Learn how to hold your camera

If you’ve noticed your images being slightly blurry then it could be down to the way you’re holding your camera which is causing unwanted camera shake. Ideally you want to be holding the camera with both hands, grip the right side of the camera with your right hand and place your left hand underneath the lens to support it.

Remembering that the closer you hold your camera to your body, the more stabilised it’s going to become!

Aperture Priority mode is best for portraits

Whether it’s portraits of people of animals your subject should always be the main focus of your photo and the best way to achieve this is to use a wider aperture. This will allow you to keep your subject sharp and in focus while removing the distractions from the background by blurring them out.

Using the ‘A’ or ‘Av’ mode on your cameras top control dial you’re able to adjust the aperture to make it wider or narrower. To achieve a blurry background (or shallow depth of field) you’d want to be using a small F number as this is what we’d refer to as a wide aperture.

Play around with your ISO

If you need to add more light into your photo but you’ve already set either your Aperture or Shutter Speed to a particular setting, don’t be afraid to play around and increase your ISO. 

Avoid the camera’s automatic flash

The majority of the time when you’re using your cameras built in flash you might find yourself ending up with photos full of red eyes or harsh shadows. One way to avoid this is by turning off the flash in your settings and instead reaching for your ISO control. In general, it’s better to use a higher ISO and get a noisier photo than the automatic flash and risk having everything look very washed out.

If you do want to use your cameras built-in flash then try diffusing the light from it by putting something over it. This could be as simple as just sticking a piece of paper over the top of it or buying a specific diffuser for your flash.