I am no Ansel Adams, but then again most people aren't.
But what I am is avid fan of taking lots of photos with my digital camera.
I would consider myself a hobbyist so to speak when it comes to taking photographs, but I also want them to be great.
In my experience and in some research I have done, here are some tips I can offer to make your pictures look a lot better then you ever thought possible.
Be Level One of the biggest mistakes I found in my own photos is the "looking down" affect on smaller objects than me, like my dog and my kids.
I found that taking their picture by being on the same level with them produces a much better photograph.
Don't Center Along with taking pictures I also like to spruce them up in Photoshop and one of the things I learned while studying to use Photoshop was how your picture can tell a story by not centering the main object.
I have found that when you off center the main focus of your picture to the left or right it presents more a story with the photograph then just a still photo portrait type.
Vertical Don't be afraid to take some pictures in the vertical direction.
A lot of people avoid these photos because they don't coincide with the photo album where they will eventually end up.
However, snapping your photo in both directions (horizontal and vertical) will give you a different perspective of the scene your photograph.
Background I know it's hard for most photographs but I found that when I can snap a photo of an object with a plain background, something that is one color, the object in the photo comes out so much better, and clearer than I had originally thought.
For most nature shots this is hard, but if you are taking a family photograph of the kids, try a solid plain background for best results.
Close In When I was up in Canada not too long ago I was fortunate enough to be in Bamf National Park and there I was able to get some great photos of some wildlife.
I found that when I moved in closer, but physically and through the zoom on my camera, the wildlife shots came out so much better.
Maybe you have experience this as well.
But if you haven't tried it, you should.
The pictures come out so much better.
These are just five tips that I use when I take my own photographs.
I am sure you have plenty of your own as well.
Give them a try and you will see just how much nicer your photographs will come out.