Shattered Images Photography: 5 non-technical things to improve your photos.

Plan your photo - often photos are little more then accidents. We see something, think wow that's really neat, and we push the shutter. I understand this frequently happens because our photos are as much a way to maintain memories as they are anything else, but take a moment to think about how the camera will capture the image and adjust your shot so the image will be a decided on shot and not just an accident. In this way you will quickly learn what elements improve your images and which ones detract from them.

Pay attention to the details - frequently we only think about the subject as we are composing our image, but the foreground and the background both will make up the photo. Take a moment to think about how this will impact you images, you may want to change f-stop to soften the impact of the foreground or perhaps you want to Chang your angle to eliminate a distraction. This can be something as simple as a bright patch of sun blowing out part of the background, our eyes will migrate to the brightest part of the image, anything brighter then you subject will compete with it for the viewers attention.

Shoot outside of your comfort zone - it is commonly suggested to take photos from kneeling, lying down, standing on a chair or some other different vantage point to give a unique view. So common that when it is suggested people say "yeah I know that" but when you look at their portfolio everything is taken standing up from five feet away (or what ever their comfort zone is). When you are about to take a photo make yourself change, move to a different location shot something with a wide angle that you normally want to shoot telephoto, move in close and use telephoto when you think you should be shooting wide. It doesn't matter what you change, just force yourself out of your comfort zone.

Make mistakes - this sort of parallels shooting outside your comfort. But in this case I am telling you to break everybody else's rules. Everybody says don't shoot a moving subject with 1st curtain flash. Break that rule, or others like it, in this way you will find ways to make photos work where the rest of us have failed.

Don't fake it - entirely to often I hear people say "oh I'll just fix it in photoshop." Photoshop can be a very useful tool, but it has its limitations, fix the color balance on the camera, remove lint and smooth wrinkles I the backdrop, if you want light falloff in the corner turn your light or use a flag or Inverse Square Law to adjust the lighting. Photoshop is a destructive process, the more you take the time to correct before you push the shutter the grater latitude you will have for other manipulations. This will improve your overall skill as a photographer will, if you rely on photoshop then you will be improving your skills as a digital editor.