Know the Basics

Knowing the fundamentals in photography is important because it will be your guide to make a better picture and your first step to make a like-a-pro-picture. I listed some important points to remember or to study, (to avoid some boring readings) and I will try to explain each one later.

Things to remember/study:

1. You do not need to have an expensive camera to have a great picture.

2. You need to have "The Eye" of a photographer.

3. Know the "Rule of thirds".

4. Experiment with the settings of your camera.

5. Have a good photo editor.

6. Crop unimportant parts of the picture.

7. Practice, Practice and Practice.

Here are some pictures that I took using my mobile phone that have 2MP - 8MP. (For those who are curious, I am using Samsung Corby 2MP, Galaxy y 2MP, and MyPhone A919 8MP)

This one was taken on Mall of Asia using Myphone A919.

This shot was taken at Lingahan, Malanday using Myphone A919.

This photo was taken using Samsung Galaxy y.

This shot was taken using Samsung Corby at Manila Bay.

This photo was taken near my grandma's grave at Vientereales, Valenzuela City.

1. What I really like in photography is that, all you need is skill. You do not need to have an expensive camera to make great pictures (Don't get me wrong, having a high-tech expensive camera is good but my blog is mainly for beginners. So, I think a decent digital camera or phone that have 8MP is enough.)

2. "The Eye" - This one I think is an innate thing but you can acquire it also by practicing. It is seeing a moment and imagining what your shot would look like; the angle of the shot, what to focus on and how the final piece will look like after you edited it. It is like you are fore seeing the future. (If you still don’t get it, watch the movie “Sherlock Holmes” it’s just like that.)

3. The “Rule of Thirds” is a guide in photography which could and usually enhance your shot giving the picture a more natural (or artistic) look. You do not need to obey this rule 100% all the time, there were times that you need to break this rule to obtain a better shot. In my experience, most of my great shots (around 70%-80%) are based on this rule.

The rule of third works like this. Imagine that you have lines like this in your camera, (Most of digital camera today have this by the way.) the subject in the picture will give more impact if you are going to put it in the four points or along the lines not in the center. For now, just remember this; put your subject in the points or in the lines and experiment which looks better. Let's take get a sample shot from above and try to see what I am saying.

As you can see, these two pictures above have the idea of the "Rule of Thirds". However, they are not the perfect example for that rule because they do not stick to it 100%. Anyway, just like what I said a while ago, they are just guides. Do not limit yourself by obeying this rule.

For a more detailed explanation you can visit this site: http://digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds

4. Your camera settings are there for a reason, so stop depending on automatic settings, experiment with it.

Try messing with scene settings like try how it will look like if you use the cloudy setting, then try landscape and see what suits you best. Also know what is macro and how to use it, I really love making shots using macro because they have this effect of blurring the background or the sides of the picture.

After experimenting and you want to learn more on how camera works and its basics, I guess you can start with knowing these terms; aperture, ISO, and shutter speed. Knowing how to manipulate these things will gonna put you to the next level in photography.


5. Have a good photo editor. I am a fan of pixlr! It is very easy to use and it is very user friendly. Here is a link to the site: http://pixlr.com/. This is a very good editor if you will edit the picture as a whole; enhancing tones, blurring parts of the picture, making lomo pictures, putting stickers, etc. It is fast and effective. Some people may disagree with me but this is what I prefer. However, please note that you cannot use pixlr on your computer if there are no internet connectivity.

Here are other good photo editors that might like:
- Adobe Photoshop - can be use offline but you need to buy it
- Adobe Lightroom - can be use offline but you need to buy it

- Picmonkey - need internet to use

6. Cropping unnecessary parts of the picture to give focus more on your subject is very important. It is like taking off the clutters in the picture. Here is a link that further explains cropping.


7. Well this should sound logical. Practice all the above tips, learn new skills in photography, practice it, learn another skill, practice it and practice more. It is a never ending process. Will it take a lot of your time? Yes it does! But what matter most is that you enjoy doing these stuffs. Capturing the moment and showing to the world how beautiful it is. It is priceless and the fulfillment is so great especially when other people becomes happy when you show them how you capture one of their greatest moments.

Well that's it! I hope I helped you guys with my article. This is just my first blog so I guess that there are lot of things I need to improve. If I helped you or have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to comment below. Anyway, I'll leave you guys with some of my shots that I like.