5 Common Photography Mistakes

Photography is a very interesting hobby because there are so many things to learn and improve on.

Here are some of the common photography mistakes that you can learn from.

1. Shooting Wide

Wide angled lenses are usually used for taking photos of sceneries without a real single subject that is close to the camera.

The result of having a person in such a photo setting will make him appear comical. His nose will be too big for the rest of his face.

2. Too Shallow

While restricting depth of field in a portrait can be very effective, if you shoot wide open with an 85mm f/1.8 lens, the depth of field may be too shallow that only the eyes of your subject will be in focus. You may want to consider closing the aperture down a little.

Enlarge the image on the camera’s screen when you review it to check the focus and depth of field. It can be hard to assess depth of field when the image is squeezed onto the back of the camera. Out of focus areas often look sharper than they actually are.

3. Shooting from the Wrong Height

The definition of ‘wrong height’ varies depending upon the subject and the context of the image. If you want to get the right proportion between the upper body and the lower body, it is best to shoot a person’s photo at the level of his navel.

With children, this may mean kneeling down or even lying with your elbows on the floor.

4. Harsh Shadows

In some cases strong shadows can make a good impact on an image, but in many situations you want to try and soften the light and reduce the impact of shadows.

If you’re shooting in strong sunlight you might want to find a more shady position for your subject.

Alternatively, you could use a diffuser held above your subject, to soften the light.

5. Red Eye

One of the dangers of using the flash on your camera is that the light is very close to the lens and this can result in light from the flash being bounced back of your subject’s retina and into the camera causing the phenomena we know as red eye.

Anti-redeye flash settings that fire a pre-flash can help by closing your subject’s irises down so that less light enters their eyes and bounces back, but the best cure is to move the flash away from the lens.

6. Too Far

One of the most common errors made by novice photographers is to stand too far away from their subject.

With portrait photography taken outside, this can often mean huge empty areas around the subject with a vast sky above them and acres of ground beneath them, when in fact head and shoulders portrait would work much better.

That’s not to say that full-length portraits don’t work, they just need a little more thought than many people give them.

Although going closer can often result in better portraits, beware of going overboard and producing a passport photo.

The good thing about the digital age is that you don’t waste film with careless shooting. Just shoot as many photos as you want while you learn more about photography. Just choose the one’s you like to print at Target Photo or Walgreens Photo and keep on shooting until you get the hang of it.