This week in my intro to web design course I’m going over some basics of photography, and while preparing the content for class I thought this information might be worth sharing with others who want some basic photography tips.

The Digital Camera

First off it helps to have a basic understanding of how a digital camera works. There are lots of articles and videos on the web that describe the inner workings of a digital camera. I choose to show my students the following YouTube video by Head Squeeze and presented by one of my favorite Top Gear presenters James May

3 point Lighting

Once you have an understanding of how a digital camera works, you now know how important good lighting is. After all pictures are produced by light.
The most basic set up for lighting is a 3-point Lighting set up. I could go into detail about what 3 point lighting is, but again I found a good video from Full Sail University on Youtube that does a good job.

A professional 3-point lighting kit, can be pretty pricy, with the base models starting between $300 – $500. For this reason many photographers are going the DIY route. Turns out Full Sail University also had a video on how to make your own DIY 3-point lighting kit.

Photography for Bloggers

I’m by no means a professional photographer, and haven’t ever taken a photography course. My husband, who has taken photography, takes all the photos of me, while I shoot most of my craft and food pictures.
Although I’ve always loved cameras and even have my own antique camera collection (see image above), I only really started taking photos for this blog.
With that said there are quite a few articles about photography for bloggers.

One of my favorite bloggers Rochelle from Lucky Lucille wrote an article not to long ago about photography for sewing bloggers. 

Lucky Lucille - Photography Tips for Sewing Bloggers

Lucky Lucille – Photography Tips for Sewing Bloggers

I really like her tips, and since she is winner of the Crafty Awards for best photography, she must know what she’s talking about.

While a lot of bloggers I follow tend to have super nice DSLR cameras, which don’t get me wrong are great. I personally feel like I  wouldn’t use it enough to justify the cost. Besides my Sony Cybershot which is now almost 8 years old, is still a great camera.

Speaking of <em>Point and Shoot/em> cameras, Beginner Beans has a really good article on photography with simple point and shoot cameras.

Smart Phone Photography

The last tip I wanted to mention is regarding <em>Smart Phone Photography</em>.

When I’m out and about I usually don’t take my camera with me, even when I indent to, I often forget.

Thus, like many I use my smart phone’s camera to take a lot of my pictures.

Smart phone cameras have really enhanced since they came to the market and are now comparable to many point and shoot cameras.

I fond this really good YouTube video by B&H and Kelby Training on smartphone camera tips and tricks.

These are just a few photography tips and tricks I’ve come across, I hope you find them helpful.