Don’t Be The Only Thing That’s Focused, Make That Camera Work For You

So you got a new camera and you’re about to go on a trip. The last thing you want to do when you travel is to take a bunch of fuzzy pictures with your fingers on the lens. That is a terrible way to remember your trip unless you were drunk the entire time, then it’s actually a pretty accurate memory. If your plan is to be somewhat sober and remember all the amazing travels that you have embarked on, then you will want your photos to reflect those memories.

Capturing a photo is about seeing what you see and when you get a new camera you usually just expect it to work well and it should be so user-friendly that all you have to do is point and click, right? Well, that’s not always the case. Here are the most common sense ideas you can use to help make sure you’re getting the most out of that new camera you bought especially for your next trip.

Read The Manual

Just do it, dude. Read the whole manual front to back. A new camera is actually a pretty serious piece of equipment and it is hard to know what everything does unless you read the whole manual. Come on, you can do it. It’s not like it’s a software agreement that you have to read.

You want to know what all the buttons on your camera do if only for the fact that you don’t look dumb when someone asks you. Your new camera is supposed to make you look cool and artistic, not clueless.

Taking Nice Pics Means Knowing Composition

Now that you know all the buttons on your camera and you’ve got your fedora on to look artsy it’s time to actually take some good pictures.

We haven’t invented the camera that takes beautiful pictures on its own yet, so you’re the one in charge of composing your pictures before you snap them.

You can find easy rules to follow all over the place and once you get a few basic ones down just keep them in mind every time you pick up the camera. For instance, one easy composition tip I can give you is to make sure your finger is not on the lens. Once you remove your finger from the lens of your camera your pictures will make a drastic jump in the right direction.

The Exposure Triangle Rocks

Capturing light is a major factor in turning your pictures from trash to wall-hangers.

This is where knowing your buttons on the camera comes in. If you know how to use the shutter speed, ISO rating, and aperture then your pics will look so good you’ll be all “dang is that a picture I took or a screensaver?”

All Your Photos Don’t Rock

The most important thing you can do to make your slideshow bearable for your friends to look through is to edit your dang photos before you show them to people. No one wants to see eight pictures of the same out of focus tree you took unless those are the only photos you took then I guess that’s okay. But if you have duplicates or some pics that just didn’t really turn out then get rid of them so people aren’t laughing about how terrible of a photographer you are. Some quick editing can leave your friends and family in awe instead of in disgust.