How do I get my picture to look professional? Help if you can ?

Question

Ok, I am new to photography but I am climbing up the ropes. The pictures I have taken with my 35mm camera look like regular ol pictures. I am wondering how do I get the photo to look like one in advertisements, magazines, etc. Is this really only accomplished with photoshop or is there things you do in camera. I know you have to have lighting, position, etc, but is it like the ISO number or what? An example would be in cinematography how something shot at 30 fps looks completely different than something shot at regular 24 fps. If you know what that means or have any help you can give me, please do so. Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

Go to see as many photographic exhibitions as possible. Look at quality images in books and magazines. Visit your library and look at the books dealing with basic photography.

There is lots to learn and it will take time. If you have 'perfect' lighting for a photograph you can make anything look great.

Nick

Answer 2

By professional, I think you mean they are well lit, graphically pleasing, and look good in print.

It may be simpler than you think. I'm going to skip the technical stuff, you can figure that out as you go.

1. Pay attention to what you are doing. Whenever you trip the shutter, take a look carefully through your viewfinder. Do you really want that trash can on the edge of your frame? No? Move over a few feet.

Details, details, details!! Pay attention to everything in your frame. If it distracts or isn't needed, crop it out now, not when you are in the darkroom (wet or digital).

2. Pay attention to the lighting. Photography is about light. Know when the sweet parts of the  day are. Early morning or late afternoon - why? You get the best shadows, nice interplay of natural light. People look stunning in a nice low afternoon light.

If the sun is high overhead, move people into the open shade. High sunlight doesn't flatter people. Their eyes become deep pockets of shadow, they squint, they are uncomfortable.

3. Find subjects, places, things that you love to photograph and work on it. Make prints. Looking at an image on a computer screen will mask deficiencies in your images. Get them printed, and put them on your wall, your doors, your refrigerator. Live with them. Look at them. Figure out why this one works while that one almost does, but is lacking something. When you figure it out, go out and shoot it again.

4. That's my last point, practice, practice, practice!! Keep at it, keep photographing, keep looking. Always be aware of your surroundings. You never know when something everyone keeps passing by everyday, suddenly becomes your next good photograph. Training your eye to see things the way your camera will is the key to being able to go out and photograph like a professional.

good luck!

Answer 3

Most of it is in the technique, but yes, some of it will be photo manipulation later. It's just like what you would do in a dark room. Most photographers will do a lot of burning and dodging and such to get it right. But this should be minimum if you know what you're doing with the picture in the first place. It's not really meant to fix the picture, but more to add dramatic effects.

First and foremost, you have to have a good camera and a good lens.  That will make a world of difference on the quality of your pictures. If you're just using a point-and-shoot camera with a built-in lens, it will be hard to get the quality you want. Second, you have to be creative when you shoot. Angles play a huge role in how the picture will look. Most professional photographers don't just shoot things straight on. They experiment and try different angles to achieve different, unique looks.

To get correct exposure, you have to understand film speed (ISO), shutter speed, and aperture. Having a light meter will help a lot until you get an idea of what the correct exposure should be in different types of light. If your camera doesn't have a light meter built in, you can buy an external one.

This website can give you a rundown of the basics.

http://www.photonhead.com/exposure/

Lastly, the way you print makes a difference, too. If you're using film, it's best if you have your own darkroom. There's no way your pictures will ever look professional if you take them to some place like Walgreen's to be developed. They do a terrible job and will tend to make your photos look a lot worse than they really are. Plus I've had them ruin my negatives before. I'd say avoid them. If you don't have darkroom access, try and find a professional photo lab to develop your prints. www.mpix.com is a great website. I order all my prints from them. I'd suggest doing any digital prints there, too.

Good luck, and I hope that helps!

Answer 4

What type of camera do you have? More details.

And it is good to do photo-touch up and since nowadays we use digital cameras we use Photoshop.

You could do nearly everything in Photoshop in a room if you use film.

But if you want to take better shots your best bet is to do burst since you never know if you could get a better shot a split second later. Capture the moments better by positioning yourself at different angles. Take multiple shots at different angles and places and zoom lengths. Don't rely on a single shot unless you are limited on memory or film.

If you're taking action shots you want your shots to lead into the motion. Know where to crop.

Do you also know of other basic photo-tips such as background, lighting, using the background to "box" your main shots in. You also know how th change your focus point and the rule of third right?

Answer 5

Like any other skill, photography is learned through education and practice. It does not come the minute a camera is in your hands.You need  to invest  time and energy into understanding lighting, composition and the technical aspects of photography. Take a class or join your local camera club to learn what makes an image appear "professional". There are also a few editing tricks to give your image the edge and you will learn them there. Good luck with it and keep shooting!

Answer 6

A lot of what you're looking for comes simply with practice, but setting your photos at a very high resolution is a good start.  This way, if you do even the simplest editing, or print the photos, they will look high quality.    Is your camera manual or digital?  If it is digital, you can set your resolution.  You won't be able to take as many pics on the same memory card, but the difference is WELL worth it.  

If you have a manual camera, you really will have to rely more on trial and error and a good eye.  There is a large portion of photography that really is "art" and requires a lot of creativity, as opposed to the "point and click" society we live in today.  The best advice in that department would be to do two things - 1) get a book on photography.  The 35 MM Photograher's Handbook is an EXCELLENT teaching tool and will help open doors you didn't even know were closed.  2) Look at the ads and magazines you are inspired by.  Do they just have a really awesome model or setup?  Or is it something that you could feasibly run across in your daily life?  Don't judge yourself against people who have 10k photo studios or planes to jump out of for their photos.