Summer has finally arrived and what better way to capture those long, lazy days filled with family time than with photographs?
If you’re not a snap-happy enthusiast, Crawley Down Camera Club will have that sorted in next to no time with their top photography tips…
in the last year alone, photography – thanks to smartphones and improvements in camera technology – is part of our daily lives.
How often have you taken a photograph, and then wished you had angled it slightly differently, or that the composition or lighting was better?
Crawley Down Camera Club, who have been meeting twice monthly since 2012, was created for photographers of all abilities to meet and share their experiences and knowledge.
Best of all, as this enthusiastic group is all about encouraging members to start taking photos, there’s no emphasis on having the latest equipment or most expensive camera – in fact, some members just start out using their mobile phones and still create perfect photos!
“I joined because I had heard it was a friendly club, didn’t take itself too seriously and I was keen to get back into photography again,” one member told us.
“I am often amused that some of the best photos in our competitions are captured on some of the simplest cameras. The person makes the photograph, not the camera!”
With that mantra in mind, we asked the group to share their top tips for how we can improve our photography skills, ready for those summer occasions:
Top Tips
- Learn about your camera – don’t be afraid to experiment with the controls
- Change your elevation viewpoint. Kneel down or stand on a high point to capture photographs from a different/ interesting angle
- Look at the light. Where is it coming from? Is it the golden hours (dawn and dusk)? Getting this right will make a real difference to how your photograph looks and will also determine the best place to stand for optimum results
- Think about the composition of the photo, including the rule of thirds (dividing up your image using two horizontal lines and two vertical lines and then positioning essential elements along those lines, or where they meet) and fill the frame (focusing on one subject for impact)
- Take photos and go back again and re-take from a different perspective
Perhaps the most important tip though came from member Jill Crawford who simply said: “If it pleases you to look at – take a shot for the memory bank!”
Want to learn more? Crawley Down Camera Club meet at the Haven Centre from 8pm on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. www.cdcamclub.org
Are you a keen photographer?
Can you add to these tips?
Do you have what you think is a picture perfect summer photo?
We’d love to share them with our readers!
Email us tips and photos to featuresdesk@mantramagazines.co.uk
