Simple Ways to Shoot Beautiful Photos

I got a  Sony Alpha a33 DSLR for my birthday last year, but lacked any training on how to use it to make beautiful photos.  I just tried different settings until I liked a photo and thought I was doing a pretty good job… until I attended some photography sessions at Blissdom recently.

This is a photo I took before I took the classes:

After adjusting my ISO, frame and my distance  this is what I took:

I still have a lot of practice to do to be a better photographer, but I’m really happy with the few things I learned.

These were the tips I got:

  • Turn off the flash and use natural light…always.
  • Fill the frame
  • The lower the aperture # the more blurry the background will be
  • Zoom out- more blur; zoom in- less blur
  • If there is a lot of light, use ISO 100
  • For action shots or inside shots use ISO 800- 1200
  • If you don’t have people in the photo, let light be your emotion.  Sunrise or sunsets bring out emotion
  • If you can’t figure out where the best light is coming from in a room, turn off the lights and see where the light is shining in
  • You have to be willing to miss shots to get great shots
  • For people shots- take them on concrete, not grass.  The color from the grass will dominate the color in the photo.

Courtney Lawless

Courtney is the traveling mom! She has 3 girls and is the founder of Detroit Mommies and currently lives in Florida. You can follow her on Twitter @courtneyRVL.

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