Shooting

This article outlines the best techniques for taking photographs of everyday life, including shooting tips we can learn from the pioneers in street photography.

How in-camera pre-sets can assist with low-light shooting.

Polarising filters should be one of the first tools in the camera bag for an outdoor photographer, as they suppress reflections and reduce the effect of atmospheric haze. Landscape photographers often fit polarisers to darken the sky and make white clouds more prominent. And they are also handy when you want to subdue glare from reflective surfaces like water and glass.

Although anyone with a smart-phone can take candid pictures in public places, most of these photos are little more than snapshots and easily forgotten. True street photography requires a lot more than point-and-press picture-taking.

Less can be more when you want to create different looking images.A basic tenet of photographic composition urges photographers to fill the frame with the subject. While this strategy works well most of the time, there are situations when a minimalist approach can give a refreshing new slant to your creative vision.

By Alex Cearns.
Great travel photos tell a story by opening our minds to interpretation and allowing us a glimpse into the lives of others. By considering each image as an individual story we can transform visually stimulating locations, landmarks or scenes into visual drama and a more intense experience for the viewer.

Reflections – whether wildly distorted or perfectly rendered – are a lot of fun to explore.

Almost since the first point-and-shoot digicams were invented, camera manufacturers have come to the aid of novice photographers by providing pre-set exposure modes to help them select appropriate aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings for popular photographic genres. The first of the ‘Scene’ pre-sets were for portrait, landscape and sports photography. But it wasn’t long before night portrait and night landscape pre-sets were added and it’s not uncommon for modern cameras to provide separate pre-sets covering fireworks, candlelight, sunset and dusk and/or dawn.

While point-and-shoot cameras automatically pop up their flashes when light levels are low, a surprising number of serious photographers avoid using flash wherever possible. However, used properly, additional light sources can extend your picture-taking opportunities and result in better, more engaging, pictures. The trick is to know what add-on lighting to use and when to use it.