I’m Ashley Fairfield and I’m a freelance photographer. Since transforming my passion into a great source of income, I have never looked back. Whether you are a professional photographer or a beginner with a new hobby, I hope that the information here will help you to develop your love of photography and most importantly help you take some good pictures.

Throughout this guide I cover a range of photography themes and tips aimed at really helping you enhance your photographic capability. You’ll see many photos illustrating and explaining the techniques, all of which I have personally taken from places around the world.

Some top tips to get you started with:

1: Snap away! Take loads of pics. You can always delete the bad ones later.
2: Don’t be afraid. Some people get intimidated taking photos of other people or things. People generally will let you know if they don’t like you taking pictures of them. If thats the case, stop, smile and apologise.
3: Think. Avoid the old ‘point-and-click’ method. You will have a much better success rate if you stop and think about taking your photo.
4: Fill the Frame. There is nothing worse than when you have a look at an photo that you have taken and you have lost all the beautiful detail that you saw originally. Aim to fill the frame with your subject and remember the best kind of zoom is to use your legs.
5: Have fun. Enjoy it and be creative!

The ‘Rule’ of Thirds

The ‘Rule of Thirds’ is the basis for well-balanced and interesting shots. I will say right up front however that rules are meant to be broken and ignoring this one doesn’t mean your images are necessarily unbalanced or uninteresting. However a wise person once told me that if you intend to break a rule you should always learn it first to make sure your breaking of it is all the more effective!

The basic principle of the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (horizontally and vertically) as in this grid:

The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines, your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to engage with it more naturally. Studies have shown that when viewing images, people’s eyes usually go to one of the intersection points automatically, rather than the center of the shot. Using this rule, works with this natural way of viewing an image rather than against it.

Breaking the rule can result in some striking shots – so once you’ve learnt it experiment with purposefully breaking it to see what you discover.

Lines

The lines that can be found in images are very powerful elements that, with a little practice, can add dynamic impact to a photograph. Lines can effect the mood of an image, as well as act as a powerful tool to lead a viewer into a photo or their eye towards a subject.

I am going to show you how you can use horizontal, vertical, diagonal and converging lines to enhance your photos.

Horizontal Lines

Horizontal lines can be used really effectively in your photos to help convey the message of stability or rest. Have a think about the most common horizontal things and you will find they normally stay still eg… Oceans, sleeping people and fallen trees.

Horizons are the most common horizontal line to be found in photographs and they often act as a dividing point in a photograph. Keep in mind that unbroken horizons can often lead to a photograph feeling somewhat static or dull and a good strategy is to use other shapes in the landscape you’re photograph to break things up and give a point of interest (mountains, trees, buildings etc).

Vertical Lines

Vertical lines have the ability to convey a variety of different moods in a photograph ranging from power and strength (think of skyscrapers) to growth (think of trees).

Keep in mind the Rule of Thirds when you have strong vertical lines in a photograph. Placing a line directly in the middle of a shot will effectively cut your image in half. This can be used with dramatic impact but also can leave your image looking segmented.

Diagonal Lines

Diagonal lines generally work well to draw the eye of an image’s viewer through the photograph. They create points of interest as they intersect with other lines and often give images depth by suggesting perspective.

Different studies have been done into how people view images and many of them say that a natural way into an image is by travelling left to right and so a diagonal line starting at the bottom left and moving to the top right of an image can be quite useful and natural.

Horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines that are repeated through out an image can create very effective patterns that can easily become the subject of a photograph themselves. A recently plowed field or the ridges on a sand dune might be good examples of this.

Converging Lines

Multiple lines that converge together (or come close to one another) can be a great technique to lead your viewers eye into a shot. Perhaps the classic example of converging lines are railway tracks.

Position yourself in the middle of two tracks (after taking a look at what might be coming from behind) and you’ll see the two tracks on either side of you appear to get closer and closer together as they go into the distance.

Take this shot and the natural reaction for those looking at the scene will be for them to follow the lines off into the distance. In a sense the two lines act like a funnel which directs the gaze of those entering them in a certain direction.
The same effect can be achieved with roads or pathways, converging fence lines, a set of stairs, power lines or virtually any other lines that run parallel into the distance or that actually converge at some point.

Framing

We often put the photos we take into frames as a way of displaying and drawing attention to our favorite photos – but there is another type of framing that you can do as you’re taking your shots that can be just as effective and does just the same thing!

Framing is the technique of drawing attention to the subject of your image by blocking other parts of the image with something in the scene.

Frames for photographs come in all shapes and sizes and can include shooting through overhanging branches, shooting through windows, using tunnels, arches or doorways – you can even use people (for example shooting over shoulders or between heads) etc.

Your frame doesn’t need to go completely around the edges of your image – it might just be on one or two edges of your shot in order to still achieve the same effect.

The benefits of framing pictures include:

1: Giving the photo context. Framing an outdoors scene with an archway, for example, can tell you something about the place you are at by the architecture. Including foliage in the foreground of a shot can convey a sense of being out in nature.

2: Giving images a sense of depth and layers. Putting something in the foreground adds an extra dimension to the shot.

3: Leading the eye towards your main focal point. Some also believe that a frame can not only draw the eye into a picture but that it keeps it there longer – giving a barrier between your subject and the outside of the shot.
Sometimes framing can just add clutter to a shot and make it feel cramped – but at other times it can be the difference between an ordinary shot and a stunning one.

My rule of thumb when considering framing is to ask the question: “Will this add to or take away from the image?”

Lastly, if you do use framing, you also need to consider whether you want your frame to be in focus or not. In some instances a nicely blurred frame will really add a sense of mood and depth to your shots (in this case use a large aperture if you have an SLR) but in other cases to have your frame in focus can help with adding context to the scene.

White Balance

White Balance is an aspect of photography well worth learning about as it has a real impact upon the shots you take. So for those of you who have been avoiding White Balance – let me introduce you to it.
At its simplest – the reason we adjust white balance is to get the colors in your images as accurate as possible.

Why would you need to get the color right in your shots?

You might have noticed when examining shots after taking them that at times images can come out with an orange, blue, yellow etc look to them – despite the fact that to the naked eye the scene looked quite normal. The reason for this is that images different sources of light have a different ‘color’ (or temperature) to them. Fluorescent lighting adds a bluish cast to photos whereas tungsten (incandescent/bulbs) lights add a yellowish tinge to photos.

The range in different temperatures ranges from the very cool light of blue sky through to the very warm light of a candle. So for cooler (blue or green) light you’ll tell the camera to warm things up and in warm light you’ll tell it to cool down.

Adjusting White Balance

Different digital cameras have different ways of adjusting white balance so ultimately you’ll need to get out your camera’s manual to work out the specifics of how to make changes. Having said this – many digital cameras have automatic and semi-automatic modes to help you make the adjustments. If you have a camera where you can adjust the white balance manually this is great. For the majority of cameras it involves pointing the camera at something that is true white (paper) and you will be able to adjust your colors accordingly from there.

Preset White Balance Settings

Here are some of the basic White Balance settings you’ll find on cameras:

Auto. The camera makes a best guess on a shot by shot basis. You’ll find it works in many situations but it’s worth venturing out of it for trickier lighting.

Fluorescent. This compensates for the ‘cool’ light of fluorescent light and will warm up your shots.

Tungsten. It is usually symbolised with a bulb and is for shooting indoors, especially under tungsten (incandescent) lighting (such as bulb lighting). It generally cools down the colors in photos.

Daylight/Sunny. Not all cameras have this setting because it sets things as fairly ‘normal’ white balance settings.

Cloudy. This setting generally warms things up a touch more than ‘daylight’ mode.

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