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Photography, like drawing or painting, is an art form that requires practice, skill and even a little talent. There will always be talented artists that are naturally gifted in one art form or another, while the rest of us have to figure out ways to keep up.  One of the best ways to match the photographs of great photographers is by adopting a few of their common practices.  Here are five important habits that most great photographers all have in common (in no particular order):

Bracket Your Shots

Bracketing is a term for shooting various exposures of the same shot.  Any time you’re taking pictures and the end result is important, you should bracket your shots by shooting one normal photo, then one below the recommended exposure as well as one above.  This will give you more options for choosing the best picture and will also prevent over and under exposure. However, if you’re shooting with a digital camera there is no reason to bracket your shot as you don’t need to worry about burning your film.

Properly Care for Your Equipment

A camera lens will give you a near-exact representation of what you saw when you looked through it, but only if that lens is clean of debris. Although it is easy to touch up your images using a photo editor, it is easiest just to use a cleaning kit and properly clean your gear before shooting. In addition, you should always protect your photo equipment in a bag or case so you can minimize the amount of dust buildup and avoid accidental damage. And always remember to charge your battery!

Tell a Story

One of the big differences between a good picture and an outstanding photograph is the photograph always has a story to tell.  Every shot you take should convey some sort of narrative with a beginning, middle, and end.  Although this may seem like a daunting task, once you practice, it will become easier to frame your image so the story all comes together. When shooting a sequence of photographs, try to tie them all together with one theme; this will increase their emotional impact. And another way to tie your images together is by framing them in the same type of picture frame.

Work In-Camera

Most professional photographers agree that the less time spent in the editing room means that the better you did using your camera.  By learning how to work with your camera to get the results you want, you’ll become a much better phtoographer than spending all your time editing.  You should think of photo editing more as a safety net that’s used as a last resort and not something you depend upon to transform your images from bad to good.

Learn Your Craft

Like any skill, if you want to get good at something you have to invest time to learn it. This means that you should do activities like studying the works of great photographers, practice shooting as much as possible and taking classes or reading books about phtoography.  The more you spend time studying photography and what makes one photo better than the others, the more you consistent you will become at shooting quality images. And this will also open up opportunities to display and frame more of your images in 8×10 picture frames on the wall. Another option is to consider joining a photo club or website like a photo forum where you can find useful tips.

Whether good or bad, there really is not big secret or magic formula for becoming a great photographer.  The more you train your eyes to look at the world through a frame, the better you’ll get at spotting great photo opportunities.  These five habits can help you to reach this point sooner, especially if you’re shooting as much as you possibly can. Practice may not make you perfect, but it will definitely make you better.

When learning photography, you’ll discover there are lots of different elements that make an photograph appear the way it does. Exposure, film speed, camera quality, type of frame (like a gallery picture frame) and printing method all have an impact on the quality of your final print. Contrast is one of the easist elements to manipulate in photography and also one of the most important. When used properly, contrast can take your pictures to a whole new level.

Contrast is simply the difference between the darks and light in your photographs. In terms of black and white photography, high contrast images have very bright whites and incredibly dark blacks with little room in between, while low contrast images will have more grey and appear less distinct. In color photographs, contrast can be used to describe the intensity of the colors and how they stand out in relation to each other. While theres no perfect level of contrast, a good rule of thumb is to try and create images that have pure black, pure white, and every shade in between. However, this is more challenging than it sounds!

Different Degrees of Contrast
As a photographer, you’ll have a preference on the amount of contrast that you like in your prints. Some prefer high contrast, some prefer low, but remember that its all about what works for you. As long as your pictures tell the story you want to share, there is no right or wrong answer.

If you want to see some examples of excellent normal contrast just look at the work by Ansel Adams. His landscape black and white pictures are so powerful because they cover every possible shade of grey, black and white. No wonder Ansel Adams images are so frequently seen framed in simple black picture frames in homes and offices - as the contrast black and white tones are exquisite. For an example of high-contrast, recent films such as Sin City and The Spirit used high-contrast imagery to augment their story.

Adjusting Contrast
There are a few things you can do to adjust the contrast of your images. Different types of film or digital camera settings will give your pictures different amounts of contrast. For example, slide film has a high contrast ratio compared to regular film. You can also push your film while developing it by allowing it to soak in the developer longer than recommended the longer it sits, the higher your contrast will be. Be careful that you don’t over-develop your film because, unlike prints, it can’t be redone once you develop it.

In the darkroom, you can apply a filter to your enlarger to change the contrast of your images. A #1 filter wil be a slight contrast increase, whereas a #4 filter will significantly increase the contrast level in your print. If you’re using a digital camera, most photo editing software has a built in contrast option that will let you mimic the changes you could make in the darkroom. Contrast is unlimited in what you can do with it so play around and take it to the limit and see what happens.

Contrast can control the focal point of an image, as in where your viewers look. It can help further define important parts of your photograph as well as create a higher quality image when done properly. The right (or wrong type) of picture frame can also impact how the viewer looks at your picture so make sure to stick with a frame that has simple clean lines and avoid highly decorative, beaded or jeweled picture frames.

Use the “pure white, pure black” rule in every picture and you’ll see a huge difference in the prints you will produce. Once you understand what degree of contrast works in your photos, you’ll start to see how you can use contrast in the real world to shoot even better pictures. As always, the best way to get better is to shoot, shoot, shoot!

While you can’t obviously learn everything in one photo article, this article gives you five basic tips to start using right away. Whether you have a point and shoot camera or are the proud owner of an SLR, there are a few basic concepts that once understood will get you on your way towards taking excellent photos. Here are five important and easy to use tips that you can put to use right away.

1) Resolve to Have Enough Resolution

Yes, a low resolution setting saves space on your memory card, but it doesn’t make for suitable prints. You can easily resize for a smaller picture, even in free programs like Picasa (”resize” is hidden there under “export”), but making a picture larger usually brings awful results. When you enlarge the picture, the pixels that make up the image are spread thinner.

If you like printing your images, choose medium or high resolution. Depending on your camera, 3 megapixels should give you high quality 4×6 images and sometimes even a very nice 8×10. For excellent quality 11×14’s go for 6 megapixels.

2) Let There be Light (but Make it the Right Kind)

Natural lighting is almost always best so don’t worry if you don’t have a flash or any fancy equipment. If your only flash is the built-in one, that’s all the more reason to opt for natural light. Built-in flashes can make subjects look flat. That’s why the pros use an external flash and bounce light off the umbrellas. There are tricks you can use like wearing a white shirt or taping foil to the camera to bounce the light off the ceiling, but if you want an easy way to get professional quality photos without the equipment, go outdoors.

When taking pictures outdoors, consider the position of the sun. With the exception of sunrise and dawn, the lower the sun is in the sky the better. You should also try to avoid noon as this time brings the harshest shadows. Unless the sky is part of your photograph, bright overcast days produce the best light.

3) Compose a Perfect Picture

Getting a fast snapshot of something without any thought mostly depends upon luck. But by first learning how to compose a photo, you will end up with more pictures that look good and are suitable for framing. The pictures you take will look more like what you had in mind when you clicked the shutter release.

There is a lot to learn about photo composition, but for starters, here is the number one rule. Fill the frame of the viewfinder. First, decide on what is the most important subject in your photo and then move close enough (or zoom-optical zoom is best) to fill the viewfinder with the subject. For example, if the subject is your grandmother watering her petunias then that’s the subject not her entire yard. Many make the mistake of losing their subjects in the landscape.

4) Steady Now

It doesn’t take much camera movement to create a blur, in fact most times, you’ll never even notice the movement until you see the blurry picture. For sharp photographs, keep your elbows down, feet apart and hold the camera steady while pressing (not punching) the shutter release. Continue holding still until the light indicates the camera has finished taking the picture. When you are taking a photo that needs a slower than usual shutter speed, like a fireworks display, use a tripod to steady the camera. You can also use other items as props to set your camera on as long as you have a remote shutter release. A good rule of thumb is to use a tripod for shutter speeds slower than 1/60.

5) Share Your Creations

If your photos are digital, use a photo editor to bring copies (save originals) of your photos down to the appropriate size for your website, email, photo album or picture frame. Use photo-printing paper that is compatible with your printer model. If you’re using a film camera but want photos for email or a website, use a quality scanner or when dropping off film to be developed, request a CD. 

Frame your best photographs and display them in a decorative wood picture frame. A picture framed in a classic silver picture frame also makes a very welcome gift, especially when it is a portrait of someone special. Remember a portrait can be of a single person, family, multiple friends or a beloved pet…the list is endless, and again, these make lovely gifts, especially when framed nicely.

By using these 5 tips you’ll help to expand your photography knowledge so you can continue to take even better looking photographs.