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.