Guest post by Jakob Schiller
There’s no magic pill that will make you a professional photographer. But there are a couple techniques and tricks that will always make your photos better. Here are five:
1. Concentrate on the moment: A moment is a smile, laugh, frown or some sort of expression that a person shows. Or a moment can also be that split second when the sun pokes through the clouds and shines directly on the mountains in front of you. Moments will always make your pictures better because they capture the essence of a person or a place.
2. Get closer: The famous photographer Robert Capa once said, "If your photographs aren't good enough, you're not close enough." What he means is, don’t be afraid to get right in front of or next to what you’re photographing. Closeness often creates intimacy and helps you capture a better moment.
3. Move around: Don’t take all your photos standing up. Sometimes you need to lie flat on the ground to make the best picture. Or sometimes you need to climb a ladder or a tree to get the right angle.
4. Be patient: You can’t force photos to happen, so you have to be patient. All you can do is try to be in the right place at the right time so when the photo does happen, you’re ready. Professional photographers sometimes wait hours, days, even weeks, for the photo to happen, so don’t force it.
5. Buy better glass (lenses): You can’t buy your way to good photography, so don’t try. But a good lens can help make a nice photo even better. A good lens will add a kind of sharpness you can’t get elsewhere, and lenses are good investments because they don’t get outdated as quickly as cameras.