Taking a Good Picture

Isnia Devianti

            Nowadays, photography is the one of popular hobbies in the world. In the photography itself, taking a good picture is a lot more than pointing a camera and snapping a button. It requires a lot of practice and a lot of skill. What qualifies as a good picture tends to change with the photographer because it comes down to your personal taste. However, you can follow a few general steps to ensure your photographs are successful.

       The first easiest step is deciding the subject for your photo. You can choose the object such as environments, models, product, still life things, or human interest. It is important to find an interesting subject. It helps to create a successful photo. An interesting subject can be for example a different or a rare subject. You can choose the common thing to be taken, but it can be an interesting subject if you take it from different angle. There are many perspectives that can be applied. You can take your photo subject in low angle or high angle, rather than the eye level angle, to make your subject interesting. Beside it, taking the right moment can also help you make an interesting photo. Taking the photo exactly at the right moment is challenging but when successful it can bring enormous amount of interest into the photo. The right moment can mean for example a certain happening or ideal light and weather conditions. When you have done this basic step, it means that you are ready to move on the second step.

            After deciding your interesting subject, you have to decide the appropriate composition to be applied in your camera. The image composition is the most important factor in a successful photo. A good composition can turn a boring subject into a very interesting photo. On the other hand, a spectacular subject can lead to a boring photo in a failed composition. Based on the theory of photography, there are four basic compositions that can be chosen according to the subject. Those are The Golden Mean, Rule of Thirds, Framing and Cross Lines. Of course you have to know those theories before you apply them to your photo. However, the most common compositions that are usually used in daily photography are Rule of Thirds and Framing. The basic philosophy behind Rule of Thirds is to avoid a symmetric composition, which is usually pretty boring because the view is centered. Whether you can use Framing by finding a frame which can eliminate the unimportant surrounding and focus the view. Out of the theory, the simple way is that you have to consider compositing the shapes and colors. Similar objects in different colors or the contrast of an object with another shape can make a great picture.

            The last step is focusing the point of interest and then clicking the shutter button. The problem is that a lot of times you want to compose a picture in an interesting way, the thing that has to be most sharply in focus is not at the center of focus. For example, a picture of a person with something in the background is often more interesting if the person is off to the side rather than smack dab in the middle. But the problem is, the camera usually wants to focus on what’s in the middle, except you use the SLR or dSLR camera. For those kinds of camera, you can focus the object by yourself. The manual focus length at the lens can help you so much. However, if you are using the automatic mode, you just have to half-click the shutter button and let your camera focus the object automatically, like the other pocket cameras. Half pressing the button might sound weird, but if you press you camera’s button slowly and feel for it, you will feel a spot about halfway down that you can easily hold. Press the button that much to set the focus first, and then actually take the picture if you have found all that you need for your picture.

Most people said that we do not have to use a high-tech camera to get a good photo. If you get the basics right, you will make great images with any camera. Just follow those steps, and you will not only get your moment captured but also get the satisfaction of your great image. However, the most important thing that we have to remember is “practice makes perfect”.