Learn photography faster: 8 tips, tricks, shortcuts and time savers

If you’re a relative newcomer to photography your probably itching to learn more so we’ve put together 8 tips that will fast-track your understanding and improve your photography.

Learn photography faster: 1. Start using aperture or shutter priority mode

If you currently shoot using your camera’s full automatic mode or one of the scene modes then it’s time to take a bit more control. Switching to full manual mode can seem a bit daunting and in many situations it’s unnecessary as aperture or shutter priority mode let you take control of the appearance of the image while still letting the camera handle the exposure.
The first step is to decide what’s the most important feature to take control over for a particular scene. In aperture priority mode you set the aperture while the camera sets the shutter speed to give a correct exposure.
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Conversely, in shutter priority mode you set the shutter speed and the camera selects an appropriate aperture.
With a moving subject, for example, you are likely to want to set the shutter speed manually ether to freeze the movement or to produce a nice bit of blur, so you should set your camera to shutter priority mode.
If you are shooting a landscape and want lots of depth of field, or a subject against a busy background that you want to blur, aperture priority is the best choice as it will allow you to set an aperture to dictate depth of field.

Learn photography faster: 2. Use a lens hood

The primary aim of a lens hood is to shield the front element of a lens from stray light in the same that the peak of a baseball cap shields your eyes from the sun.
It helps prevent flare which can reduce contrast and cause aperture-shaped hot-spots in your image.
A lens hood also provides a little protection for your optic, preventing the glass from being knocked as you carry the camera.
In addition, it can shelter a lens’s front element from drizzle, saving you time wiping the glass between shots or cloning over blurred patches in an image.
If your lens was supplied with a lens hood use it, if it wasn’t, buy one to suit it.

Learn photography faster: 3. Switch to manual focus

In many situations the fastest way to get a subject sharp is to use a camera’s autofocus (AF) system, but there are a few occasions when it’s better to switch to manual focus mode and drive the lens yourself.
When you’re trying to shoot a near-by subject that’s moving around the same point, for example, it’s often quicker to focus manually at the point that you want to capture the subject and then wait for the composition to come good.
Imagine a clump of daffodils swaying in the breeze, for instance.
If you use your camera’s autofocus system the chances are that the flowers will have moved away from the position you want them in before the camera has finished focusing the lens.
However, if you focus the lens manually, you cut out any focusing delay and just have wait for the flowers to move into the correct position before pressing the shutter release home and taking a shot.

Learn photography faster: 4. Use live view

While some old-school photographers are a bit sniffy about composing images on an SLR’s screen, live view mode can be extremely useful when focusing manually.
For a start a camera screen is far larger than a viewfinder, so it’s easier to see, but it’s also usually possible to magnify the on-screen image so that you can focus on tiny details that aren’t as clearly visible in a viewfinder.
This helps you to position the focus point much more precisely than you can when using the optical viewfinder.
Users of compact system camera with an electronic viewfinder can enlarge the image in the viewfinder so they have a choice of where to compose and focus the image when focusing manually.
To get the best results when using live view and manual focus, mount the camera on a good, solid tripod to cut out camera movement.

Learn photography faster: 5. Try spot metering

In addition to the general-purpose metering system, often know as matrix, evaluative or multiple metering, many cameras have a spot metering mode.
When this mode is selected the camera measures the exposure for a very small section of the scene, often the centre point or the area under the active AF point (this can often be set via the menu).
It’s an extremely useful option in high contrast situations and when your subject is in different lighting to its surroundings.
Once spot metering is selected position the metering point over the subject (or the point you want to measure the exposure for), set the exposure and away you go.
Keep in mind that if the spot is over an especially bright or dark area the exposure will be skewed to under or over exposure respectively and you need to apply exposure compensation – or meter from a midtone.

Learn photography faster: 6. Lock the exposure

Many cameras have a button marked AE or AEL (* on Canon SLRs) which stands for auto exposure lock.
It’s especially useful when used in combination with spot metering because it allows you to meter for a small area in the scene and lock the exposure settings for a few seconds while you recompose the image and take the shot.
To use AEL, set your camera to spot metering mode and place the metering area over the subject and press the AEL button.
Now, recompose the image and the exposure settings will not change when you press the shutter release button to focus the image and take the shot.
Most cameras lock the exposure for a few seconds after the AEL button has been pressed, but some have a menu option that sets it lock the exposure until it is actively unlocked.

Learn photography faster: 7. Move or zoom in to spot meter

If your camera doesn’t have spot metering, or the spot metering area isn’t as precise as you need, simply move closer to your subject or zoom in until it fills the frame and take a meter reading.
If you are shooting in manual exposure mode, simply set the exposure and then recompose the image before taking the shot.
Otherwise, press the AEL button to lock the exposure before recomposing and capturing the image.
If you move closer to your subject to measure the exposure take care not to cast a shadow and change the light that it is in or you will have an incorrect reading for your shot when you move back into position.

Learn photography faster: 8. Be ready

If you set your camera to manual exposure mode, the aperture to f/8, the shutter speed to 1/125sec (depending upon the focal length of the lens) and the sensitivity to automatic you are pretty much ready to shoot anything in normal daylight conditions.
An aperture of f/8 is a nice safe option that gives reasonable depth of field yet doesn’t push the exposure and a shutter speed of 1/125sec is sufficient to freeze walking-pace movement and should produce nice blur of anything faster.
Opting for the automatic sensitivity setting means that the camera will select a value that gets the exposure right in most conditions.
Also, a low ISO value will be used in normal daylight so noise won’t be a major problem.
Some cameras allow you to set a maximum sensitivity setting and minimum shutter speed to use in auto sensitivity mode.
This makes aperture priority shooting a good choice as you can quickly vary the aperture to control depth of field knowing that the camera will get the exposure right without extending the shutter speed to far and blurring the image or using a very high sensitivity setting and capturing lots of noise.

Source: http://www.photoventure.com/2014/03/14/learn-photography-faster-8-tips-tricks-shortcuts-and-time-savers/7/