SME E-Newsletter September

Have you ever wanted to pick up photography, but get discouraged because there’s too many things to read up on? Worry not! Today, Skuad Media Uniten will talk about 5 tips to start your photography journey with a flourish.

Firstly, let’s talk about composition. When you see a good picture, you might have also noticed that the photo seems to be well planned, usually with a certain subject grabbing your attention. One common trick used to compose good photos is by using the Rule of Thirds. Imagine your frame is divided into 9 equal rectangles. A quick way to do this is by turning on the grid option on your camera or your phone. The idea is to angle the elements of a scenery along or where the lines of the grid intersect. This serves as a guide to compose a compelling photo.

When starting out with photography, try out different settings other than the default. The three most important settings in your camera are the aperture, the shutter speed and the ISO. It will be difficult to find the balance at first but through first-hand experience and a lot of practice, you will eventually get the hang of it. Once you understand how the settings affect the photos, you won’t be affected by your surrounding conditions anymore.

Third tip is when shooting photos, remember to always shoot in RAW. RAW is a file format that is able to capture all the image data recorded by the sensor when you take a photo. The benefit of shooting RAW images is your options during post processing editing are limitless. You will have larger control in editing while still maintaining a high level of quality.

The key to succeed in anything is always by honing your craft. The same goes for photography. Professional cameras and post processing software programs can be complicated. Therefore, the more you practice, the better your skill. Take your time and start experimenting with your compositions while diving in head-first into the creative side of photography. The more photos you take, the easier it is to produce the images you have in mind.

Nearing the end of our segment, you are probably itching to pick up a new, expensive camera. Which brings us to our final tip, while it is true that pricier camera gears tend to perform better than others at a lower cost, remember that good photos come from creativity and the proper knowledge. Attached below is a screenshot from a YouTube video by Peter McKinnon, an accomplished photographer, videographer and youtuber. In this video, he compared the photo quality of a $4000 camera against a $500 camera. As you can see from his comparison, an entry level DSLR (pictured on the left) is also able to produce great quality images. All it takes is practice. So just use any camera you already have and don’t look back!

Written by, Nik Mohd Haziq bin Nik Azhari

Proofread by, Nurul Amanina binti Naushad