five essentials : ashley of ashley in DC photography tips

As I move to Europe and get settled at St. Andrews, I will be absent from 6 September to 21 September. Luckily for you [and me] I have some great blog friends who have offered to take their time to share a little inspiration on c&é.

Today I have Ashley of Ashley in DC over who seems to capture some of the most stunning photos I've seen. I am so excited she's sharing some of her tips today especially with all my photo taking here in Scotland!

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As Supal gets ready to head off to Scotland, she's asked me to write a guest post that outlines my top five photography tips. I hope this will help you, Supal's reader, to improve upon a skill you may be working on!

 

1. Focus on the eyes. This is especially important for close-up portraits. Compose your shot, then move your focus point around your viewfinder until you're getting a nice, sharp focus on your subjects' eyes to create a more striking image. Turn up your f-stop a hair if you need to, making sure you get both eyes in focus.

 

2. Know how to shoot a pretty picture in low light. If you prefer to use your flash as little as possible, like me, you can turn your shutter speed way down and open up the aperture to let in more light. I also turn up my ISO as far as I can without the picture looking too grainy or noisy (although a little noise can add some drama). I then make sure my camera is set to take three or four shots in a row, rapid-fire style, and then hold my breath (literally - you want to be as still as possible), while I focus and shoot. The images in the middle of your rapid-fire should be nice and sharp; I usually use those and throw away the first and last shots. The following three images were taken indoors, with little light available, with no flash.

 

3. Change your perspective. Stand up, kneel, lay on the ground, shoot your subject from more that one side... moving around can bring to light a shot that you may not have thought of or an angle that's super flattering to your subject. The following two shots show my couple in the same pose, in the same spot - but a change in the photographer's perspective creates two totally different images.

4. Be conscious of how you compose a shot in-camera. Be aware of the shot while you're taking it - make sure your horizon lines are straight and you have some symmetry in your image. Remember that a far away shot with interesting lines and symmetry can be just as effective and portrait-worthy as a close-up. Also, be conscious of how you crop a shot, both in-camera and during post-processing; you never want to crop a subject at a joint or tilt an image so it looks like everyone is falling off of the earth!

5. And finally, shoot in manual mode. Have full control over your camera, your settings, and ultimately, your images.  Shooting in manual, rather than in auto or another pre-set mode on your camera (the little running man, the mountain scene, the flower), will force you to learn the settings that will create the type of image you're going for.  You can even start out by shooting a few images in auto, taking note of the settings, then switching to manual and entering in those same settings; you can then tweak to see how the images are affected by turning down your f-stop or dialing back your shutter speed.

Supal, thank you so much for having me as a guest blogger on Chevrons and Eclairs.
I wish you lots of luck and success at St. Andrews and I know we're all looking forward to your posts from Scotland!

XO,

Ashley