Rex Photography - Photography Composition tips?

Photography Composition tips?

I need some help with how to make my pictures turn from just average to well rated. What are some tips for this? Help with some creativity shot ideas, and any other presets on a Nikon D70 or D40(x) to make my photography a lot better. Thanks! Not the presets, I didn't mean it as for (Portrait, Landscape) I meant like, the best settings for a sunset picture < for example. (like, the best ISO, the best Aperture, and Shutter speed for the sunset picture) Thanks

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Look at great paintings. If you let your eyes just wonder about while looking at a painting - don't guide them, just let them follow where they will, they tend to follow lines that bring them to the same spot on the painting. "Pick up" your eyes, "'drop" them somewhere else on the painting, see where they wonder. That spot is the focal point of the painting. That's the important part - that's what the artist is painting about. Now with photography, you often don't get to choose the lines in the image. Maybe you do if you setup the picture (like a still life), but by and large, you get what nature gives you. Your challenge is to see the lines and frame the photo (i.e. choose what parts to include or not include in the photo based on how much you zoom and where you point the camera lens) and spot the "good composition" in nature (and capture it). Now you can crop the photo down a bit to loose something after the fact, but if you can see the "lines" and thereby know that "this is going to be a good picture", then you are way ahead of the game. Don't fall into the myth the the focal point of your picture needs to be in the center. Now, it usually doesn't work to have it way off in one corner, but it doesn't need to be dead center. So study paintings. Study photos too, but you may get more milage out of paintings because a painter can plan out the lines. Highly praised photos are highly praised because the photographer managed to capture good artistic composition. PS: It also doesn't hurt to take a whole lot of pictures and just throw the bad ones away. Digital cameras have really made that a lot more feasible - it's not like you are "wasting" expensive film, you can just delete the bad ones and no harm done.
if we cld see a few might help lol. i guess just take loads and pick the best ones. dont be afraid to try something different like camera angle, position, light. don't forget the rule of thirds too http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds
Ok, rule number one. Presets are for amateurs. The machine is not smarter than you. Look into what the settings on your camera mean, and learn to use them accordingly. Use the "rule of thirds" in framing. The rule of thirds means that you mentally divide the frame into 3 equal sections, horizontally and vertically. That would give you 2 imaginary lines horizontally and vertically, on which you want to frame your subject. _______ |__|__|__| |__|__|__| |__|__|__| Also, try to use lighting sorces that aren't your flash. A camera's flash gives a very flat, unnatural looking light. On top of that, it eliminates any cool shadows you might have had.
1) Most snapshots are taken from a safe distance. Instead, move in closer and fill the screen with your subject. 2) Go for different angles. Shoot straight up (try trees, face of a skyscraper), shoot straight down, go for an unusual angle that makes people ask, how did he do it? 3) When taking a landscape shot, include a foreground object to give depth / perspective to your picture. 4) Think abstract. Again by moving in real close and using the close-up feature of your camera, everyday objects can take a whole new dimension. 5) Isolate geometric shapes, colors, 'odd man out' line ups, humorous shots, reflections, repeating patterns, ... All of the above has been tried before, but they should nevertheless be a good exercise in visualization, 'learning how to see.' Have fun!
According to your additional details... those are all things that are different for every type of photo. Make sure to pay attention to your light meter on your camera (if it has one). I would recommend trying to keep the ISO as low as possible, while keeping the shutter speed as QUICK as possible. As for aperture, that really depends on the look you are going for! If you want more in focus, close the aperture to around 11/f, and otherwise, you want less in focus, open it up to as low as your lens can go! Good luck, practice makes perfect! Make sure to experiment as much as possible!
Kodak, many years ago offered the best short course in photographic composition and I used it for many years while teaching photography (see source below). Your questions seem to focus more on exposure settings than organizing compositional elements. In that regard, your camera allows you to experiment with exposure and look at the results as you go. I recommend using an automatic exposure setting (either "Aperture Priority" for controlling depth -of-field, or "Shutter Speed Priority" for controlling the stopping of action) then "bracket" exposures to get the best final exposure result. As far as ISO selection, a good "rule of thumb" is to make sure the ISO you select gives you blur-free images under the lighting conditions you have available. To accomplish this, I usually select a shutter speed that will be at least as fast the the focal length of the lens I am using (i.e. for a 200 mm lens, I will select 1/250 second ) to prevent unwanted blur caused by camera movement.for hand held photography. Then I adjust my ISO selection on the camera to accomplish this. Your camera offers many exposure options for special photographic situations including lighting, portraiture and landscapes using their recommended icons. Experiment and you will be very pleased with the results.
that is something you have to come up with on your own, by bracketing or taking several shots each with a different setting, it is usually done in sets of three. set for aperture, and a set for speed and a set for aperture and speed...ofcourse a person could complicate the dickens out of this...i usually set my camera on program shooting and let the camera figure it out, and if i don't like it when i get it to the computer, i go back and do some serious fiddling in apeture, shutter, and manual modes. but it is soomething that you have to do yourself, i can't tell you very well, because what works one night by the river for me on city lights may not work at all a week later...and i dunno why, it just is. and the composition for me i compose through the view finder, and study the scene with nekked eye and then go back to the viewfinder, then i take a shot, and study it and see if there is something i dislike in the balance of things, i try NOT to get my main subject of interest in the center, but rather off center a bit, (maybe even quite a bit)...the rule of thirds works well in the viewfinder, and is more necessary when croping.
1. Put your camera on AUTO so you can forget about fiddling with the settings and concentrate on the subject. 2. Before you snap a picture, ask yourself "why would anyone be interested in this image other than me?". 3. Either fill the entire frame with your subject or use the Rule of Thirds (google it). 4. If your lack of knowledge of exposure is still holding you back, get a good book like Photography For Dummies and read it thoroughly. Hope this helps.