Berwyn & District

Hints and tips

Hints and tips for using your camera/cameraphone.

Lesley James

  • Composition - Think about the whole image, what are you wanting the main subject of interest to be? What ELSE is in the picture, make a decision about whether to hold the camera portrait (vertical) or landscape (horizontal) to best frame the subject. I used to tell my students to take your eye for a walk around the edge of the frame, and notice whats there, and move if you want to to improve the image! Are you close enough, is there a better angle etc. etc!
  • Lighting - Is it interesting, good enough? Some interesting photos, subject wise, are ruined because the lighting is just dull!
  • Most camera phones have some photo editing tools, so use them to lighten/darken etc. or crop the image to improve them, if necessary. However its easy to go too far, so use with a light touch!

Peter Yates

  • Cropping is often the key to getting good photos.
  • Photos are about light so time of day is important when photographing outdoors. When I was learning to be a photographer I was told never to take pictures close to the middle of the day, but as a photojournalist I soon forgot that rule, but it can be helpful to remember that the light is better for photography early and late in the day.

Violet Greaves

  • Photographing animals can be tricky. If they are the focus of your attention get as close as you can and if they are looking into the camera, all the better! Try and get all of the animal in if you can.
  • Look out for anything that distracts the viewer from what you are trying to promote e.g. stray bits of grass, a spot on a petal. You can often edit these out if they are small enough. It’s amazing what you discover in a photograph that you didn’t realise was there at the time of taking it.
  • Try not to over use filters as it can look a bit fake unless that is the look you are going for….
  • Watch out for things like your shadow in the photo, unless, again it is intentional.
  • Think about the framing and crop it to get it right if you need to. Parts of other things on the edge of a photo tend to distract the viewer from what should be the focus of attention.
  • Last but not least try and make sure you have your landscape/image level.

Chris Potter
with particular reference to week 5 photos

  • All the photographs show that the contestants have being paying lots of attention to all that is going on around them, and they have a sharp eye for detail. I know traditional famous photographers like Cartier Bresson would never reframe a shot, but sometimes when looking again at the photo some particular area may well benefit from being cropped to create a different focus.
  • Close-ups benefit from context - the bee immersed deep in the flower works better than a spider on its own even though the detail is sharp.
  • Sometimes all the image has to do is hint at a story, like the empty exercise bicycle, and the technical quality of the image takes second place. The window sill with its collection of objects and the view outside (including the ladder), speak to me of an absence, of something that has just happened, or someone who has just left. The viewer is left wondering and waiting.
  • Some images just work well for the composition - the landscape with bright red on the warning posts leaping out in contrast, the rich red/browns of the highland cattle against the green field are all striking and well observed.

John Brannagan

  • To take better photographs keep experimenting
  • Always be on the lookout for something that interests you
  • Enjoy it
  • Play with the light
  • Try from different angles, you will get pleasant surprises,