There’s a huge trend now of photographers taking outdoor portrait images, and why not? There are so many amazing scenes to take images and showcase not only the person or people in the image but the scenery as well. Taking pictures outdoors can be much more of a challenge than indoors. Your settings will constantly be changing and the light can drastically change from one moment to the next. If you’re building up your outdoor images web photo album consider some of these tips to take better pictures.
Avoid Direct Sunlight – Not only is it hard (and hot!) on your subject but it can lead to blown out images and rough edges. You don’t’ want to avoid natural light all together buy look for partially shaded settings or shots that don’t have full on sunlight. Taking pictures in the early morning or early evening can help give you the right amount of natural light without too much.
Avoid Distractions in Your Shots – Things like power lines or road signs can get in the way of taking really good pictures. You want people to focus on your subject, so unless your subject is the sign or the picture avoid them! Though wouldn’t it be fun to have a dedicated web photo album of distraction shots?
Use a Tripod – A tripod can really help you capture images when the light is low. Low light means the camera needs more time to capture the picture. It’s hard to hold your hands completely still in that time. This is a small investment to make but it will make your pictures that much better.
Compose Your Shot – To create a really great image, especially when shooting landscapes, have a foreground, middle ground and background. Also make sure it’s clear how they relate to each other. For example you want to include the beach, the water and the rocky cliffs behind them in your shot so that whoever is viewing the image sees how they all relate to each other. This is much more powerful than just shooting the water or only shooting the cliffs.
Don’t Put the Horizon Smack in the Middle – Looking back at the ocean example if you took a shot that had a sliver of the beach and a sliver of the sky and the rest of the picture was full of the ocean it would be lacking. The picture would be much more powerful if the focus was, for example, more on the water.
Emphasize Size and Scale – There are some amazing outdoor scenes that can be captured. But photographs have a way of losing the scale of things without some way to compare them. Did you see a giant scale on a leaf during your hike? If you simply snap a picture then you have no way to know it was a giant snail, it’s just a snail. Likewise a mountain doesn’t look as big if there’s nothing included in the image to show scale. When you’re composing images this should be taken into consideration.
Avoid Direct Sunlight – Not only is it hard (and hot!) on your subject but it can lead to blown out images and rough edges. You don’t’ want to avoid natural light all together buy look for partially shaded settings or shots that don’t have full on sunlight. Taking pictures in the early morning or early evening can help give you the right amount of natural light without too much.
Avoid Distractions in Your Shots – Things like power lines or road signs can get in the way of taking really good pictures. You want people to focus on your subject, so unless your subject is the sign or the picture avoid them! Though wouldn’t it be fun to have a dedicated web photo album of distraction shots?
Use a Tripod – A tripod can really help you capture images when the light is low. Low light means the camera needs more time to capture the picture. It’s hard to hold your hands completely still in that time. This is a small investment to make but it will make your pictures that much better.
Compose Your Shot – To create a really great image, especially when shooting landscapes, have a foreground, middle ground and background. Also make sure it’s clear how they relate to each other. For example you want to include the beach, the water and the rocky cliffs behind them in your shot so that whoever is viewing the image sees how they all relate to each other. This is much more powerful than just shooting the water or only shooting the cliffs.
Don’t Put the Horizon Smack in the Middle – Looking back at the ocean example if you took a shot that had a sliver of the beach and a sliver of the sky and the rest of the picture was full of the ocean it would be lacking. The picture would be much more powerful if the focus was, for example, more on the water.
Emphasize Size and Scale – There are some amazing outdoor scenes that can be captured. But photographs have a way of losing the scale of things without some way to compare them. Did you see a giant scale on a leaf during your hike? If you simply snap a picture then you have no way to know it was a giant snail, it’s just a snail. Likewise a mountain doesn’t look as big if there’s nothing included in the image to show scale. When you’re composing images this should be taken into consideration.
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