Tips for Taking the Right Photos

These tips are for amateurs.  The pros don't follow some of these, and eventually you may not need to either.  If your just starting, these few tips will help you get by until your skills improve.

Take too many pictures.  We're all bound to get lucky once in a while and stick gold with a picture.  You increase your odds by taking more photos.  Its easy to delete the junk, but you can never get back the shot you missed.

Take big pictures.  Zoom out a little and get more in the frame than you need.  You wouldn't hang a picture right against the ceiling, and the subjects of your picture need a little space too.  Go big, its simple to crop the picture down later.  Plus, this gives you the ability to correct the picture if your camera is off level.

Find simple backgrounds.  You want people to see the object you intend them to, not a "Where's Waldo" drawing.  Move left, right, up and down until you can get a simple background.  Sometime you have to lay on the ground to get a blue sky background.

Pay attention to light sources.  If the sun or a light is behind your subject, your subject will appear dark. Move around so the light is at your back if you can.3
3.e shutter button doesn't cause blur.

The best camera is the one you have with you.  Don't fret too much about having a DSLR with you at all times.  Most phones have the capability of capturing the essence of any shot.  Maybe the shot won't end up hanging in an art gallery, but at least you got it.  If the shot is going to end up small on a website, the quality probably doesn't matter much anyways.  Of course, a true professional can take a better shot with an iPhone than either of us can with a $5k DSLR.


Extra Links to Improve Your Skills:
http://lifehacker.com/5815742/basics-of-photography-the-complete-guide