How To Take Better Photos
Are you wondering about how to take better photos? Perhaps you want to take better everyday photos of your loved ones. Maybe you have a big trip coming up and want to document it beautifully. Or just maybe, becoming a photographer has always been a secret dream of yours.
Whatever the motive behind your search, I’m glad you’ve ended up here with me! In this post, I’ll share a little about my own journey of learning photography and my recommendations to jump start your own photography journey!
TL/DR: How to Take Better Photos
If you’d like to learn how to take better photos, dive into learning photography by learning basic camera settings (including how to shoot in manual, where you choose all of the camera settings yourself rather than letting the camera choose) and basic techniques for using light and composition.
If you are using a camera (not an iphone), you may also need to consider upgrading to a higher quality lens to better create the photos you are envisioning. To fast track your journey to taking better photos, practice with your camera often an analyze the results. 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.
My Own Journey Learning How To Take Better 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 better photos. “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 take better photos 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!
1. Use a “Real” Camera In Order to Take Better Photos
Okay, I may be stating the obvious here. If you want to learn how to take better photos, it’s time to learn how to properly use a camera.
I realize that phone cameras have come a long way. However, their images still do not compare to the quality of images taken by semi-professional and professional cameras. Nor do they allow you to choose and manipulate settings (especially exposure settings which control how much light is let into the camera) with the same degree of precision and flexibility.
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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 How to Shoot In Manual
Shooting in manual is one of the first skills you need to master when learning how to take better photos on a camera.
Manual is a camera mode (usually denoted by a capital “M” on your camera’s mode wheel) that allow the photographer to choose the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO the camera will use to capture the image.
Don’t worry if these terms seem foreign to you now. More on these in a future post. Adjusting these settings will control how much light is let into your camera and hits the sensor. Some photographers like to think 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”.
Each of these “exposure settings” also happen to be multitaskers. By this I mean, these settings also control other qualities of your image such as how much the subject stands out from the background, as well as how sharp and clear the overall image appears. \
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 better photos. 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 take better photos.
3. Upgrade Your Kit Lens
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. I will discuss this further in a future post, but the “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 you want your photos to have a creamy, blurred background, you’ll want to open up the aperture (hole) in your lens as wide as possible. Again, if you want to really dig in and learn about camera settings like aperture, check out my beginner course.
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 photos. I understood who 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, which resulted in blurry pictures or 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 take beautiful photos!
4. Start Learning About Light and Composition
I’ll be honest, it takes more than just good equipment and a basic understanding of camera settings to learn how to take better photos. Other factors play important roles. Particularly, no matter the type of photography you are interested in, photographers need to have a solid understanding of how to use light as well as basic compositional techniques.
Have you ever heard photographers gush of “the light!” You may be thinking, “What’s the big deal, it’s just a bit of sunshine?”
However, in photography, light is what your camera is capturing and manipulating. Light plays a huge role in dictating the character and feel of your photos. Light can be direct and indirect. It can be soft and it can be hard. It can be bright and it can be low. Light can come from different directions. All of these factors have an impact on the photo you will create.
So start paying attention to light. As you’re out walking in your neighborhood pay attention to the location of the sun. Where are the shadows? How do the direction of the sun and how high it is in the sky affect the look of things?
Pay attention to the light in your house too! Where does the sun come streaming in through the windows in the morning? How about in the afternoon? Where does the light look interesting to you?
Just like light, composition also plays a large role in taking good photos. (This is an area where I personally am hoping to grow this year.) Composition refers to how you arrange visual elements in your frame. Start considering:
- What elements are you including in the frame? What elements are you leaving out?
- Is your subject centered or off to the side?
- Are the visual elements straight or tilted?
- Are parts of the background pointing to or framing your subject?
Want help learning about the basics of composition and light? Join my Beginner’s Photography Course!
5. Practice, practice, practice!
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 take better 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 take better photos, 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?
How To Take Better Pictures with Your iPhone
Whoops! Did you come to this post specifically looking for tips on how to take better pictures with your iPhone, but instead get an ear-full about photography with a camera?
Sorry about that! I’ve you’ve made it down to this part of the page, you deserve a gold star!
It’s true that the camera of your iPhone can’t take pictures that are as good as a professional camera…yet. However, 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 take 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!
- 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 above!
3. Composition: Likewise, I big piece of taking better pictures when using an iPhone is really thinking through your composition as discussed above.
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!
Now Go Get Started!
There you have my beginner steps to how to take better photos! As you can tell, these were the lessons I personally took and learned in my own journey towards growing my skill in photography. I’m not exaggerating when I say that learning photography totally changed the course of my life in a very unexpected way.
Are you looking for a little support as you start your own photography journey? Do you sincerely long to better document your family in beautiful, artistic ways? I’d love to help you along this path and plan to continue sharing educational content about how to take better photos. If you’ve found this article helpful, feel free to contact me here or via email. Don’t forget to join my email list in to receive alerts about future educational content!
Are you already comfortable with shooting in manual and looking for next steps to elevate your portraits? Read this post next!
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