Dicky Tong's Photographic Blog: What camera to buy? - Part 3

The final part of what to look out for when buying a camera is improving your skills. Whilst the best equipment in the world might help get a crisp and sharp image, it doesn't help in terms of composing a photo and some shots I've taken have been taken using just a $300 point and shoot camera. Of course this doesn't mean I'll give up my big Canon camera for wedding jobs but provided you know the limitation of your camera and you are able to overcome them, then I believe anyone can take a great photo. Below is some tips that I believe should help any photographer take much better photos.

Rule of Thirds

Amongst the myraid of information on the internet (including this one), there's only one composition methology that impacts greatly to getting that great photo. The first one that makes a big difference is the "Rule of thirds". By using this "rule", it will improve any photo in any situation.

The basic premise of this rule is that a photo is divided into thirds and the aim is to place the object of focus in 4 intersecting spots. So in simple terms, don't put the object you're photographing in the middle of the photo.

Whilst it's called the "Rule of Thirds", it is like a road rule, it's meant to be broken so don't follow this to the letter of the law. Creativity occurs when the rules are broken.

Below is an image of how this is applied. You'll notice the head of this sculpture is placed on the lower right corner of the frame and by placing it down there, it allows a larger perspective as to the space this sculpture is looking at.

Check your background

The other tip I can provide is to look out in the background of offending objects. Below is a classic example of a photographer not doing their job. In the foreground, we have a car which obviously is what the photographer is taking a photo of for a news article, however in the background, the photographer has failed to notice the "Wrong way go back" sign (albeit blurred).

It may be an oversight from the photographer but if someone wants to communicate a hidden message, this is certainly one way.
















Take more photos

The last piece of advice I'd give to choosing the right camera is to use it and use it often. There's nothing worse than seeing people buy a nice camera and end up gathering dust after the honeymoon period.