Techniques to Level up your Photography

If you are a beginner photographer looking to take their photography skills to the next level and become a better photographer, there are many photography avenues to pursue. To become a good photographer though, you want to be well rounded in your photography abilities. Whether you are looking to advance your career to become a pro at landscape photography, portrait photography, there are many photography techniques which we will explore.

However, the first item of business is to choose a great mirrorless DSLR camera which can produce high quality images. The camera features that a great DSLR camera can provide to you is 4K HDR or High Dynamic Range images and video recordings, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the ability to handle all types of lighting conditions. DSLR cameras, with these types of features made by such manufacturers as Canon, Nikon and Sony for example.

Almost as important as the camera you choose would be the lens you want for your photoshoots. There are multiple types of lenses, an everyday Prime lens which should handle most of your photography needs, a telephoto lens to really magnify and get some great portrait shots of the subject of your photoshoot.

So ultimately, you want to be able to get good photos which really show off your exposures that are of high quality and ready to be shared with your friends and loved ones on social media.

Therefore, to keep you in the know how to level up your photography techniques, we will provide tutorials and photography tips allowing you to explore the world of photography.

Photography Tips

Starting Off

The first step would be to have a great full frame mirrorless DSLR camera which is packed with features and specs to help take your photography career to the next level.

You should then pair this with a new camera lens that fits your photography needs. Keep in mind that each manufacturer has their own mounting system, so if you choose a lens that is from a different manufacturer than your camera, a mounting adapter may be required.

If you chose to start off with a prime lens which is good for everyday usage, that would come with a fixed focal length. So, you know what focal length your prime lens can hit. However, you may be conducting portrait photography so you might want to grab a zoom lens or telephoto lens. The specific lenses you require for general photography, portrait photography, landscape photography and others are available at great prices just in time for Christmas. Wide angle lenses are perfect for landscape photography, so you can capture your entire scene in each exposure.

Your DSLR camera should come with an LCD screen and an Electronic Viewfinder or EVF, which can fold out and tilt and allow you to focus on your shooting scene without having to take your eyes off the screen and become distracted. This will help keep you in your comfort zone as you explore some new techniques in your photography journey.

It’s also crucial to get lens accessories which will improve your photography. There are accessories for your lens available such as a UV filter that protects the front of your lens from dust and dirt and harmful ultraviolet lighting. Or check out some ND filters (or neutral density filters) to reduce the amount of light which hits your camera sensor. As a portrait photographer, you can produce some gorgeous exposures thanks to what you can do with your lens with that filter. You can create soft and beautiful backgrounds for a great bokeh effect.

As you are a beginner photographer, you may notice more blur and shake with your handheld shooting. Therefore, in addition to the IBIS or In-Body-Stabilization of your camera and lens, you may want to grab a tripod. This will not only help with stabilization, but also allow you to shoot at different angles both vertically and horizontally. A great way to practice and progress your photography skills.

We often recommend this, and it doesn’t hurt, however there are many brick and mortar schools and online digital photography schools which would offer courses to help you purse your career in photography. These courses could prove to be an essential part of your ability to hone your photography skills, so you can quickly advance from beginner to the next level.

Progressing

Your new camera and lens should preferably have a top notch autofocus system which sets the camera settings automatically for you based off your shooting environment. A good autofocus system is a fantastic way for beginner photographers to become accustomed to some of the camera’s settings in their photoshoot. While Autofocus mode can handle all the necessary camera presets such as ISO range, aperture priority for lighting conditions and others, we often recommend trying to shoot in manual mode. This is the way professional photographers utilize their DSLR cameras and can really help beginner photographers explore each setting and how it will affect the exposure settings. While in manual mode, you can set you own shutter speed, setting you ISO number, white balance and your aperture priority.

Shutter speeds are important as they will reflect the amount of light which enters your camera sensor and knowing what type of shutter speed you need for your lighting situation is imperative. A slow shutter speed allows for a longer exposure and thus will allow for more light to hit your cameras sensor. This is a good way to shoot when you are faced with low lighting conditions.

Give taking your images and video recordings during golden hour a try. Golden hour is the period during the first hour of light after sunrise, and the last hour of light before sunset times when the color of the sky goes from red and orange to yellow. This can create some gorgeous orange and prink reflections when reflected off snow lines streets, trees and lawns. Shooting at this time of the day with wonderful exposures will show the progression of your photography skills.

If you are taking fast action photography such as at sports event, these are taken with a shallow depth of field so, you can focus on one side of your subject and set a blurred background for a gorgeous bokeh effect simultaneously. You can also try burst shooting which will get you multiple exposures of the same shot and you can choose which one best suit the photograph or video you are hoping to put up on your social media page.

Drone Photography has also picked up steam in recent years. With the progression in the best drones of their gimbal based camera systems, plus the enhancement of features, like flight time, obstacle avoidance and RTH or Return to Home (that is a specific point you designate) then the drone will automatically return safely to that spot. Using a drone is a great way to progress your development as a landscape photographer as well as getting great shots of skyscapes and cityscapes.

Additional Ideas and techniques

Try taking your still images in the RAW format versus the standard JPEG format. Photos taken in RAW format allow for more post-processing which can be done either via the companion app to your camera or drone, or via a photo editing software program like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop which can be either done from your PC, MAC, smartphone or tablet.

Take advantage of the included Wi-Fi and Bluetooth of your camera or drone and pair it with your smartphone or use an included USB-C cable to connect your camera to your PC. This way, you can transfer files, make any post-processing changes you need and upload your final exposure to social media. We recommend that your cameras Wi-Fi system should be able to access the 5Ghz band of the wireless spectrum via Wi-Fi AC or even improve upload and download speeds if the Wi-Fi standard is Wi-Fi AX or Wi-Fi 6. The bluetooth standard should be a minimum of 5.0 as this will help keep you paired for extremely low lag between devices, and it will allow you to take your camera further distances from your paired device and still maintain a stable transmission connection.

You can also give a try shooting with double exposures. This combines two different exposures or images one is put above the next. The image overlaid is has less than full opacity, therefore portions of the two combined images can be seen producing a single almost ghost-like image. This is a cool effect to show off as you progress in photography skills.

To progress even further from a beginner photographer onwards try shooting your photographs using the rule of thirds. This divides the camera screen into 9 squares so you can place your subject in one of the squares or corners, leaving the rest of the exposure to show off the landscape and it will structure your divided photos so they will look great uploaded to your social media site of choice.

Final Thoughts

It is the perfect time for beginner photographers to take advantage of all the photography opportunities to become a better photographer. So, if you utilize our provided photography tips and tutorials, coupled with some of the best DSLR or Drone cameras on the market and top-notch lenses for each type of shooting situation will help take your photography career to the next level.