Photo Tip of the Week: How to Make Four Quick Improvements

There are lots of ways you can improve your photography. Here Robert Keeley lists just four of the quickest ways you can make a dramatic improvement to the images you create.

Photography requires an almost endless list of creative and technical decisions to produce a good result. Most people don’t think about any of these when they lift a camera up to take a shot, but they should. Some are relatively straightforward and simple to execute, and here we will go through just four. Next time you want to make a more interesting picture just take a moment to remember what you’ve read here. If you apply these ideas in the right situations, they will make a noticeable difference to the type of images you’re shooting. Some might take a bit of time or practice to perfect, but they are all worthwhile techniques and ideas to use in your pursuit of better pictures.

01 MOVE YOUR CAMERA

Here’s one of the quickest and easiest ways to make your picture more interesting. It doesn’t cost anything, and it doesn’t even require a whole lot of effort. But it does require a bit of thinking on the spot (or sometimes even beforehand). Zoom lenses have in one sense been an enemy of creative composition, because in the process of making things easier, they have made photography enthusiasts lazier! Using a zoom lens often means you don’t have to move your body to create a tighter (or looser) composition. This is fine, and professionals and more experienced shooters understand that the options a zoom provides can be highly effective for certain shooting situations. But they also understand that zooms shouldn’t preclude the legwork involved in completely altering a shooting scenario. Say, for example, you want to shoot a landscape. You set up a wide angle to include some foreground interest, but later you think about zooming in to capture a setting sun. That’s fine, but what if you simply dropped to your knees (or even lower) to include a small plant in the foreground? Or how about if you moved 10 metres to your left so you could frame the scene with the branch of a tree? In the old days photographers had to work without the benefit of a zoom, so they learned to take their camera all over the place when they wanted to compose a scene. They used their feet as well as their brains. Some ideas worked, some didn’t. The important thing was they tried their ideas out. You should too.


Early one morning I positioned myself on the foreshore to shoot these fishing boats in the foreground of the sunrise. But I then thought there were some more options available here.


I simply then moved around 20 metres to my right to set up a different composition, with a different impact. Taking a few steps to the left or right, or backwards or forwards, can make a significant difference to the type of image you create.

02 LENS CHOICE

An adjunct to the first tip is the concept of changing lenses. Using a zoom is related to this, but sometimes the optical effects which change as you zoom in will not allow you to capture the scene as you might have envisaged. Then it’s worth thinking about using a totally different lens. For instance, wide angles will present an entirely different perspective to a telephoto, but it’s worth remembering that a lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.8 can also create a different effect on a picture to a lens with a maximum aperture of f/3.5, as long as you want to use those options. Zooming to different focal lengths can be a good idea, but so can changing your lens entirely.


I was shooting a festival event at which some indigenous dancers were preparing. Noticing this young girl, I set up a wide-angle lens and quickly moved in to capture her happy-go-lucky nature just before the performance began. Be prepared to change lenses when you see a different opportunity.

03 THINK DIFFERENTLY

What are the most memorable images you’ve seen? Odds on they’ll be images which knock you out with their approach. But why is that? Most likely it will be because the photographer has shot their subject with great technical skill, but also because he or she has thought about their subject in a completely original way. This sounds simple, but in a world which has literally hundreds of thousands more images in it every single day, it’s not. Originality of thinking is one of the most challenging aspects to do with making pictures (or any other human endeavour). Lots of themes are recycled every day. Consider how many landscape pictures are made which use very similar thinking. So how do you come up with a different approach? Counter-intuitively, you might actually better achieve this objective by putting your camera down! Freed of the requirements of observing the technicalities, your mind could well have more time simply to create. It’s arguably one of the most undervalued elements of life in the busy and distracting fast lane most of us face each day, week, and year. So, just occasionally, put your camera down, find some space to yourself, and let your mind wander. Drop the iPad, unplug the iPod. Go for a walk, or even just relax in a favourite chair. It might be hard to organise, but this process can be one of the most rewarding you could undertake as a photographer. See where it leads you.


There are literally dozens of opportunities for great photos on a balloon ride. But I looked up and thought I could capture a different sort of image by shooting directly in that direction. These chances aren't always obvious. It can pay to put your camera down for a while and contemplate how you might approach different subjects or themes.

04 GET OUT IN POOR WEATHER

If you happen to be sitting in your favourite chair in bad weather, it will be tempting to stay there. But, depending on the circumstance, this might actually be time to change your plan and get outside with your camera! Experienced landscape shooters know that bad weather can often – though not always - create good atmospherics. Most enthusiasts like to take their camera outside to shoot landscapes when the weather is conducive to doing so. They know that morning light, and late afternoons, often produce good conditions to shoot in. Bad weather – rainy days, lightning, wild and windy storm fronts, and foggy, gloomy conditions don’t encourage you to rug up and get outside. Often you will waste your time if you do go out, and possibly get wet, cold, and miserable in the process. But a small percentage of the time you’ll be in exactly the right spot at the right time – just when a stream of sunlight breaks through, or the orb of the sun shine weakly through some fog, or a clearing squall creates a dramatic scene. So steel yourself to get outside with your camera when the weather looks bad. As long as you’re properly prepared (with a beanie, a rain jacket for yourself, and some protection for your kit), the photographic rewards can be stunning.


Poor weather can be a good excuse to stay inside, especially during the cold, short days of winter! But resist the temptation. Grab your kit and head out exploring. Early one chilly spring morning I headed along the shore of a country dam, and as a gloomy fog began to lift I spotted this stranded gum tree. I got a series of effective shots simply because I was there at the right time!