December 6th.

I've been taking pictures for most of my adult life. When I worked for The Community News when I got out of the Army in 1973, one of my main duties was developing film and printing pictures. Dale Short, my mentor was a photographic prodigy. He taught me how to look at the light and how to use the camera's settings to get a good exposure. 

It took a lot of trial and error but I finally got better at making "technically" good photographs. It would have taken a professional photographer to have found fault with my f-stop and aperture settings.  But there's a difference in a "technically" good photograph and a good photograph. No "setting" will help you take a good photograph. It took me a long time to understand that taking decent pictures is more about seeing that any setting on a camera. I've said this before, but I can thank my lovely spouse for helping me to understand this.

So in the spirit of sharing, here's my top 5 list for making better photographs.

5. It better when the sun is behind the photographer's shoulders than it is for it to be behind the subject's shoulders...unless you're shooting a silhouette.

4. Less is more. It's not important to take in the WHOLE scene. Just put what's important in your picture.

3. If you're shooting a landscape, put something in the edge of the frame to give the picture depth.

2. If you're taking pictures of people, take several shots. People blink. A perfect picture will be useless if the subject has their eyes closed.

1. Focus more on your subject than on technical perfection. An imperfect picture can be an award winner if the subject shines.

Old red barn pain provides contrast to moss on a cornerstone.