Photography Mistakes You Need To Avoid

Good shooters are becoming more and more available as the time goes by. Either through the magic of the cheaper DSLRs, or the increasingly capable smartphone cameras, but today, every one of us can afford one image capturing device to start the journey as a photographer. Unfortunately, most of us make the same mistakes as anyone who has ever taken a camera into its hands, so the wide accessibility does not always equal more quality. That is why we will give you a couple of tips that will help you to avoid these beginner’s mistakes and become a skilled photographer from the get-go.

1. Blurry Pictures

Usually, blurry pictures are caused by one of these two scenarios. The first one would be that there is not enough light reaching the sensor, so the camera struggles to take a sharp image. The second reason is that your hands are shaking too much, so it would be best to place a camera on the tripod before shooting (absolutely necessary for the low light conditions and slower shutter speeds). In order to solve the light issue, you will have to turn the flash on to freeze any movement, or go ahead with increasing the ISO for faster shutter speeds. In addition, remember that even if your photos are blurry or out of focus, you can still salvage them by utilizing a photo sharpening software.

2. The Lack of Proper Subject

Landscape photos are all very nice, but what we are supposed to look at, exactly? No matter what your overall idea may be, your picture needs some kind of protagonist which will anchor the entire photo. That can be a remote tree, a pedestrian walking through the frame, a differently colored flower, or any other thing that will speak “Pay attention to me”.

3. Placing the Subject in the Center of the Frame

This is one of the oldest and, in the same time, one of the most common photography mistakes. What you should do instead is to follow the rule of thirds, or in other words, to split the picture into the 3*3 grid (some cameras have that setting, so keep it on), and try to keep your subject within the two thirds of the picture vertically, and as close to thirds as possible horizontally. You will end up with much more interesting photos.

4. Poor Background

The subject of the photo tends to steal our attention while shooting. So much so, that we do not even notice how poor the background may look. In the case of portraits, this usually manifests in people looking impaled or having horns. In the case of some objects or plants, the background may come off as too cluttered. Solution for both of these problems is either to reframe the photo and take different shooting positions, or to put the stronger focus on the subject so the background becomes blurry enough.

5. Over-Editing the Photos

The choice of how many filters and processing options you will use is entirely up to you, but there is a moment when your pictures become barely recognizable. One of the most notable examples of abusing the photos with such moves is overly enthusiastic HDR usage. Do not get us wrong, this is great technology, but when you overuse it, you end up with flat and shadowless pictures. Drastic saturation is another thing you should strongly avoid.

So, these were the top five mistakes you should avoid in order to become a decent photographer, but how can you become a great photographer? The simple answer would be – practice. Always take your camera-of-choice with you, remember the tips we gave you, shoot whatever seems interesting, and your skill will inevitably grow as the time goes by.