5 Simple ways to take better photos

Some of you may have gotten a new camera for Christmas, others have had your camera and wanted to know how to take better pictures for a while now, but just haven’t put in the time. Now’s your chance. This is your year to learn how to take better photos!

1. Learn

your camera. When you opened your camera, you probably popped in the battery and card and right away started snapping pictures. Digital cameras are pretty simple to use, but most cameras come with so many wonderful options. What a waste of your camera’s capabilities if you don’t take the time to find out everything it can do!

This may mean reading your manual. If you find it hard to understand your manual, I’ve found there are quite a few instructional youtube videos out there that will teach you about your camera. Another option is a book written specifically for your camera. I bought my Canon 40D from ebay and it didn’t come with a manual, but I picked up the book Canon EOS 40D Guide to Digital Photography which is even better than a manual, on Amazon.com and found out everything my camera could do.

2. Read

There are some great books and blogs out there that can teach you even more about photography than your manual can. Your manual will tell you what button to push, these books will tell you how to combine those buttons and maybe a few other things to create stunning photography. Here are a few I’ve found helpful:

Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography Boxed Set, Volumes 1, 2, and 3

Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera, by Bryan Peterson

Blogs: Digital Photography School and  My 3 Boybarians 31 Days to a Better Photo series. I also did a series on Using Your Camera.

3. Practice

After understanding what your camera can do, practicing is the number one best thing you can do to learn how to take better pictures. Don’t be afraid to get out of the green box (Auto) and learn to change the things that will make a big difference in the quality of your photos: ISO, white balance and aperture.

Take walks outside, invite your friends and family over, follow your pets around and shoot them (you know what I mean). The world is filled with so many beautiful things put there for the sole purpose of making you a better photographer. Take advantage of it.

4. Commit

Now is the time to join a 365 project or even a project 52 if 365 seems too hard. Either take a photo a day (365) or a photo a week (52) and post it to a flickr site or your own blog. It’s a great way to share your photos and motivate yourself to pick up  your camera regularly.

Just be sure to save a high resolution file of the image you choose to post in a folder named 365 or 52 on your computer just in case you decide to print a book at the end of your year. I decided I wanted to do that with last year’s project and I failed to save each image in a separate folder so now I’m going through every folder in my hard drive to find the pictures I posted. Learn from my mistake.

5. Print

I’m a big believer in the printed picture. Looking at your pictures and sharing them on the computer is great, but having images you can hold in your hand or hang on your wall is priceless.

I make it easy on myself, I simply print about 50 images every 3 months or so and put them in albums. My kids love to pull those albums off the shelf and look through them. When you’ve collected a few favorites, have them enlarged and hang them on the walls. I did that last year and it is my favorite wall now.

I know you can do it! This is the year you are going to learn how to use that great new camera and I, for one, can’t wait to see what you do.

The Happy Housewife is sponsoring the 5 Simple Ways posts and here are some others who are participating:

Laura from Heavenly Homemakers: 5 Simple Ways to Live a Natural Lifestyle
Carrie from Springs Bargains: Simple Ways to Make Money From Your Blog
Myra from The Casabella Project: 5 Simple Ways to Decorate on a Dime
Jenny from Southern Savers: 5 Simple Ways to Start Using Coupons
Lynn from Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures: 5 Simple Ways to Save Time in the Kitchen
Connie from Smockity Frocks: 5 Simple Ways to Have a Successful Homeschool Day
Toni from The Happy Housewife: 5 Simple Ways to Save Money in 2011
Jen from Beauty and Bedlam:5 Simple Ways to Dress Fabulously for Less
Laura from I’m an Organizing Junkie 5 Simple Ways to Organize Your Home
Jen from Balancing Beauty and Bedlam: 5 Simple Ways to Dress Fabulously for Less