You can throw all these points at anyone that tells you that photography is just a matter of "Point & Click" or you are lucky with your photos.
Questions to ask yourself before you Hit the Shutter:
1. What mode do I want to shoot in? Manual, AP, SP, Auto or a pre-programed mode?
2. If I’m using a pre-set, what F-Stop or Shutter Speed am I going to use?
3. What format do I want to shoot in RAW or jpeg?
4. What’s my ISO? Is it fast/slow enough?
5. Too grainy for the shot?
6. What White Balance am I set on?
7. Do I need to set custom White Balance?
8. Did I bring my 18% Grey Card?
9. What Metering Mode should I be on?
10. What Colour setting do I need?
11. Am I going to use Manual or Auto Focus?
12. Do I want to Bracket the shot?
13. Am I going to use a Flash?
14. And how am I going to use it?
15. What story am I trying to tell?
16. Do I need to change lenses?
17. If so, which one?
18. Am I shooting in Landscape or Portrait perspective, or even a jaunty angle?
19. Do I need to use a Tripod?
20. Will I use the Rule of Thirds or break it?
21. What other rules should I be following?
22. Are there Leading Lines I can use in the shot?
23. What about finding an S-curve for the leading line?
24. Is there any thing I can use to Frame my picture? e.g. Tree branches.
25. Will I change this to B&W, Sepia or something else post production?
26. Do I have a Focal Point?
27. Is my subject Moving or Stationary?
28. For Moving Subjects, do I want to Pan the shot, Blur the background or Blur the subject?
29. Is there a Pattern I can pick up on?
30. How’s the lighting? Are the shadows strong or weak?
31. Do I want to emphasize them?
32. Is the light too strong?
33. Will it wash out detail?
34. Is my horizon straight?
35. Can I get this at a better angle?
36. Should I wait for better lighting?
37. What does the light meter read?
38. Should I increase shutter speed or open up the aperture?
39. Is it in focus?
40. Did I just miss a great shot?
FaerieMoon, that's so true sometimes. Jared, excellent list to keep in mind. For me I'm working on learning how to take my bridge camera as far as I can, especially as relates to shutter speed.
I think I may ask myself about 2 of those questions.. I just take a bunch of different shots with different POVs and hope I get something decent out of it.
Thank you, Jared. I just copied and pasted this to a document I've entitled "Photography 101," along with the website link. BTW, this is also where I stored the instructions you gave on photographing the guitar.
Yup #40 would sum it up for me too. I use a P&S mostly, take as many shots as I feel like, the delete the ones that didnt come out to my satisfaction when I get home.
For the serious photographer * which I hope to be one day* it is a very useful list.
My number one thing is to look for anything distracting in the picture. For example, I took this great shot of a male cardinal. When I looked at the photo, I saw a tail of another bird in the shot. Since I am not really good with photoshop yet, I am left with a bad pic of a male cardinal.
I do appreciate the list and the websites. I am learning-definitely learning about photography.
I do agree that photography is much more than point and shoot!
nothing worse than getting a half a dozen adorable shots look down and realize you were playing indoors the previous night and your ISO is as high as can go... makes for lovely white photos...for myself no biggie, but this was for a friends 1 yr old , lesson learned (I hope)
Here's the one I forget: is the image stabilization on? (Usually that's a 'yes.') But what I forget is: Am I using the tripod --- did you forget to turn image stabilization off?
Maybe this is only for Sony DSLRs, with in-body image stabilizer, but you should turn it off on a tripod.
This is really good....I wonder how there are so many good pictures taken?
Guess some of it becomes automatic/intuitive after a while!! Just takes time.
I'm still working on it.
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My camera doesn't even have a manual setting :P
♥ the manual setting! Never will I go back to automatic!
I do all these?
Thanks for bringing it her.
For the serious photographer * which I hope to be one day* it is a very useful list.
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/ (you can't beat this site or the weekly newsletter they send out when you register)
http://www.rubbingpixels.com/
http://photographycourse.net/
http://www.great-landscape-photography.com/
Some of the best information I've gotten has been from the photographers I follow on Deviantart.com. Many are professionals and offer instruction and tutorials on their personal websites. http://jcrowley40.deviantart.com/
A couple of the more "instructional" photographers are :
http://joerossbach.deviantart.com/
http://ian-plant.deviantart.com/
mind i dont know what half of this is :S arrghhhh ! lol
I do appreciate the list and the websites. I am learning-definitely learning about photography.
I do agree that photography is much more than point and shoot!
Maybe this is only for Sony DSLRs, with in-body image stabilizer, but you should turn it off on a tripod.
Guess some of it becomes automatic/intuitive after a while!! Just takes time.
I'm still working on it.