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Today I am going to share some shooting tips that I would recommend to any person who recently purchased a DSLR camera and wants to take great pictures!

TAKE HUNDREDS OF PICTURES!

My #1 tip to help you take great pictures with your new DSLR camera is to TAKE A LOT OF PICTURES!  

By playing around with your camera you will get familiar with the different features and determine what functions are important to you. With regular practice you will begin to develop a shooting style.

Recently I test drove the NEW Canon EOS Rebel T5 DSLR camera and took my own advice and photographed a variety of scenarios to get me used to how this new Canon camera works.

Below are just a few of the photos I took to understand this new Canon camera's capabilities.

Above: Testing how the Canon EOS Rebel T5 metering handles high contrast photos.

Above: Playing with shadows.

Above: Testing how well the Canon lens handles a close-up.

Above: Testing how well the Canon lens holds focus.

Above: Covering my son's soccer game with the 300mm lens (I only took this one shot before the game started, I was too busy being a CRAZY Soccer Dad on the sideline during the game).

Above: Testing many flavors of Rita's Water Ice after the soccer game. 

Above: Testing the ability to shoot in aperture priority and then setting the aperture to the smallest number possible to get the sharp focus up front and blurred focus behind my subject.

Above: Testing the timer and ability to freeze the action.

Above: Another timed photo on Easter Sunday. This is my strange but awesome family.

Above: Testing HIGH ISO settings for available light. This photo was taken at 3200 ISO.

Above: Another photo taken at 3200 ISO. Testing the image quality at HIGH ISO settings.

How I Like to Photograph Unique Portraits

After taking thousands of pictures over the past 20 years,  I learned that I enjoy photographing people. My goal with my portraits is to capture a real moment. This quite often means a photograph that is without smiles (unless the subject wants to smile). I seek to compose a picture that is visually pleasing to me, while taking into account the expression/emotion of my subject.

Don't get me wrong, when I take pictures of my kids I still BEG, with my sweetest voice, "PLEASE SMILE FOR ONE PHOTO!" But I always know I am going to get a little more than I asked for. The younger the child you are photographing the less likely they are to cooperate with direction. So why fight it? If you don't force an expression out of your subject, you might capture a real moment.

Above: I asked them to smile but my MINI-ME in the middle always chooses to be silly.

Above: And again I asked for a smile...and this is what I get from him...<sigh> 

This summer I challenge you to take pictures of people and tell them they don't need to smile. You will find telling someone not to smile will actually generate a series of funny expressions that you will want to be on the ready to photograph. You may get a really intense looking stare, which will make you laugh, and then your subject will laugh too. 

My portrait challenge...let your photo subjects be themselves. You might capture a really amazing photo that you will treasure for many years.

"The Rule of The Thirds"

Professional photographers generally follow one important rule for good composition: "The Rule of The Thirds"

Imagine as you look through your camera lens, your photo is divided into thirds by horizontal and vertical lines, place your subjects along those lines. Basically, you are trying to avoid taking the photo where you put the subject in the center of the shot.

In addition to not always centering your subject, you should always craft your image as a whole. While viewing the entire frame, make sure it's filled with something important. If it's not , then you might need to get a little closer to the scenery you are trying to capture, or change your angle to change the background (get lower or higher than your subject).

Here are some examples of not putting the subject in the middle of the frame, and using the background in a creative way to enhance the picture.

Above: An example of not placing your subject in the center but still using the background to complete the image. 

Above: Same concept of placing your subject off center. #sisters

Above: Another example of being aware of all parts of the photo. The background is always important! #MaggieTheDog

Pinterest is a Great Motivator and Learning Tool for Photography

Whenever I am looking for some inspiration for my photography, I like to browse Pinterest to get ideas. You can search a style of photography that you like, and then try to replicate the image using your own camera. I should mention that the photos you see on Pinterest are all given a very high level of photo editing from a photo editing software program like Adobe Photoshop. So the photo you take may not completely match unless you also possess a talent in photo editing. Regardless of your skill level, I strongly recommend using Pinterest to inspire your photography.

Don't be Afraid of Your Camera

It's really easy to get intimidated by a DSLR camera because there are a lot of buttons and menus to choose from. I've been taking pictures for over 20 years and I am certain I have not used every feature available on my cameras. The fact is you don't have to learn all of the various functions in order to take great pictures. The best way to tackle all of the various features is to take one function at a time. Over the next few weeks I am going to write about some basic techniques that I use when taking pictures to help teach you some features about your DSLR camera. But don't wait for me, pick up that camera, and the manual, and start taking lots of photos to help you learn.

Thanks for reading my blog, I hope you found the information useful. All of the pictures taken in this blog post were captured using the Canon EOS Rebel T5 18MP DSLR camera, a nice camera for any beginner ready to take their photography to the next level.

- Camera Guy

P.S.

I'm really curious about the level of photographers that read my blog, so I hope you will take my poll below.