Photo wallpaper is becoming more and more popular by the day, and so many of you are looking into getting a personalised wallpaper design for your homes. Even big businesses are using photo wallpaper to spruce up their offices to help keep their employees awake on a Monday morning (and let's face it, we ALL need help waking up on a Monday morning!).
Smart phones and digital cameras are also everywhere, and with technology as good as it is, taking a great quality photo has never been easier. That said, though, no amount of technology can make up for the photography world's biggest enemy: people!
We all know them. Those people who squint and pull faces in really lovely photos just as you press the button; those people who turn the flash on full and blind everyone in the room every five minutes; those people who say "smile" and then drag out the next thirty seconds adjusting the focus and playing with the zoom until your cheeks hurt so much from smiling for so long you end up in every single photo looking like Wallace from Wallace and Gromit!
So, before I get too angry, I thought I'd give you a few hints and tips on how to make the most of your photos, and how to get the best looking designs you can.
1. Composition
"Uh-oh. He's getting technical already." Don't worry, it's nowhere near as complicated as it sounds. The composition is just where everything is in the photo and how it's all put together. A photo with good composition has the important bits in focus, and everything around it in place. A photo with bad composition normally has half a face cut off, it's at a weird angle, and there's a leg in the corner that nobody recognises...
A great technique to use is the 'rule of thirds'. In your head, break up the photo into nine equal squares, like a game of noughts and crosses. With photos, rather than filling the boxes, try and make sure that the important parts of the image sit on the lines. If you put your focus on the centre square, your photos end up looking static and quite boring. Using the rule of thirds, you can add a bit of depth and movement to your photos, and it's a really simple trick to use.
2. Exposure
Again, it's a scary sounding term, but don't panic. Exposure is just brightness to you and me. Adjusting the exposure of your shot can make the world of difference to the finished product. Digital cameras normally adjust the exposure of a shot automatically, but even sophisticated cameras can't quite pick up the same detail that the human eye can, which is why sometimes you need to switch to manual mode and adjust it yourself. When it snows, for example, most cameras will try and tone down the white of the snow, making it come out more of a grey colour. Heightening the exposure slightly will keep your images shimmering and white. Many cameras have a +/- button to make it really easy. If your photo looks too dark, move it up, if it looks too bright, move it down. It's a simple adjustment, but it could result in a huge improvement for your photos.
3. Aperture
Okay, this one is a little complicated, but if you get it right, this setting could become your new best friend. Aperture controls the depth of field, which is to do with the focus of the image - it's the difference between a landscape photo of a beach and a close up of a flower. For wider shots, or for shots where you want as much detail as possible in both the foreground and the background, then you need a small aperture setting. For close-ups where only the subject matters and you want the background blurred or faded, you need a large aperture. You may not find this setting on your average digital camera, but those of you using a good quality D-SLR camera (the ones with the sticky-out lens that look really professional) should be able to find it quite easily.
- A low number, eg. f/1.4, gives you a large aperture, which creates a lovely focused image.
Whatever dial you need to turn or button you need to press, you should see certain numbers appear on the screen. Now this is where it gets a bit complicated. Aperture is backwards. A high number, eg. f/22, means a small aperture, which gets you full focus and lots of detail. A low number gets you a large aperture, like this picture of a ladybird, which will focus on the main image and leave the background soft and blurred.
It's all a bit mind-boggling at first, but play around with the settings and take some practise shots and you'll soon get the hang of it. A clever way of thinking about it is looking at the number of 'things' you want in the shot. Lots of people or buildings across a large photo, high number. One thing in the foreground, low number. Once you master that, you can dramatically improve your photos with one simple change.
4. Fill the frame
So many people take photos from far too far away, especially if they're taking photos of people. It can ruin a perfectly good shot if when people see it they have to squint and search the image to find people. Unless you're deliberately taking photos for a real-life Where's Wally magazine, I'd suggest getting in closer.
There's a few ways you can do this. Most, if not all cameras today, have a decent zoom function. Use it. I'm not saying we need to see shots of the inside of your friend's nostrils, but getting closer to the action of the shot and filling the frame makes for a far more interesting photo. If your zoom isn't particularly good, or you're worried about a loss of quality, then use your legs! Move forward for a much cleaner shot. This allows your subject to fill the frame and become the focus of the image, rather than being a tiny speck in the distance.
5. Stay still!
You'd be surprised at the amount of blurred, fuzzy pictures we get send here at WallpaperInk, and nine times out of ten it's because whoever was taking the photo can't keep still. It is difficult to hold a camera properly, and particularly if you're on the go, it can be hard to stop and take your time with a shot. Luckily, there are a few handy tips out there for keeping yourself steady.
Holding your breath is a brilliant way of stabilising your body. Just before you take a shot, take a slow, deep breath in and hold it. Take the shot, then release. It works the opposite way too. Exhale and hold, then click, then breathe in. Whichever way you do it, you'll find that your body is far more rigid when you take the photo, and therefore your image will look a lot more crisp and detailed.
Additionally, if you can find something solid to lean against, this will also really improve your stability. Simply just resting against a wall or a fence holds your body in place, allowing you to concentrate on holding the camera steady.
- A monopod is a more mobile alternative to a tripod.
Tripods are a fantastic addition to any photographer's collection, and there are hundreds of different models to choose from. They are perfect for stabilising a shot, and they can allow you to jump in the photo too. If you move around a lot, and a tripod is a little cumbersome to drag along with you, there are monopods available. They are just single tripod legs that you lean against your body, with your own two legs making up the tripod. They're far easier to carry around, especially as most of them retract, and they can be invaluable to a photographer on the go.
And our final tip...
Have fun with it! Photography isn't a chore. There are rules and guidelines galore that tell you how to do this, that, and the other, but at the end of the day they're your photos. Play around with them. Break some rules, change the settings, move around. The more you experiment, the better your shots will be.
And as always, practice makes perfect.
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