4 tips to make your teen a pro in digital photography

Capturing selfies with their high-quality mobile phones is one of the most popular hobbies of today’s youngsters. But for some, it’s more than just a casual activity. Many school kids and teenagers are seriously passionate about photography and they want to take it up as a profession. Here are some pro tips for your aspiring photographer.  

Show your budding photographer how to hold the camera 
The first thing your budding photographer should learn is to hold a camera straight which also comes with regular practice. He should try and keep his hand stable and at a constant angle while taking a shot. While shots that aren’t taken straight may occasionally turn out to be good candid, but mostly the results are not that great. Therefore, it is useful to teach your teens to check the frame before hitting the shutter button. Holding a digital camera has a particular technique that needs to be taught at the earliest to help your teen get shake-free, clear pictures.  

Focus on the basics: Focal point, focal lock and rule of thirds 
A focal point is the visual point of interest of a subject which needs to be properly identified while clicking photos. Once your aspiring photographer learns to identify the focal points, she can learn the use of highlights and zoom. While most teen-friendly cameras nowadays come with auto-focussing, there may be instances when your teen may not be able to find the focal point. This is why you need to teach her about using the focal lock feature that ensures the focus on the main subject while keeping the rest in the background. The trick is pressing the shutter halfway down to focus and then adjusting the frame accordingly. Rule of thirds, on the other hand, is nothing but positioning the subject right on the intersecting third points of the frame or what is commonly called off-centre. Every aspiring photographer needs to familiarize themselves with this trick, this rule can make a huge difference in the photos. This is especially helpful while photographing people. 

Help him understanding that each subject is different 
Young photographers often don’t realize that they end up taking too many pictures of one subject, say people, while ignoring things or places. While focussing on one subject is often helpful, young photographers should also try and invest some of their efforts on clicking different subjects. This will improve their photographic skills as a whole. Teens also need to be explained how clicking people is different from taking pictures of places. While the former involves portrait modes and low exposures, the latter involves landscape modes with high exposures.  

Encourage your shutterbug to experiment 
This is very important. Motivate your budding photographer to experiment with different shots of the same subject without clicking too many photographs. This is a time-consuming, yet important lesson, and comes with a lot of regular genuine practice. The key is to make him understand that experimenting is fine as long as it adds some value, but not when it is generating similar results over and over again. Some tricks to take varying shots include shooting from different angles (up high or down low), getting in close or stepping back (for narrower or wider shots respectively), and trying different exposure settings.