# One Photographer's Guide to Taking Better Pictures



## RustyBrown (May 29, 2004)

*One Photographer's Guide to Taking Better Pictures*​By Russell Brown​ 



*Part I - Introduction*



A. Background



I began taking images when I was five years old with a twin lens box camera - the kind you hold at your waist and look down into. By 14, I had my first 35mm camera and was on yearbook staff in Humble, TX. I also won a few local contests. I graduated from the University of Texas in 1984 specializing in television production. After graduation I was the Senior Photographer for the Joske's retails store in the Galleria for two long years. During the Christmas season I was shooting, setting lights and posing 127 customers a day - all 7 to 9 poses each. The only person with a worse job in the Galleria was Santa. Though the joy of my hobby was tarnished, I never quit shooting. Eleven months ago I entered the digital realm. I continue to learn more about it each day. Since I do not take pictures to make money I do not consider myself a professional. Though I have sold my images on occasion, I consider myself an amateur with professional expectations.



B. Goals of this Guide



*The primary goal of this guide is to provide a resource for people to help them take better pictures through understanding*. It is also to provide a reference that members of the website can refer to in order for them to take better images. Because the experience level of the members is so diverse, this guide will begin with the basics and get more involved as it progresses.



C. How different is Digital from Film?



It's not very different at all, but where there are differences they almost always favor the digital side. Some of the advantages of digital are 1) immediate results 2) less processing costs 3) more organized storage of images 4) much better editing control over the final project.



D. Megapixels



When digital cameras first rolled out all you heard about was how many megapixels they had. Here's what I think you need to know. General photographic quality is considered to be 300dpi (dots per inch). At that resolution my wife's 3.2 megapixel camera will produce an image 6.4 X 8.5" in size. A supersized drugstore print is usually 4 X 6" and that's what 99% of "share with friends" photographic prints usually are. 



If you just want to post images on the internet you only need 72dpi. Due to page and monitor sizes the generally accepted width for an image is 600-800 pixels wide. This same 3.2 megapixel camera produces an image 2,576 pixels wide.

More megapixels enable you crop out parts of your image without a loss in quality and to make bigger prints. Point is, if everyone is adjusting the size of there image to fit on a web page then a 3 MP, 6MP, 8MP, and a 12MP camera will all have the same number of dots in the image. Lens quality on less expense cameras however, may reduce the overall image quality and should be taken into any purchasing consideration. My point here is that quality images for internet use or for prints up to 5 X 7 can still be achieved with smaller megapixel values, so don't be discouraged if your camera isn't what the pros use. The grass is always greener - for everybody. 







*Part II - Choosing a Subject II*



A. Why we take pictures



There's nothing like starting a guide off with the most nebulous of concepts, but here it goes, and please understand these are "One Photographer's" views on the topic. To approach this logically, the question that has to be answered when choosing a subject is "why am I taking this picture?" What is the purpose of going out specifically to shoot pictures?



_I shoot pictures to share a certain subject, under a particular set of conditions, at a given moment in time with others who may or may not have been there to share it with me._



Although this is my interpretation of why I do it, I'd be willing to bet that if you really thought about it, your purpose would be somewhat similar. There are also many secondary reasons to shoot photos, which may include: getting outdoors, to see if I could shoot something similar to what I've seen elsewhere, to challenge my ability to capture something, and the list goes on. Photography for me is a selfless act of freezing a moment in time to share with others.



B. Make the Audience Happy



But this definition just isn't enough. By this definition the subject wouldn't matter at all. It does bring up the importance of an audience and the need for acceptance of your images. It's my belief that people want to see a subject that is either beautiful (a flower), interesting (a detailed landscape with a sunset), or documentation to a special moment in time (a lion milliseconds from taking down a gazelle). The more you can combine beauty and interest with a special moment the stronger your image will be perceived. 



_Above all else for me a shot should be *interesting*_. You should give the audience something to look at - not a Campbell's soup can from a distance on a white background. A beautiful sunset over the water is nice, but without anything else to engage the viewer it just another picture with pretty colors. These shots have beauty without a doubt and document a special time, but throw a pelican on a pier in front of it and you get something really special.



I digress toward composition which we'll discuss later. So how can you guarantee that others will find my work interesting since that seems to be what it's all about? Truth is you can't. Each image is unique and so is each person's interpretation of a photograph. I have some outstanding automobile racing images that will never appeal to my wife for example. _If it interests you odds are it will interest most people_, but it will never interest everyone - no matter how well it is executed.




C. Inspiration and where to find it


So as I type this we're two-thirds of the way through February for a week now skies have been overcast and temps have been in the lower forties. Most of the plant life around is dead. How do I find interesting and unusual things to shoot when everything around me is grey and bland? Here are some ideas&#8230;




Just get outside - cabin fever is not helping your creative workflow.
Go somewhere that you've never been or haven't been to in a long time. 
We tend to take things we see everyday for granted - be an intense examiner of your surroundings
Visit the zoo - plenty of weird stuff there.
Consider historic buildings and architecture
Go to a park and shoot children (didn't mean that the way it sounds).
Experiment - try techniques from unique perspectives.
Look for special events like air shows and festivals.
Visit a museum. 
Take a weekend trip.
Go to internet photography sites and see what other people are shooting as a source of inspiration.
Pets and family members make willing victims.
Subscribe to photo and travel periodicals.

In a way, I mentally never stop taking pictures. If I think something "looks neat", I'll make a mental note and probably come back and try something with it later. One final note - be sure to keep your camera handy and ready to shoot. Sometimes the subject finds you.


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