DSLR Camera Tips: How to Take Better Pictures | Tips from a Professional Photographer
As a professional photographer, there are two questions I get asked all of the time from people who buy or are wanting to buy a new camera — “What kind of camera should I get?” and “How do I take better pictures?”
DSLR cameras (and even new mirrorless cameras) are a wonderful way to capture pictures of your life, vacations, special moments, and so much more, but they can be tricky to use since they are equipped with various menus and settings. Let’s face it, not many of us actually want to sit down and read the manual… am I right? (Even as a professional photographer, I don’t even want to do that!) You could spend hours on YouTube trying to figure it out, but that usually just leads to more confusion, frustration, or even falling down the rabbit-hole to god-knows-how-I-ended-up-here watching a kitten sing Miley Cyrus. Trust me, there’s a better way.
This article will help you understand the top three common problems, how can you take better pictures, and how you can actually learn how to use your camera.
What Kind Of Camera Is Right For You?
Whether you’re a parent wanting to take photos of their kiddos, a hobbyist dabbling in landscape and fun experiences, or an amateur ready to take photography to the next level, there are different types of cameras I recommend to fit you and what you’re looking to take pictures of.
To help you decide what kind of camera is right for you, I have a Free Quick Guide here with my best recommendations, along with various accessories that might be helpful to you and where to find them.
You Got Your New Camera, Now What?
There it is — all packaged up, pristine and ready for you to open — the new camera you’ve been waiting for!
Now what?
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had someone tell me that they got a nice, new camera for their birthday, Christmas, or what-have-you, but it’s still in the box, collecting a thin layer of dust on the top. After the excitement wears off, you realize all too quickly that you don’t know how to use your new camera — let alone how to take good pictures with it.
Tell me if this you, too:
You got overwhelmed and let it sit to collect dust… (if this is you, you’re not alone)
You skimmed the manual or googled a few things on YouTube, only to still feel overwhelmed
Or maybe you tried to start using it, but you ran into issues — your images just didn’t turn out how you wanted!
I get it.
Let’s dive into the most common problems people have when they get a new camera and can't get their photos to turn out how they want them.
Top 3 Problems of DSLR Cameras for Beginners
1) You Don’t Know How to Use Your DSLR Camera
Like many others, you probably feel like you’re going to mess something up if you start pushing buttons… am I right? Getting your first or a new digital camera is exciting, until you are left feeling frustrated and overwhelmed. It usually comes with a manual the size of a novel that NO ONE (nope, not even me) wants to read. You can also Google YouTube videos to find something, but I know you don’t have time for that rabbit-hole, let alone getting distracted by other video recommendations that veer you completely off topic.
Unfortunately, no matter which camera you get, none of them make it easy to know what exactly you need to know or set up just to start taking pictures, let alone how to take better pictures — which was kinda the whole point of buying the nice camera in the first place.
2) Your Pictures Are Blurry
Maybe you were feeling brave enough to dive in and try to figure something out. Since there’s an Automatic setting, you’ll just go with that and hope for the best! But, once you start looking through your pictures, you realize that nearly all of them are blurry. Disappointment sinks in your stomach while you stare at the camera with frustration out of not knowing what you did wrong. Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Blurry images are a very common problem and can happen for a number of reasons, including incorrect focus, lens or camera on manual focus mode, camera shake, slow shutter speeds, etc. Most of the time, this is caused by a slow shutter speed if you are shooting with your camera in auto-mode. You would think that auto-mode is “supposed” to be a user-friendly way to use your new camera, but it often leads to more frustration and blurry photos, especially if you are shooting indoors or action shots — I see this the most with parents trying to photograph their kiddos’ sports games in gymnasiums.
3) Your Pictures Look Too Orange or Yellow
Have you ever looked back through your pictures and realized that most of them have weird coloring — an orange or yellow tone or tint to them that make them look terrible? As if you want to deal with another blow to your confidence for realizing you don’t know how to use your new camera… The good news to this is that this is also very common. Nine times out of ten, these orange and yellow tones are a culprit of, again, shooting in auto-mode. The camera automatically takes over the settings so you don’t need to know how to do it, but it’s not always going to get the settings right. Just because you’re in auto-mode, doesn’t mean you will get a good picture. You’ll probably see this happen more when you are taking pictures indoors or in fluorescent lighting.
So, how do you fix these things?
How to Take Better Pictures
I know running into these problems can feel disappointing and frustrating. You just want to be able to use your camera to take better pictures!
Imagine…
Swiping back through memories from your big vacation you’d planned for months
Snapping the moment of your kiddo’s first ever goal they scored and their face full of celebration
Soaking in the magical scenery from the landscape photo you finally got the way you wanted it
Hanging the canvas on the wall of the photo you took of your dog sitting in his favorite chair just being him
The truth is, taking better pictures doesn’t have to be as complicated as it seems.
You don’t have to understand everything about your camera.
You don’t have to know how to use the hundreds of settings and capabilities.
You don’t have to take an Introduction to Photography 101 course just to figure out how to take a single picture.
You just need to know how to get your camera set up to shoot.
What if you could learn only the things you need to know to use your camera and get the pictures you want?
What if you could learn a super-simple way to use manual-mode settings to learn how to take better pictures?
What if you could even achieve the blurred background effect, giving your pictures that fancy portrait-look like your iPhone does.
What if you could learn all of this in just one day?
Which is exactly why I created a Quick Course to teach you all of this in ONE course that’s less than 90-minutes.
How to Use Your Camera Quick Course
In this Quick Course, I literally walk you through ONLY the things you need to know to start using your camera immediately to get the shots you want (without having to read the manual or search YouTube for hours)!
This quick course is simple, to-the-point, and highly valuable to get you using your new camera today.
Not to mention, actually taking better pictures!
You’ll Walk Away With…
A simple set up to get ready to shoot!
A Quick Reference Guide to help you practice with ease
How to use manual mode settings in just 3 simple steps
How to avoid ending up with blurry or orange/yellow toned photos
How to achieve the blurry background (depth of field) effect
Feeling confident about using your new camera so you can take better pictures!
Everything in ONE simple, quick course.
So, brush that dust off your camera and let’s dive in!
About the Instructor
Owner & Photographer
Danielle Uhl founded Underexposed® Photography in 2013. After starting photography in high school with a manual black & white film camera and darkroom processing, she decided to turn her passion into a business with the mission to “Expose the Underexposed.” So the company was born.
Combining her unique education (B.A. & Masters in Business), 17+ years of photography experience, and 10+ years in Entrepreneurship, Danielle specializes in Branding & Event Photography with a passion to help other business owners succeed by creating effective marketing tools through photography.
Danielle has an array of knowledge of photography, composition, DSLR and Film cameras, and is excited to offer this How to Use Your Camera Quick Course as a simple, friendly, and the quickest way to learn how to use your camera and how to take better pictures.
