photography for beginners

Hey everyone

In today's material I want to share with you some mistakes that I used to make as a portrait photographer and my top five tips that you can start doing today to improve your photography so you don't make the same mistakes that i did.

So while i'm a portrait photographer a lot of these tips will be to do with portrait photography but they do also apply to all kinds of photography so i hope you guys enjoy so one of the mistakes i see a lot of beginner photographers make is that they don't get close enough to their subjects so my first tip is to be mindful of space and distance when you're taking photos.

When I first started photography early on someone gave me advice that if the framing wasn't working and the photo didn't feel quite right then you're probably not close enough and it's true a lot of my shoots from when i started had the majority of photos shot from pretty much the same distance and framing the entire time I had a light bulb moment from that and when I started implementing that advice to my work I saw a huge improvement in my photography so back when i started i used to be a little bit afraid to get up close to my subject so nowadays something i always strive for is to capture stunning close ups during each of my portrait sessions i also think distance can be used in different ways i try to make sure that during a photography session i have a variety of photos from the day.

I like to get my close-up photos but then I also want mid-length photos that look more cinematic i also like full body shots to show off the outfit and then even wider full body shots that give you a better understanding of the location and add some story into the set of photos so instead of having a set of photos to deliver to your clients that look like this these photos all have very similar framing and a shot from the same distance to each other and the set of photos just looks a little bit flat overall when you add in the extra photos taken from different distances you have a much stronger set of photos that looks more dynamic and tells a story another tip that really helped improve my photography is working on my communication so learning how to share with the team what i want before a shoot and how to direct my subjects while taking photos this is something that i think is really hard to just learn overnight you might be a natural ladder but some of us including me are introverted so don't get frustrated if you find giving directions to your subject difficult i think it's important to just practice and improve a little bit at a time at every single shoot that you do eventually it will feel like second nature and it will be a lot easier for you to do so here are some things that you can start doing today or at your very next photo shoot the oldest trick in the book is to have a mood board but don't just show them the mood board or the inspiration images what i find is way more helpful is to specifically point out the aspects of those photos that you like so you could say i like how she's spinning and you can see movement in her hair or dress or i love how strong his facial expression is or i like how this person's looking away from the camera and this will help your subject remember that you like movement that you like strong or happy or soft facial expressions but you also like casual photos that are looking away from the camera doing this is really going to help set the tone for your photo shoot i like to keep that communication going while we're taking photos as well you see me doing this all the time in my photoshoot behind the scene videos here on youtube and i know it can be hard to concentrate on a lot of things at once when i was first starting out i used to think a lot about my camera settings composition lighting and then forget to give enough feedback to the person i was taking a photo of i know how it is so here are some easy things that you can start off with the first one is to give positive feedback this one is super easy and I feel like you don't even really need to think about it while you're shooting so just letting your client or your subject know that you're liking what the photos are looking like or you like what they're doing

So you guys again hear me say this all the time but just saying things like that looks so good that's awesome i like that and just that keeps the pace going for the photo shoot another thing you can do is when you have someone who is comfortable in front of the camera like a model for example you can ask them to repeat a pose that they just did or do more in that particular pose that they just did so if they had their arms up stretched you can be like oh can we do more with your arms just up above your head so that's a quick little thing that you can say as well and i also find it's really helpful to have a small list of go-to poses if you get stuck at a shoot as well so i have more tips to share with you but first let's take a quick intermission so i can let you know more

This next tip goes hand in hand with my first tip and it's to take lots of photos and i don't mean to just spray and pray but to really move around while you're shooting to utilize different angles this is really handy if you're taking photos of a subject who isn't as comfortable in front of a camera and doesn't give you as many poses as say a professional model would instead of having them try out heaps and heaps of poses which might look a little unnatural to them i like to get my subject to move in subtle ways so they feel comfortable and then I will physically move around to capture as many different compositions and angles as I can in that spot so we have a variety of photos at the end of the shoot something I find

I do a lot with composition is that if i'm doing a fashion shoot or a shoot with a model I like to shoot at eye level and also from slightly lower angles this gives the photos i'm taking a little more of a fashion editorial look with weird angles that show off the location and outfit when i'm taking headshots or doing couples or family shoots i instead like shooting from eye level and from a slightly higher angle than my subject this results in really flattering portraits that look beautiful and highlight the subject more in the frame looking back during the first couple of years of my photography and you might be in the same position as me is that i felt frustrated sometimes that i only had one lens when the canon 5d mark ii came out and i switched over to full frame i only had the 50 millimeter f 1.4 at first and I couldn't wait until I was able to get some more lenses while different lenses affect what a portrait and a photo looks like i do have a whole video about that in my 35 50 versus 85 millimeter comparison which i'll leave linked down below if you haven't watched it yet looking back now i think it was actually a good thing that I only had one lens.

What i like about having limitations with photography such as being limited with time the location you're using the lighting you have to work with or in this case only having one lens is that it can help you think outside of the box and be more creative so looking back at that year or so that i only had a 50 millimeter lens it helped me get to know that focal length so well i eventually learned the strengths and weaknesses of that lens i learned how to get the best shots with that focal length and i could pretty much just look at a location and know exactly what it's going to look like through that lens so a challenge.

I have for you is that if you have a couple of prime lenses pick one or if you have a zoom lens then pick one focal length in that zoom then go out a handful of times only shooting with that one lens or focal length at first you might feel like it's a bit repetitive but try using that feeling to capture something different with that limitation and see what you can come up with so that is all.

I have for my tips to improve your photography and the mistakes that I used to make as a beginner photographer. What i think you'll enjoy as well such as how to use natural light for photography and also some of my favorite posing tip , as well but as always thank you so so much for reading every single week so I will publish for you all next time.

Bye