How to Take More Professional Photographs

There are no quick and easy ways for becoming a professional photographer. It takes years and years of learning and practice to become a pro in photography and photo retouching. Still, there are certain things that you can immediately improve to get better pictures without having to spend a lot of time learning.

After you have finished passing the steps we will mention today, you will become a competent, solid photographer. After this, the speed at which you progress will be much slower and you will have to put in a lot of time and work to get your photos to an expert level. Nonetheless, here are the most important steps you need to take to skyrocket your progress during the early stages of your career as a photographer.

Step 1: Remove Clutter

If you look at any professional photograph you will see that there is nothing on it that shouldn’t be there. Any irrelevant details are removed or avoided, so that the viewer can concentrate on things that are important. For example, if you are looking to shoot a landscape, you may catch a bit of litter or dead twigs. Those items that you couldn’t exclude when shooting should be removed in post-production.

Step 2: Start Paying Attention to Details

Tiny and seemingly unimportant details can be the difference between a dull and an interesting image. You might not notice a necklace slipped to the side and pressed the shutter release, but this will later take the viewers attention away from the people in the photograph. It is essential that you make it a habit to scan your whole frame before taking a photo and check for interesting details.

Step 3: Clean Dust Marks

It’s a well-known fact that sensors tend to get dirty once in a while. This is not a big deal if you retouch and check each and every image you share or publish. In order to be sure that you’ve removed every speck, observe images with a 100 % methodical approach, going from the top left corner to the bottom right. If you notice that you are cleaning the same marks on regular basis, then the time has come to clean the sensor on your camera.

Step 4: Level the Horizon

When you get caught up in the moment, taking photos and concentrating on your main subject, you can easily forget about considering the horizon in the back. There are photographs that are special just because they have a small slant, but the basic thing is to learn to level the horizon before you get enough experience to recognize moments when a photo might be better without leveling.

Step 5: Find Your Timing

All professional photographers have a concept of “ideal time” for taking a photograph. They all say that there is a point at which you can get the most out of a certain composition. For example, when someone is shooting a footballer who is going for the goal, it’s usually better to take the photo in the exact moment when he kicks the ball, slightly before it or after.

This is much better than taking a photo when the ball leaves the frame or when it’s in midair. An important aspect of taking a photograph is to follow what’s going on in front of you, and to learn to recognize the most intriguing moments for a photo.

Step 6: Keep the Lighting in Mind

There is a big reason why people take landscape photographs early in the morning or at the end of the day. This is because the small sun creates amazing warm light with soft and long shadows that shape the land in great detail. At noon, the sun is at its highest point, and it creates short and harsh shadows. All types of lighting are suitable for some kind of photographs, and you will need to learn what you can use appropriately.

These are some of the most important steps you need to make to build your base as a photographer. Bear in mind that this is not all there is to it, and you will have to learn much more to become a professional that can earn a lot of money from this hobby