4 Common Mistakes People Do While Clicking a Photograph

Everyone, in their lifetime has clicked a photograph and as soon as we take a photo we like to check out how the photo has been turned out. Sometimes we like the image that we’ve clicked, sometimes we don’t. Most often people don’t like the photo in the first go so they click various multiple photos and finally select the favorite one.

 What if I tell one can simply click a photo as desired without so many attempts?

Well this can be achieved by avoiding these 4 common mistakes.

1. Having unnecessary negative space:

So this mistake is often seen in lot of photos and now that you know of this you will be able to notice this mistake more often. “Negative Space” is a space in a photograph that surrounds your main subject. In the image below you can see the blurred train serves as a negative space, which adds a beautiful artistic feel.

            But, people generally keep the unnecessary negative space in an image. Which distracts the attention from the main object and thus the image feels dull. For example, in the image below the main subject is the lady, but the other objects which are considered to be negative space diverts the attention away from main subject and thus resulting in a dull image.

        

2. Not using the grid lines:

        The grid lines are the lines that are digitally drawn over your screen which can help you with keeping the subject in a certain part of the frame of the image. It also helps you in getting straight images. Well, a 3x3 grid line looks like this-

        This divides the frame horizontally in parts and vertically 3 parts, hence giving user an option to place the subject in any part of the frame. There are other grid lines also available in the camera settings such as 4x4, Golden Ratio,etc. Let us compare the frames with and without grid lines-

Here's an example: 

Frame using Grid Lines

Frame without Grid Lines

        As you can see, the image with the grid lines looks more pleasing than the image without the grid lines. Also, in the first image you can see the horizon is placed exactly on the first horizontal grid line as it helps you give the perspective for correctly framing the image. In the image without grid line one cannot get the idea, if the image is we are getting is straight or not and in most cases the resulting image is slant and unpleasing like we see in that image.

        Hence, not using grid lines is another common mistake people do while clicking a photograph and therefore one should start using grid lines for obtaining more aesthetically pleasing images.

3. Using flashlight at wrong situations:

        Flashlight can be useful at times but if used in wrong situations it can ruin the image drastically. To avoid this one must consider the situation in which the photograph is being clicked. Many a times what happens the user is using the auto mode in the camera to shoot an image. So, if the flashlight is used during the ample light, the algorithms thinks that if the flashlight is on, then there must be dark, hence it bumps up ISO, lowers shutter speed and also increases aperture. Hence, resulting in an over exposed image which is of no good. Here's an example of how an over exposed image looks like-

          This image was taken with flashlight ON in an adequately lit surroundings on a bright day. Therefore, flashlight  should only be used when needed, in conditions such as low light where there is a lack of light and an artificial light is needed.

4. Incorrect positioning:

        Light sources such as Sun, lamps, street lights, etc are natural lights and they should be used efficiently in photography. During the day, the Sun proves to be natural source of light in the outdoor surroundings. But people does not make efficient use of it. You may have seen photos of people with the sun in background. This makes more light to enter and fall on sensor, hence the auto mode sets the low ISO and tweaks other parameters and hence completely blowing out the main subject. This happens due to incorrect positioning. For example: 

        This photo above have completely washed out primary subject just because of wrong positioning. If the boy was standing facing the sun, instead of standing right in front of it, the image would have been much better. Same goes with the  natural lights such as street lamps, LED lamps in rooms, etc. Proper positioning of the subject and the photographer with respect to light source can result in much more preferable image.

          Well these were the top 4 mistakes most people do while clicking a photograph. This article was written considering the user has been using the auto mode in camera. There are other different mistakes while people use manual mode which I will talk about in another article. To read the next article about different shooting modes of DSLR click here.

       And always, thanks for reading the article and let me know in the comments what you think about this article so that we all can discuss photography.