It's World Photography Day: Here's how you could turn into a star photographer

The term photography has transformed from a profession and hobby to an everyday activity. Anyone with a decent smartphone today can shoot good looking pictures, not to mention quality cameras going affordable. It has a become such an easy task, just hit the shutter and the camera does all the magic. Having said that, the camera is just a machine, and it is controlled by us, humans. We have the final control and it is our mind that visualizes the final frame before hitting the shutter button. On World Photography day, we have some simple tips and rules for you to improve and make your pictures better and gain more likes. Composition Rule of third This is a very simple rule to follow. Don’t keep your subject in the center of the frame. If you divide your frame into nine equal parts, the four points of intersection is where you should ideally place your subject. Also, try to keep the horizon in the top third or the bottom third. Clean background Avoid distracting elements in the background. If possible keep it clean or have a lower depth of field to de-focus the background. Don’t cut joints If you are taking a picture of people or animals, don’t cut them at their joints. It gives a wrong impression, as if they are amputees. Breathing space While taking portraits, make sure you leave a certain amount of space around your subject. If your subject is looking in a certain direction, it is a good habit to leave some extra space in the same direction. Keep the horizon straight When taking pictures where the horizon or in simpler terms, the ground is visible, keep the line of horizon straight. Leading lines Lines that lead to your subject can have a strong impact on the viewer. Be it curved, straight, diagonal or otherwise, it can bring your viewer’s eye into an image and take it wherever you want them to go. Orientation A horizontal frame usually works better than a vertical frame unless you are taking a portrait or shooting a tall subject say a building. Exposure Exposure is the amount of light per unit area reaching the image sensor, as determined by shutter speed, lens aperture and scene luminance. Confusing? It is simply exposing your sensor to the right amount of light so that an image is recorded. It is done by three main exposure tools Shutter speed It is the duration for which the shutter is open to let the light fall on the image sensor. The longer the duration, more light is absorbed; lesser the duration, less light is absorbed. Aperture This is opening of the lens and usually expensive cameras like a DSLR or high-end point and shoot let you control it. The size of the opening also determines how much light can enter, but a larger aperture opening leads to lower depth of field while a smaller opening gives you higher depth of field. ISO This is the sensitivity of the sensor which can be increased in case you are shooting in low light. Be warned, if you increase it too much, you end up adding noise and grain to your images. If you can keep these things in mind, we guarantee that you will see a difference in your pictures. All images shown are shot by Tech2 staff.