Rules and guidelines
Rule of Thirds
The picture above has the main part of the tiger in the left hand third, but the rest off the tiger is in the top third which gives the picture more width.
Natural Frame
Natural frames could be trees, buildings, structures, fences or anything which can act as a frame.
The picture above shows a skyline with a frame using trees, which helps draw your attention to the centre of the picture.
Organising people
Be assertive, balance out the subjects in your image if there is more than one person.
The picture above has the taller people spread out so it doesn't seem as though its leaning to one side.
Think about cropping
Think about if your going to want to crop the picture before you take it and how much off your picture you may lose.
Exposure
Shutter speed : how long the light is let in.
Aperture : How much light is let into the camera
ISO : The sensitivity of the camera.
ISO - international organization for standardization
Measured in 100s
100 = low sensitivity
1600 = high sensitivity
Shutter speed
1/1000 fast shutter speed, less light
1/4 slow shutter speed, more light
1/60 or slower will probably need to use a tripod to keep the camera steady.
Aperture : controls how much light is let in
F/1.4 - smaller number, bigger hole, more light - shallow depth of field
F/16 - larger number, smaller hole, less light - larger depth of field
The top image shows longer depth of field as everything in the picture is in focus.
The bottom image shows shorter depth of field as it is focused only on the plant in the foreground.
