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How to Take Good Amateur Pictures Outdoors

Whether it's the camera on your cellphone or your new digital single-lens-reflex, your skill determines the quality of the photographs. A professional photographer can take gallery-quality images with an iPhone while an amateur can spend good money on a higher-end camera, only to return from vacation with disappointing results. One way to take better pictures outdoors is to learn what the professionals do in the same situation and adjust your own shooting accordingly.

Instructions

- 1
  Shoot during the hour around dawn and sunset. Known as the "magic hour," this period is when the light is diffused and can add natural highlights, color and depth to a photograph.
- 2
  Learn the locale. Professional photographers will scout a location before shooting. Amateur photographers can use the same technique to determine when the light is best, when animals are likely to be out, when other people will be there or when the delivery truck will be blocking the perfect shot.
- 3
  Look at the entire image in the viewfinder, not just the object you are focused on. Taking a photograph of someone with a tree growing out of his head is a common mistake made by amateurs who don't take note of everything in the viewfinder.
- 4
  Change your angle. Hold the camera near the ground and aim up to get a different shot of a flower. Take a ride on a Ferris wheel to get a bird's eye view of a carnival.
- 5
  Experiment with your camera's preset modes. Most digital cameras have modes for outdoors, landscape, night and even snow.

Photography