How to Take Great Photos (Part 2)

Nearly everyone enjoys taking pictures and viewing snaps of friends, family, and travel. However, most folks end up producing blah snapshots (at best). Face it, if there wasn't a recognizable person or place in your photo, nobody would have the slightest interest in it. Let's see if we can't kick that up a notch.

Picking up where we left off last month, here are the rest of my tips to help you take better pictures and get the most out of that nice new digital camera of yours.

13. Master the rule of thirds
Imagine a 3x3 grid (two vertical lines and two horizontal lines) superimposed on your image. The intersections of those lines at the third points are prime locations for your main subject. Also, if you're taking landscape or beach photos, the horizon line should be on the upper or lower horizontal, depending on whether you want to emphasize foreground or sky.

14. Keep things off center
Placing your main subject dead square in the middle of your photo is a perfect way to end up with a boring, static image. Use the rule of thirds if appropriate, or think of an alternative framing that'll bring some energy to your composition.

15. Frame it
The world is full of natural frames: doorways, arches, trees and limbs, etc. Try to find positions where foreground objects will frame and enhance your photos. This works especially well for landscape and scenic photos, where it adds a great sense of depth.

16. Watch your background
Most photo-snappers are only interested in capturing an image of their main subject. Unfortunately, an otherwise great photo can be ruined by a distracting background. You need to look past your subject and observe the environment. Don't let a tree grow out of someone's head! Reposition yourself to avoid including an unwanted fixed object or take the time to move movable stuff (clutter) out of the way.

17. Use focus as a tool
To the extent that your camera allows control of focus, use it to enhance your photos. Try throwing the background out of focus (your camera's "portrait" mode may help). Pro portraits almost always have the subject razor sharp against a blurred background.

18. Paint with light
Lighting will make or break your photo. Pay attention to your sources, whether manmade or natural. As a training exercise, rather than just looking for interesting subjects to snap, go out and shoot photographs specifically of light and shadow.

19. Bounce it
A piece of cheap white foam board makes an excellent reflector. Try taking a portrait, seating your subject by a window and positioning the reflector on the other side, bouncing some light back to partially fill in the shadows. You'll love the result.

20. Grab some candids

Posed pictures have their place, but the more memorable shots are often taken when your subjects aren't nervously trying to look their best. The key to good candids is time. Just start snapping pictures while people go about their business (turn off the fake shutter sound if your digicam has that). After a few minutes, people won't pay much attention to you anymore and you'll start to get the natural unposed look you're after.

21. Shoot during the "golden hour"
My favorite time to take photos is during the first hour of daylight or the last hour before sunset. The low sun angle and warm color during those times is perfect for portraits and the long shadows add drama to landscapes.

22. Upgrade!
I know this goes against the 10/90 rule I mentioned last month, but better equipment will enable you to take dramatically better pictures if you know how to use it properly. I have a little "take everywhere" Canon SD750 point-and-shoot and a big 40D SLR with a whole bag of lenses. The little guy is great but when I'm on a photo mission, I take out the big guns. The better camera will enable you to take pictures in lower light without flash, throw the background further into blur (the Japanese call that effect "bokeh" by the way), have more control over exposure, focus, and shutter speed, react more rapidly when you press the shutter release button, and more.

Wrap up...
One of the things I love about photography is that it's an interesting blend of science and art. It has rules… but they're meant to be broken (if you know you're breaking them, and why). Therefore, don't carve any of my twenty two quick tips in stone. Use 'em as a starting point and then experiment. There's always something new to learn, technically and artistically. Get out there and snap away. Have fun.

Writen By Victor Urbach

How to Take Great Photos (Part 1)

You got that nice new digital camera, the one with all the megapixels and everything. So how come your photos still look like you snapped 'em with an Instamatic? (I can help fix that.) Digital cameras, along with iPods and GPS units, are among the hottest-selling devices on the market today. Millions of people are buying digicams for the first time or upgrading earlier models to the latest and greatest. Few of us miss our film cameras. I never hear anybody say, "Gee, I really liked going out to buy film and then paying Fotomat to develop my prints." Besides being much cheaper to use and way more convenient, digicams can take incredible pictures... if you know a few pro secrets.

I'll share some of those tips with you in this short article. But first, what qualifies ME to give you advice on the topic? I've been an avid photographer for the past 40 years, ever since I inherited my great grandfather's prewar Zeiss Contax camera at age 11. I've owned many cameras since then, including a classic Rolleiflex twin lens reflex and the very first consumer digital camera, the one-third-of-a-megapixel Apple QuickTake 100 "(July 1994 for $695!). I now mainly shoot with a Canon 40D SLR, but of course have my eye on a bunch of new stuff hitting the market.

On to the tips...

1. RTFM
I'll willing to bet that you've never read your camera's manual (skimming it for 10 minutes the day you opened the box doesn't count). Using your camera in "full auto mode" will virtually guarantee mediocre pictures. There are good reasons why all those little buttons are on your camera. Learn what they do! Those buttons and menu choices will unlock all the creative controls you've paid for.

2. Take lots of photos
It's really true: quality comes out of quantity. One of the greatest things about digicams is that once you buy one, they're essentially free to use. So take tons of pictures. Snap away. Fill up that memory card.

Get away from the scarcity mentality of film, when each press of the shutter cost you half a buck in film and developing cost.

Be totally ruthless when reviewing your pictures. Chuck the ones that are less than great.

3. It's (almost) all you... not your stuff...
I'll try to break this to you gently: the reason for a great photo is 10% camera and 90% photographer skill. I've seen fabulous prints made from a pinhole camera in the hands of a pro, and (of course) absolutely wretched photos from a $5000 SLR held by a wealthy dilettante. Therefore, the best way to upgrade your photos is by upgrading your skill level, not your equipment. To start, there are some great books to read. I particularly recommend the ones by David D. Busch.
4. To flash or not to flash
One of the camera's most important setting controls the built-in flash. You must learn how to turn on the flash when your camera doesn't think you need it and turn it off even if the camera thinks it should fire. That leads to the next two tips.

5. Use flash for outdoor portraits
Your camera doesn't think you need to use flash outdoors during the day. However, when shooting portraits, they'll usually be improved if you use "fill flash" to supplement the sun's rays. This is particularly true when the sun's overhead, forming deep eye socket shadows that need filling-in, or when your subject is backlit and needs overall illumination to avoid becoming a dark silhouette.

On overcast days, flash will brighten colors and put a nice "catch light" in your subject's eyes.

6. No flash indoors
There's no quicker way to give your photos the snapshot look than by using flash when you don't absolutely need it. Flash-lit pictures are contrasty, have harsh shadows, and rarely make people look their best.

You know all about red-eye, but flash causes other portrait evils. It often makes skin appear greasy or pasty. Full-frontal flash flattens facial features (say that 3 times fast) and leads to character-less, boring pictures. Instead of flash, try boosting your camera's ISO (the manual will tell you how), and take maximum advantage of natural or ambient light.

7. Use a tripod
After demonic red-eye caused by flash, the second big photo killer is blur. You can fix red-eye in software but there's little to be done with a photo that has subject motion or overall blur. If your subject is blurry but everything else is sharp, your shutter speed is too low for the situation. Boost the ISO and/or open up the lens aperture; a tripod won't help. If your whole picture is less than sharp, you can try the above, but your best bet is to use a tripod or monopod. There are many good choices, from tabletop versions to big pro models, and quite a few specialty devices like the Gorillapod, beanbag, and clamp types. Any of them will yield far superior results to hand-holding your camera - and you'll finally be able to get in the picture t oo!

8. Don't use a tripod
Even though a tripod will enable you to take sharper, often better composed photos, it's not always practical to take one along or set it up. Therefore, you must learn to hold and shoot your camera properly. What you don't want to do is just whip the camera up to your face and slam down on the shutter release button. Take your time. Place your feet apart in a wide, stable stance. If your camera has an optical viewfinder, use it instead of the LCD. Pressing the camera against your face stabilizes it much better than holding it out in front of you. Pull your elbows in against your sides for even more stability. Press the shutter release down only half way while you compose your picture. Take a breath and let it out slowly. When you're halfway through the exhale, press the shutter all the way. For your patience and effort, you'll be rewarded by much sharper, better framed photos.

9. Hold it level
Be sure to keep the horizon level in your photos. This is especially important at the beach or lake. If the camera is tilted to one side, all the water will pour out the edge of your photo. Seriously, it's going to look bad.

Another no-no is tilting your camera up to photograph a tall building. The distorted perspective will make the building appear to "fall back" out of the photo. Much better to instead move farther back and (of course) use the wide-angle setting if you can.

10. Get in close
Many photos can be improved by zooming in closer. A tightly-framed portrait will often look better than one with a lot of distracting details in the background. And most new digicams have "macro" capability that'll enable you to explore a whole new interesting world.

11. Stand back
When shooting portraits, keep your distance and use the middle range of your zoom. If you stand too close and use the wider angle setting, it'll exaggerate your subject's nose while making the ears appear too small. Better to stand back about 8 to 12 feet and zoom to frame the head and shoulders. A medium telephoto zoom (~80 to 130 mm) will flatter your subject.

12 One subject at a time please
Unless you're intentionally shooting a group of people (of equal importance), your photo should emphasize only one subject. If you've got three interesting things, shoot three photos. Otherwise your viewer won't know where to focus his or her attention.

This example portrait of an executive is very effective. There's no doubt who's in charge here. Your attention is drawn immediately to her eyes, then her smile and confident expression, then to her assistants/colleagues. The background is simple, portraying an office setting without clutter.

The same "one thing at a time" advice goes for non-people images. Pick one "hero" element and feature it prominently.

More tips next month
I'll have lots more tips and photo examples for you in Part II of this article in the November Urbach Letter.

Our recent press release –

Long Island, New York - Curran Corporate Design is pleased to announce that they have entered their 16th year of creative graphic design services for Quantum Medical Imaging - the Long Island based leader in Digital Diagnostic X-Ray equipment.

“We have had a long history with Scott and his team” said Tom Curran, President of Curran Corporate Design, “It has been a fantastic journey together seeing him take his company to this level of growth. I am excited to see where Quantum will go in the future and am looking forward to being an active part of his marketing team.”

Working closely with Quantum has allowed Curran, a unique understanding of the diagnostic x-ray field that few design firms possess. Curran Corporate speaks the language of the industry thus allowing for a better finished product. Look for great things from Quantum and look for Curran to be there supporting them every step of the way.

Curran Corporate Design is pleased to announce that Metro One Loss Prevention Chooses Curran Corporate Design to Spearhead their new brand development project. This is a huge opportunity for us and we are all thrilled to be chosen and retained to manage the brand development for all 11 divisions of the company.

We first have been retained for our "Virtual Marketing Director"Program. We are now their in-house marketing coordinator who will provide accountability and scope of service management.
We have begun the development of the new corporate brochure, logo updating and web site redesign as well as a full strategic marketing plan and message development.

Metro One is a unique company with their own special value proposition. Our work will help convey this in a unique way as individual as Metro One!

Globecomm Systems has chosen to use Curran Corporate Design for their 2008 Annual Report. This is the 5th year Curran Corporate has handled the project for the satellite giant. Curran Corporate continues to grow with Globecomm systems and has built a long-term relationship built on Curran's high quality design.

A footnote: Globecomm's President, Ken Miller passed away this year. All of us at Curran Corporate Design have felt privileged to have known him and to serve him - he will be missed.