A simple joy of mine is taking a really nice photograph. Although, not always an easy task. But if you can capture the true essence or beauty of a person, object or scene it is really quite rewarding. It’s especially important when you’re trying to capture something that is rare or are in a place that you are likely not to return to.

There’s a ton of tips, techniques, and guidelines for taking better pictures, but there are three in particular that I have found that provide quick and dramatic improvements to the pictures you take. By focusing on these three tips you should see a huge improvement in the quality of pictures you produce.

Three simple steps to taking better pictures.

1. Light. Light makes the picture, without light we don’t have much to work with. There is varying quality of light and choosing to use the best light available to you makes all the difference to the quality of a photograph. Where possible it is best to take pictures in natural light either by getting outside or if you’re indoors move next to a window. That said, you can further improve the look of you pictures by choosing to shoot early in the morning as the sun is coming up or late in the evening when the sun is setting. The light at these times of days is a lot less harsh and it also allows you play around with long shadows which often add a really dramatic effect.

2. Rule of thirds. This is a pretty basic rule of photography, that if paid attention to can really add interest and balance to a picture. Basically, for this rule you have to imagine that the view finder has a grid pattern dividing your field of view into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, sort of like tic-tac-toe (see photo below). With this grid in mind place the subject of your picture along one of these lines or at a point where these lines intersect. By purposely offsetting your subject your pictures can be a little less awkward and really draw the viewer into the scene. But like all rules there are some exceptions. Deviating from this rule of thirds can sometimes provide pretty spectacular results. So play around with it.

3. Fill the frame. This one is usually overlooked but you really should give it a try. Usually the closer you are to your subject the more impact it’ll have on your picture. Including too much of the uninteresting background will detract from what you’ve found beautiful or what you really want to capture. So if it’s your kids get down to their level and be sure to get as much of them in the frame as possible. Same goes for a flower. Taking a picture of the whole plant will be far less impressive than if you zoomed in and only captured the bloom.

These are three pretty basic tips for taking better pictures and you don’t require any fancy equipment or a really expensive camera. Give it a try with the camera you have at home already. Take a shot following these rules and then take a similar shot breaking every single one of them. Which one is better? Why? Here are some examples of pictures we’ve taken following these simple rules and for the most part they aren’t too bad. I hope you’ll give it a try!

************************************************************************

Keeping It Short And Sweet is a series of posts done every Thursday at Serene Journey. We will address topics that we are interested in learning a bit more about, topics that are generally useful and those that have helped us enjoy life just that little bit more. If you have any suggestions for this series feel free to drop us an email or leave them in the comments.