How To Take Better Photos

Are you wondering about how to take better photos? Do you ever look at a photo you took and think, “Why doesn’t this look as good as I remember it?”

Maybe the kids were adorable, the light was beautiful, and the moment was perfect—but somehow the photograph doesn’t quite capture what you saw.

If you’ve ever wished you could take better photos of your family, your travels, your everyday life, or simply learn how to get more out of the camera sitting in your closet, you’re in the right place.

I’m Kelley, and I didn’t start out as a professional photographer. In fact, I learned photography because I wanted to take better pictures of my own family.

What started with a little camera, a newborn baby, and absolutely no idea what I was doing eventually turned into a photography career.

So if you’re wondering how to take better photos, I’m going to walk you through the same basic skills that helped me go from putting my camera on Auto to intentionally creating photographs I loved.

You don’t need the most expensive camera.

You don’t need to understand every button and menu.

And you definitely don’t need to become a professional photographer.

You just need to learn a few fundamentals, practice them, and start paying attention to what makes a photograph work.

Let’s get started.

TL/DR: What Are the Most Important Things for Taking Better Photos?

If you want to take better photos, don’t worry about learning everything at once. Start with these five things:

1. Learn how your camera works. Understand the basic settings that control exposure, focus, and the look of your image. This applies to iPhone photography too!
2. Learn to use light. Good light can make an enormous difference in a photograph, even when you’re using a phone.
3. Pay attention to composition. Think about what’s inside your frame, what’s distracting from your subject, and where your eye goes when you look at the photograph.
4. Choose the right lens or focal length. The lens you use changes how your subject and background look.
5. Practice and analyze your photographs. The more intentionally you photograph, look at your results, and figure out what worked (and what didn’t), the faster you’ll improve.

And here’s the part I wish someone had emphasized to me when I was first learning photography:

You don’t need better equipment nearly as much as you need better understanding.

A more expensive camera can give you more options, but learning how to use the equipment you already have is what will actually help you grow.

Consider fast-tracking your journey to taking better photos by investing in photography education that can teach you the basics of how to use your camera and what to look for when trying to create visually pleasing images.

How To Take Better Photos with Your iPhone

Whoops! Did you come to this post specifically looking for tips on how to make better pictures with your iPhone, but instead get an ear-full about photography with a camera?

Let me give you a few tips before I dive into my photography tips that are more camera specific.

I do love my “big” camera and take it with me on all of our big family trip and outings. However, I also know that often the best camera is the one that you have with you! If you’re like me, you pretty much take your iPhone everywhere, so it’s certainly worth your time to learn how to create better pictures with it!

What you can’t control on your iPhone

Your iPhone is really a “point and shoot” camera. Therefore, the “exposure” settings I spent time discussing above are set or chosen by your phone. (There are third party apps that you can download that will allow you to choose shutter speed and ISO.)

Your iPhone lens has actually has a set aperture. I know that it appears that you can choose an aperture or f-stop in portrait mode, but that’s actually a computer simulation. If you zoom in closely and look at the edges or your subject you can tell. (This doesn’t mean that I don’t use the portrait mode f-stop setting. I’m just careful with it and stick to f4.0 or higher so that the simulation doesn’t look obviously fake.)

What you can control on your iPhone

While you can’t exactly control your exposure settings on the iPhone, you do have several factors that you can manipulate to take better pictures!

1. Focal length: You can choose which lens takes the image! On my iPhone 17 Pro there are 3 lenses:
   • The Main Lens has a 24mm focal length (1x) and f1.75 aperture.
   • The Ultra Wide Lens has a 13mm focal length (.5) and f2.2 aperture.
   • The Telephoto Lens has a 100mm focal length (4x) and f2.2 aperture.
   • You can also use digital zoom to get to 50mm (2x) focal length
   • Why does all of this matter? Because using the right focal length can have a huge impact on taking better pictures! The 13mm is great for capturing a lot in the frame, but it will distort lines in the image. 24mm also captures a lot in the scene with less distortion. 50mm is the most similar to what our eyes see. The 100mm focal length is most flattering to the human face and make far away elements look closer.

2. Light: Even if you can’t choose your camera settings using the iPhone, you can still choose what type of lighting you use to create your photos as discussed below!

3. Composition: Likewise, I big piece of taking better pictures when using an iPhone is really thinking through your composition as will be further discussed below.

Admittedly, iPhone photography is a little different from traditional photography with a camera. But a photo is still a photo! Learning basic skills of how to use focal length, light, composition, and posing will make a huge difference no matter what camera you are using!

My Own Journey Learning How To Take Good Photos

I actually never planned to become a photographer. While I’ve always enjoyed artistic outlets, such as theatre and crafting, I never took any visual art classes in high school or college. At the encouragement of my family, I chose a practical healthcare career that had the opportunity for part time work when I started a family. I didn’t particularly like my job, but I thought that was “just life”.

It all changed when I gave birth to our first child. Ironically, I failed to schedule newborn photos. We were some of the first couples in our friend group to become parents. I honestly didn’t even realize newborn photos were “a thing”. My mom brought it to my attention, asking if I had scheduled a session.

Our daughter was born at the beginning of November. What I did not know at the time is that this is the season of peak fall colors in our area. Therefore, it also coincides with the height of the family photography busy season. Most of the photographers I reached out to were booked or out of our meager budget.

My first photoshoot

Being the DIY type, I pulled out the little crop sensor mirrorless camera I had purchased for our travels and took the newborn portraits myself one afternoon when light was streaming through the windows. My mom was there to take a few of the three of us.

These photos were shot with the camera set to auto because I had no idea what any of the camera settings meant. My camera came with a CD of “this editing program” called Lightroom. I loaded it onto my computer and played around. The results of my labors were fine enough for our birth announcement/Christmas card in my book! (In fact, one of the portraits is now professionally framed and hanging in our upstairs hallway.)

A Basic Community College Photography Class Changed It All!

Knowing that I enjoyed learning new skills and seeing that I was floundering a bit during the first weeks of motherhood, my sweet husband suggested that I might enjoy learning about photography and how to take good pictures. “We are going to want more pictures of her as she grows!” He looked up details about a beginner photography class at a local community college.

Little did he know that my journey toward learning how to make good pictures would result in me quitting my healthcare job to pursue professional photography full time! Whoops!

Indeed, my path from that DIY newborn photo session to professional photographer is a much longer story. I won’t take the time to share it here. However, I will share the basic steps that got me started! Hopefully, they will help you get a step or two farther down the path too!

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1. Learn How Your Camera Works

Okay, I may be stating the obvious here. If you want to learn how to take good pictures, it’s time to learn how to properly use a camera.

However, you don’t have to own a professional camera to take better photos.

In fact, if you already have a camera sitting in your closet, I’d start there before spending money on new equipment.

Whether you’re using a DSLR, mirrorless camera, point-and-shoot, or your phone, learning what your camera is actually doing when you press the shutter will give you much more control over your photographs.

A camera is a tool. The more you understand the tool, the more intentionally you can use it.

If you have a dedicated camera, start by learning the basics of aperture, shutter speed, ISO, focus, and focal length. You don’t have to memorize everything overnight. Start with one setting, practice it, and then add another.

And if all you have right now is your phone? That’s okay, too. There’s a lot you can learn about photography without ever leaving your phone.

You can always upgrade your camera later!

So dust off the old DSLR you rarely use! As I mentioned, I got my start with a small mirrorless crop sensory camera. Later I upgraded to a professional full frame camera.

The Samsung I learned on is no longer produced. However, there are other great crop sensor cameras on the market that are great for beginners. I recommend checking out the Sony a6400. It’s easy to use, quite compact, and far more affordable than full frame cameras. If you fall head over heels for photography, you can always save and upgrade your camera later!

I currently use a Sony a7IV. If you have some risk tolerance, you could even find a deal on Ebay or Facebook Marketplace.

Already have a camera and lens? Then get started with what you have! If you are buying a new camera, make sure you read about upgrading your “kit lens” below before making an investment.

2. Learn the Basics of Manual Mode

If you really want to understand how to take better photos with a dedicated camera, learning manual mode is an important step.

Manual mode allows you to decide how your camera captures the photograph rather than letting the camera make every exposure decision for you.

The three settings you’ll hear about most are:

• Aperture — affects how much light enters the camera and how much of the background appears in focus.
• Shutter speed — affects how long your camera captures light and plays a major role in freezing or showing motion.
• ISO — affects your camera’s sensitivity to light and can impact the amount of digital noise in your image.

Together, these settings form what photographers often call the exposure triangle.

You don’t have to master all three at once. Start experimenting. Change one setting, take a photograph, and look carefully at what changed.

That’s when photography starts becoming much less mysterious.

Learn more about the Exposure Triangle →

Don’t worry if these terms seem foreign to you now. With practice they will become second nature. Adjusting these settings will control how much light is let into your camera, which then hits the sensor or film.

Note: Some photographers like to talk of exposure in terms of how light or dark your image is. That’s an okay place to start when it comes to thinking about exposure. An image that was taken with too much light is “over-exposed.” An image taken with too little light is “under-exposed”.

Learn how to shoot in Manual Mode by taking my Beginner Photography Course!

Why not just let your camera choose these settings for you?

Believe it or now, you are smarter than your camera, or at least you have the potential to be if you continue to learn about how to take good pictures. Your camera just takes in information about the quality and color of the light it sees and makes the best decision it can about what will make a good photo. It doesn’t know that you want your subject to stand out from a blurred background. The camera doesn’t understand that you want the subject to be properly lit rather than the bright sky.

Your camera can’t see what you see and it can’t read your mind!

Certainly, the camera is not the artist. You are the artist! When you learn to shoot in manual mode, you the photographer take artistic control. You tell the tool what to do!

With your knowledge of camera settings, you can intentionally make decisions to achieve your artistic vision. This will be one of the biggest steps you take in learning how to create better images.

3. Learn to See Light

If there’s one thing I wish every beginning photographer would learn sooner, it’s this:

Pay attention to the light.

Photography is literally the process of capturing light, yet when we’re first learning, it’s easy to become completely focused on the camera settings and forget to look at the thing we’re actually photographing.

Start observing.

Where is the sun?

Is the light coming from behind your subject or from the side?

Is it soft or harsh?

What happens to the shadows when the sun moves?

Where does beautiful light enter your house in the morning? What about late afternoon?

You can practice seeing light without even picking up your camera.

The next time you’re walking through your house, take a minute to notice where the light falls. Stand near a window and turn your face toward it. Then turn away. Look at what happens to the shadows.

Once you start noticing light, you’ll begin seeing photographic opportunities everywhere.

4. Pay Attention to Composition

Good photographs aren’t just about having a properly exposed subject. They’re also about everything else inside the frame.

Composition is simply the way you arrange the visual elements in your photograph.

When you’re taking a picture, ask yourself:

What am I including?

What am I leaving out?

Where is my subject?

What’s happening in the background?

Is anything distracting me from the person or object I want the viewer to notice?

You don’t need to memorize a dozen complicated composition rules to get started.

Try moving closer.

Then try stepping back.

Take the same photograph from above.

Then get down lower.

Move your subject toward one side of the frame.

Look at what’s happening behind them.

Sometimes taking a better photograph doesn’t require changing your camera settings at all. It simply requires changing where you stand.

5. Know When Your Lens Is Limiting You

If you purchased your camera body and lens together as a package, there is a strong chance you purchased what is considered a “kit lens”.

Kit lenses are generally less expensive and lower quality than professional lenses. They often have a limited range of aperture. “Aperture” refers to how wide you can open the hole of your lens in order to let in light. It also affects how much your subject stand out from the background (also know as “depth of field”).

If aren’t getting the creamy, blurred background you’re envisioning, it may be because your lens’ aperture (hole) can’t open wide enough.

However, don’t buy a new lens until you understand why your current lens isn’t doing what you want.

My first kit lens had an aperture of f3.5-5.6. This is a really narrow range. For reference, I typically shoot individual portraits at f2.0-2.8. If I’m photographing a large group or scenic vista, I will use an aperture of f8.0. Both of these settings are outside the range of my original kit lens.

After learning how to shoot in manual mode, I was frustrated for several months by the quality of my pictures. I understood how to make choices about camera settings. However, I struggled to let in enough light even when my lens was at its most wide open setting of f3.5. To compensate I had to lower my shutter speed. This often resulted in blurry pictures. Or I would increase my ISO, resulting in fuzzy, grainy pictures.

After my second daughter was born, my husband gifted me a 45mm, F1.8 lens for my crop sensor camera. It made all the difference in the quality of my images. Finally, I was excited about what my photographs could look like. Using this lens created in me a new sense of inspiration and confidence. Maybe I could actually take beautiful photos!

However, note that I did not upgrade my lens until I had reached my limits with the lens I already owned. I knew how to choose manual setting and had a good, developing sense of how to use light. With this strong foundation, an upgraded lense actually made a difference in my work!

6. Practice by Photographing Real Life

Equipped with an understanding of how to use my camera in manual and a quality lens, I was ready to dig in.

Our family was also going through a little rough patch. We had two young babies (hello, post-partum hormones), my husband was in a graduate certificate program while working full time, AND we were building a house. I kind of felt like I was drowning. I needed some fun in my life. Photography seemed like the perfect hobby to continue digging into. I had a new baby and big sister to photograph with a good lens!

Searching on Pinterest, as one does, I stumbled upon the concept of taking a photo everyday for an entire year. I ended up independently pledging to challenge myself to complete this project. Some months, it turned into more of a weekly endeavor rather than daily. However, I consistently took photos, edited them, and included my favorites in a weekly blog post.

While the work I produced wasn’t anything amazing, the growth in my skills over that year were very real.

I got extremely comfortable with operating my camera.

I photographed my kids in all different types of light and began to understand how to identify “good light” that would achieve my artistic goals and produce photos I loved.

Most importantly, I documented countless little, precious memories from that season of life. My kids love looking back at the family photo book from that year. They don’t care that my photographs were amateur compared to the ones I take now.

Make it Easy to Reach For Your Camera

Even if you don’t plan to challenge yourself with a daily or even weekly project, practice is still very important. If you want to learn how to make great photos, consider leaving your camera in a part of your home where life happens. I often leave my camera on a side table in the middle of our downstairs or on a kitchen counter (safely away from the stove and sink). That way, my camera is always close at hand when the light is pretty or interesting and something interesting starts happening.

When Learning How to Take Better Photos, Take Your Camera On Outings

You don’t just have to practice taking good photos at home! Pack your camera whenever you go out on an adventure. (This is part of why I love crop sensor mirrorless cameras. They are SO small and easy to throw into your purse or diaper bag.)

It may feel a little awkward pulling out your camera at first, but I know I personally never regret the photos I at least attempted. I regret the photos that I didn’t take because I left my camera at home or in my bag! So take your camera along to the zoo, the aquarium, your hike, or wherever you go!

Personally, I find that I can do a better job of slowing down and really thinking through the photos I’m taking when I’m away from the house. At home, there’s a constant to-do list running through my mind. There are always meals to be planned and prepped and laundry to be flipped. However, when I’m out on a family adventure, that noise tends to die down in my brain. I also find that pulling out my camera helps me be more present and observant.

Vacations are another time that I love to pull out a camera. Again, the daily responsibilities that run through my head at home seem to be a little bit quieter when we’re on a get-away. With my brain in “play-mode”, I often find that I have more mental space to think creatively and try new things! New scenery can also prove inspiring for your photography.

Take the Time To Assess Your Photos

Always take some time to analyze your photos as you sort through and edit them.

• Do you like the light and colors in the image?
• What time of day did you take the photo?
• From which direction was the light hitting your subject? (Look for the shadows in your photos to figure out the direction of the light.)
• What colors are in the background or on the subject?
• Do you like the composition of the photo?
• What angle did you take the image from? Were you above or below your subject? Did you photograph them at eye level?
• Were your subjects close to the camera or far away?
• What camera settings allowed you to achieve this look?
• Do you prefer photos that are documentary, candid, or posed?

There is so much you can learn about photography just by experimenting and then taking the time to analyze and learn from the results! If you like something, try to repeat it again.

You can also go through this process as you’re scrolling on social media. If an image catches your eye, slow down and ask yourself “why”? Again, when learning how to create good pictures, ask questions like:

• What kind of light was this photographer using? Was it natural or artificial? Was the sun low or high in the sky? Was it a sunny day or a cloudy day?
• What are the colors in this photo? Are the tones warm or cool?
• What composition techniques did the photographer use in this image? Is there a lot of open space, or is the image cluttered? Is the image close or far away? Where is the subject in the frame? Is there anything in the image that is helping draw my eye to the subject?
• What story is this image telling? What emotions does this photo create in me? How does it do that? Is it through the posing or the emotions of the subject?

Trust me, you don’t need to create elaborate photo shoots every weekend. Photograph your actual life.

The 7-Day Better Photos Challenge

• Day 1: Photograph someone near a window.
• Day 2: Photograph the same subject from three different angles.
• Day 3: Pay attention only to the background.
• Day 4: Photograph movement using different shutter speeds.
• Day 5: Look for interesting light in your house.
• Day 6: Take your camera somewhere you normally wouldn’t.
• Day 7: Choose your favorite photograph and figure out why you like it.

Get Better at Taking Pictures of People

If your main goal is to take better photos of your family, there’s one more thing to learn beyond camera settings:

People aren’t statues.

Especially children.

They move. They wiggle. They look away. They make funny faces. They run directly toward you approximately three seconds after you finally get your settings right.

And that’s okay.

Instead of trying to make every photograph perfectly posed, start looking for moments.

Watch what your children are doing.

Get down at their level.

Photograph them doing something they actually enjoy.

Give them something to interact with.

And don’t be afraid to take a lot of photographs.

Some of my favorite family photographs aren’t the ones where everyone is looking at the camera. They’re the photographs that capture a genuine laugh, a little hand reaching for mine, or the way my girls interact when they don’t realize I’m photographing them.

If you’re trying to document your own family, remember that connection is often more important than perfection.

Learn more about family photography sessions with me!

Now Go Take Some Pictures!

If you’ve made it this far, I hope you feel a little less intimidated by your camera.

You don’t need to understand every setting.

You don’t need the newest camera.

And you don’t need to take perfect photographs.

Start with one thing.

Pay attention to the light.

Practice your settings.

Move your feet.

Take the photograph.

Then look at it afterward and ask yourself what you like—and what you’d change next time.

That’s how I learned.

I didn’t wake up one day knowing how to photograph families. I learned one little piece at a time, practiced with my own children, made plenty of mistakes, and kept going.

And honestly? That’s still how I learn.

If your goal is simply to take better photographs of your family, I hope these tips give you a place to start. And if you find yourself falling down the photography rabbit hole the way I did, welcome. It’s a pretty fun place to be.

Want a little more guidance?

I’ve created a beginner photography course designed to help you understand the fundamentals of your camera, light, composition, and editing without feeling overwhelmed.

Learn More About My Beginner Photography Course →

How to Take Better Photos: FAQs

How can I take better photos as a beginner?

Start by learning the basics of exposure, light, composition, and focus. Then practice consistently and review your photographs to understand what worked.

How can I take better pictures of my kids?

Pay attention to light, get down to their level, photograph them doing things they enjoy, and focus on capturing connection rather than forcing them to pose.

How can I take better photos with my phone?

Focus on light, composition, lens choice, focus, and your position relative to the subject. You don’t need a professional camera to learn the fundamentals of photography.

Do I need an expensive camera to take better photos?

No. Understanding your camera and learning how to see light and composition will make a much bigger difference than simply buying more expensive equipment.

Is manual mode necessary for taking better photos?

Manual mode isn’t necessary for every photographer or every situation, but learning manual exposure can give you significantly more control over the final image.

Interested in learning flash photography to elevate your indoor portraits? Visit this Page.

Learn How to take better photos of your kids. Click Here!