Five things that will ruin your photos

Photos of ducks shows affect of improper white balance.

Lots of people take photos, and frankly many don’t know what makes a good photo. So here’s my list of five basic things that can ruin a photo:

1. Improper color. White balance is a concept that most people don’t know about. Basically, white balance means making sure that the colors are balanced and are the right color temperature. I believe that when most people take pictures with their phone or other camera they don’t think about the coloring of the picture. Have you ever taken a photo then looked at it and wondered why it is so yellow or blue or green? People’s skin tones don’t look right. Obviously the colors in the photos aren’t the colors that the items photographed actually were. The reason for this is white balance. To achieve proper color in a photo, the proper white balance needs to be set. This typically can only be done in a more professional camera. It’s can be achieved by setting the white balance on the camera. The trouble is that most people take pictures with their phones, and there isn’t a white balance setting on phones. The best way to get the proper coloring in your photos is to make sure you take pictures in the best light. Rooms often have mixed color temperatures in the lighting, but just make sure you are aware of this.
2. Busy backgrounds. Many people snap photos of a subject without paying much attention to the background of the photo. As a result, backgrounds can be busy, things can appear to be growing out of people’s heads, and move. Overall busy backgrounds are just a big distraction to a nice photo. The best thing to do if the background is busy is to blur the background, but again most consumer cameras don’t have the capability of doing this. Just make sure when you take a photo to look at the background and make sure it’s not distracting to the subjects in the photo.
3. Improper exposures. This is a big one. The subject comes out too light or too dark. That’s because the person taking the photo doesn’t understand proper exposure. Here’s a few general rules. If the background is extremely bright, your camera will do its best to expose for that bright background and anything in front of the background (including the subjects you are trying to photograph) will be dark. We’ve all seen photos like this. People snap a picture of people and their faces are so dark you can hardly see them. Yet the background looks great. The best way to fix this problem is to turn around and take the picture with the brightness behind you. One caveat – make sure that your subjects aren’t staring at a bright sun or you will catch them squinting.
4. Blurry subjects. It is easy to take a picture that’s out of focus. Try to make sure when you point your camera that the focus is on the subject and not something in front or behind.
5. Blinding flash. When you use a flash on a photo, make sure it’s not overpowering the picture. A flash that’s too strong will make people look too bright and washed out and give you that “deer in the headlights” look.