Are you one that just takes pictures of friends without thinking how they might turn out?  Portrait photography takes you a step up from people photography.  It gives you elements to notice such as the angle you take the photograph, the lighting you will use, and the expression of emotion on a persons face.  While you may be an amateur photographer deciding to take Christmas photos without the expense you will need to have some basic knowledge of techniques used by the professionals. You can find this knowledge through a digital photography course online but  first, read a good digital photography course review.

First when taking a photograph of a person you need to study their face.  The face is important to the angle you will shoot from.  Though it is a cliché, it is true some people have a better side.  This could be in relation to scarring or acne breakouts or even simpler.  For instance my left eye is larger than my right by just a bit, and looking head on into the camera will cause a horrible portrait, however if the photographer comes from the right side and angles up a little the light and shadows will help even out the features while keeping the distinctions that make me who I am.

Portrait photography is about capturing the essence of the subject, the personality.  The little nuances of a face add character to the portrait.  You will want to loosen up your subjects.  If you are becoming a professional portrait photographer you will want to learn about your subject as you are taking pictures or perhaps meet them before the session.You should know what would get their personality captured on film if they are just your family. 

Lighting is the next important step to portrait photography.Natural light is preferred by a lot of photographers over artificial light.  Your subject will in part decide this for you.  Remember you will use the light you have.  Natural light will often require setting the aperture to compensate for the cameras lack of definition.To get the effect you want you need to create the contrast between the light and shadows in other words.  Often artificial light is harsh and not directed properly unless in a studio.  Again you will need to use the manual settings on your camera to create the perfect portrait. 

The background is also important when discussing light.  In a studio a photographer will pick a background that will not wash your features out or your clothing.  They want to have a distinction or contrast between you and the background.  This is also important of home portrait photography.A background that gives color to your subject rather than taking it away is what you want.  Finding a nice spot with a tree to sit on and mountains in the background can be a great portrait, but you will want to make sure the background is not too busy to distract from the subject.  Make the subject seem apart of the picture rather than outside of it.

The type of camera and film you use will also determine the quality of the photograph.  Once you combine techniques such as lighting, angles, and understanding your subject you will be able to create a near to professional if not professional portrait for your friends and family no matter the occasion.  Just snapping a picture is possible, but it would be great to have a better portrait?

If you are a sports fan, you know what it means when a team goes into a “rebuilding year”.This is when coaches and owners decide it is time to correct bad habits in people and train new ones as well.All teams leadership say when they go to such a circumstance is they are going back to the basics.”

Sometimes it’s good for us as photographers to go back to photography basics .The basics are the place to start if you want to learn the ropes especially if you are just getting started in the world of photography.  But you want the basics of what the professionals know about the craft of photography.

Anybody can take a picture.  I attended a wedding reception where the wedding party left a disposable digital camera on each table at the reception for guests to snap photos.  Before the evening was over, it was the children who were running around taking pictures of everything from the dirty dishes to their own underwear.  These were not photographers and while those pictures will no doubt get a few chuckles, these are not the kind of professional pictures people want for their long-term memories.

The cornerstone of basics of digital photography is the camera obviously.  When you see a camera geek walking around with enough equipment on his neck to launch a space shuttle, you get the impression that cameras are phenomenally complex, more than mere mortals can grasp.If you watch you’ll notice that professionals use relatively easy to operate and portable cameras.The reason is that aperture and shutter speed are the basics of operating a camera.

Don’t let fancy terms bother you.How wide your lens is set open to let light in is called aperture.The shutter speed is the amount of time you allow light to enter the lens and in turn affect the picture.  For getting a shot of a fast moving event, you want a wide aperture to let in a lot of light but a short shutter speed so you capture the event quickly and close the window so the picture is caught before more light hurts the quality.

Photography is simply all about light.You need to learn about flash photography and lenses in order to learn how to control the lighting in a shot.Make sure that one of your core photography skills is the desire to never stop learning.You will learn more as your ability to work with the equipment becomes better and more sophisticated and you will want to learn more.

You can get a greater control over these basic controls of the camera such as aperture and shutter speed by learning how to switch from automatic settings to manual settings.  The automatic settings of any camera are just there for the general public who are not interested in learning the basics.You will learn some basic setting like sports settings, portait and landscape settings as well.Different situations require different settings and you learn which works best when you switch to manual.

And that takes us to the most important photography basics about becoming a great photographer and that is practice.  Take some time with your equipment and play with it.  Take it to situations and take photos with different aperture and shutter speed settings, in outdoor and indoor settings and different orientations to light.  Don’t get upset when some shots don’t work.  That’s part of the learning curve.

By learning by doing, you will build your confidence in your work and eventually become a great photographer.  But don’t get cocky, there is always more to learn.  And that is one of the fun things about photography, isn’t it?