What Makes a Good Photograph?

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Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

Photography is your passion! You take fairly good pictures of your kids They’re not award winners by any stretch of the imagination, but they aren’t clunkers either.

You were hoping to get your photos to really pop. Maybe you’re really into scrapbooking and you wanted to take it to the next level.So, you set a goal, saved your money and wound up buying an expensive digital SLR and now you’re just disappointed.

Why do you think your pictures look exactly the same?Where did you go wrong?Everybody says that all you need to take great photos is a great camera, right?

We’ve all been here, at one time or another.You might not want to hear this, but it’s not the camera. A great camera can make it easier to take a great image, but only if the user knows what it takes to actually make a great image.

The truth is that a lot goes into making a great photograph. You have to consider composition, color balance, cropping, depth of field and probably the most important part of the equation……quality of light.

Who teaches quality of light? Are there good websites out there that will teach you how to set up lighting for portraits?

Do you find yourself overwhelmed at times?Maybe you’ve poured through tons and tons of photo books and we’re unable to find anything that effectively taught you about all these principles.

Many times these concepts can be presented in an overly complicated way, making it more confusing than when you started looking.

If you fall into this category of “discouraged kid photographer”, don’t give up. Stick with your beloved hobby.

The secrets to great photography aren’t rocket science. You just need to find a good source of information to help you apply those techniques.

Maybe you’re frustrated because you fear that the only way to take great shots is to invest tons of money into lighting, gadgets, backgrounds and other expensive photography supplies.

Consider for a moment just how much money you’re saving in film and processing costs by shooting with a digital camera.

WIth what you save on film costs alone in a few months, you can perhaps purchase an inexpensive portrait lighting setup.

The bottom line is that you’re hopefully into digital photography to have fun. Don’t be afraid to experiment.There’s nothing wrong with making some mistakes along the way while learning what it really takes to make a great photograph.

As you apply what you learn, you’ll be amazed at the quality of the images you create.By and by, your own unique photographic style and vision will begin to emerge.

Perhaps self discovery is the best part of the whole photographic process.

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