FotoStick Blog

How to take A Perfect Picture

Have you ever captured a once in a life time moment on camera and felt totally psyched about it; only to be let down when the picture is printed and you discover that your "sweet shot" is out of focus, blurry, or just totally off?

Well, it has happened to me too many times, so I went out and found some super useful tips on how to snap the perfect picture every time.

Read on for tips and tricks that will revolutionize the way you take pictures:

• The most important thing is to begin with a nice, steady camera. You can acheive this by either using a tripod, propping your camera on a smooth, flat surface, or standing with your weight evenly distributed, and holding your arms against your body, and the camera against your head. 

• Next, you should practice the "Rule of Thirds". This means that instead of centering your subject, you are breaking the total canvas into thirds, horizontally, and vertically. To get that money shot, place your subject on any point where the horizontal/vertical lines cross. 

• Always be sure to keep the horizon level. When you have a strong horizon line, like in an ocean scene, it is important to keep it balanced in relation to the subject. Try to keep the horizon line a third of the way into either the top or the bottom of the shot, depending on the picture that you are taking. 

• Get close enough to your subject to fill your frame. Only get the images that you are trying to capture, by moving in close enough to block other things out- like the weird guy in speedos behind your friends on the beach.  While zooming in on your subject can work, it looks more natural and creates a more clear shot, when you are physically as close to your subject as possible.

• Be creative with frames. Get some tree branches in the shot on an overcast day, or some rose bushes on a clear sunny day. This adds dimension and interesting points of view to a shot. Even including something as simple as the side of a brick building can take your shot from ho-hum, to WOW. 

• Some tricks to remember with lighting- The worst time to take outdoor pictures on a bright, sunny day is from 10:00am-3:00pm; when you want to capture a silhouette, take your picture with the light source coming from behind or above your subject; the perfect lighting for a close-up shot is when the sky is hazy, or overcast. The grey, hazy lighting is very flattering and the subjects will not have to squint in the sunlight. 

•   Play around with different angles to get fun,unique shots. Climb on top of a chair and have your friends look up at you for a cool faces shot, or lay down on your stomach and look up at Rover to get a cool pic of the family dog. 

• Create "Leading Lines" that lead in to your subject. Try playing around with things in the background like the road or poles to create a frame, or line that points to your subject.