In the digital age it is easy to take hundreds of pictures and hope for one or two good shoots.  I’ve heard it referred to as “spray and pray”.  While that is one strategy for getting good pictures I would like to recommend another that will result in taking up less memory on your camera card or phone’s internal memory and will result in you feeling better about your skills as a photographer or chronicler of events.  Here it is: Look more closely at the screen before you push the button.

Sounds elementary doesn’t it?  Of course it is but let me be a little more specific.  Before pressing the shutter button look at three areas within the frame: the focus point for the main subject, the space you leave around the subject, and the edges of the frame.  Since the advent of auto focus cameras software designers have had to refine what the camera will decide is the subject of the frame.  Today’s cameras have the ability to focus on multiple points; multiple focus technology is built into the newest smart phones and works well at providing sharp focus for multiple faces within the frame.  The chooser of the focus is you!  Sometimes the camera focuses on the wrong thing and something insignificant is sharp but the main subject of the picture is fuzzy.  Look up online what the focusing options are for your camera and make sure it focuses on the right thing.

Second, leave space in the frame for the forward motion of your subject.  Are you taking a picture of your kids running on the soccer field or playing in the park?  Where are they going?  If your child is running from the left side of the frame leave room on the right side to let the viewer anticipate where his running is going to take him or her.  This works for pets too. The anticipation will make for a more dynamic picture.

Third and last, make sure things that distract from your photo are not in the frame.  We all have a tendency to “bulls eye” our subject and ignore anything else in the frame.  Later, when the photos are viewed someone comments about the tree coming out of your spouse’s head or a cute child in the background that steals the show.  Two methods for eliminating that object or person is to move in for a closer photo (zoom in) or change your angle so the distracting element is out of the frame.  This means you have to slow down and look at the edges of the frame.  It means you have to purposefully look away from the subject to see the rest of the image.  Believe me it takes practice!