From The Digital Camera World site we find these encouragements. As part of our ongoing series to help you get more creative with your digital camera, each month we publish some fun, seasonal, creative photo ideas to help inspire your imagination. Along with some amazing images, we’ve also provided some quick photography tips by both amateur and professional photographers who are experts in these fields.
We’re kicking off June with a slew of fun projects like black and white animal portraits, butterflies, abstract water and using a few clever tricks from the portrait photographer’s handbook to photograph your food, among many more
Landscape photography is a lot nicer at this time of year: it’s warmer, and you can always have a go at shooting during the longer dusks if you can’t face getting up at stupid o’clock in the morning.
That said, it’s well worth making the effort to get up if you can. There is something really magical, even spiritual, about dawn light – and hardly anyone else is around. Make 2014 the year that you really think about light.
A good start would be to download an app that tells you the position of the sun – a good one to try is the Photographer’s Ephemeris.
That done, try to think about light in more creative ways. Shooting into the light can generate interesting images, but try to put the sun behind an object (such as a big tree or rock) to reduce flare.
You want to avoid blown-out highlights in the sky as much as possible. A good way of using strong sunlight is to turn a strong graphic element into a silhouette. Reduce exposure compensation by -1 for a stronger effect.
Shooting landscapes is a good way to practise manual-focus skills, as landscapes are usually pretty static! If you’re not sure whether you’ve focussed properly, turn on Live View on your rear screen and pick an area to focus on, say about one third into the scene.
Live View should enable you to magnify this area without needing to change the lens’ focal length; once the area looks sharp in Live View, you’re good to go.
SEE MORE: Live View mode – how to use it on any camera
Using a narrower aperture and placing your camera on a tripod will help to ensure front-to-back sharp shots.
If you are experimenting with slower shutter speeds, maybe to create milky water or interesting effects in moving grass, make sure you aren’t on Auto ISO – you want to stick to a low ISO to keep shutter speed down.
See all 9 suggestions here
Oxford School of Photography 