Want to take photos like a pro? These 10 photography tips for beginners will instantly boost your shots. Also, read our list of recommendations to instantly level up your game.
Introduction:
The secret to taking professional-grade and appealing photos isn’t necessarily a $5,000 camera. It is getting a complete grasp of basic knowledge and principles. We have covered 10 photography tips for beginners here, which we think will instantly upgrade your results and make you a better photographer.
1. Focus Eyes in Portraits
Portraits remain one of the most common niches in photography, and to get instantly better-looking portraits, look for the maximum sharpness you can get for the eyes. Portraits with sharp eyes are guaranteed to bring life to the image and captivate the viewer.
2. Master Holy Triangle
Beginners are often seen to ignore the holy triangle of aperture, ISO, and shutter speed, which makes the learning process slow and results in subpar results. Always learn the theory behind these three first and then practice later. Aperture controls your depth of field, shutter controls movement, and ISO sets the sensor’s sensitivity.
3. Get Better at Composition Rules.
Only setting your camera right will not give better results, as the composition of your frame will also require your attention. This sets the position of different elements in a frame, and to make better compositions, use the rule of thirds. This rule says that you have to break your frame into nine squares of roughly equal size and then use these squares (and their intersections) to align the subject of your photo to shoot professional-looking, creative photos.
4. Learn Manual Mode
Modern photos are incredibly good with autofocus modes thanks to the advancement in tracking technologies powered by AI. But professionals at an advanced stage of their careers use manual control to set both depth of field and shutter speed, which can be done with manual mode. If you are aiming for more creative freedom, which you should, start learning manual mode.
5. Use Golden Hours if possible.
The light during sunrise or before sunset is soft, warm, and naturally diffused, which is the best form of light for photography, especially for portraits. You will see a visible difference in photos shot in artificial or strong sunlight and the ones shot in golden hours.
6. Selecting the right capture mode
Your camera body offers different capturing modes that have to be utilized in different situations. For example, when turning on a Canon camera, it will be automatically set to One Shot mode and AF-S mode for other brands. This mode will try to focus on the nearest object and lock it in place once it has found one.
This works great for product photos, landscapes, etc., when the subject isn’t moving. But when used for moving objects like pets, the picture becomes blurred. To get accurate photos, you have to switch to AI Servo on a Canon body and AF-C for other brands to get sharp photos without motion blur. Get to know the modes of your camera body, as they will significantly impact your results.
7. Using flash wisely
Flash is linked with an infamous reputation for turning people into Casper the Friendly Ghost, but if used wisely, it can actually give professional results. It becomes handy for filling shadows against a backlight in an outdoor setting where exposure for the backdrop is also set.
8. Setting your White Balance
Your camera body is designed to detect available light and adjust its color setting to get natural, possible results. Different light in the frame casts different types of color in an image; sunlight is blue, fluorescent is a bit green, and tungsten lighting is yellow.
In normal conditions, the camera can fix this lighting just fine, but when the balance is off, it struggles and messes up the final image. Find the WB button on your camera and decide your best WB by capturing and adjusting it on a white or grey card in the same light as your subject.
9. Invest time in color modes.
Newer cameras now come with preset stylized profiles that mimic film and art filters to give a more creative edge to your portraits. In Lumix cameras, you will find Look Up Table (LUT) picture profiles, which can be downloaded or can be made by oneself.
Aside from the above-mentioned photography tips for beginners, the actual hardware is also going to impact your picture quality, especially the lens you are using. In 2025, there are fantastic options available that don’t cost much and can deliver professional-grade results. One such camera lens is the SIRUI AURORA 85mm F1.4 lens, a next-generation optical hardware designed to let beginners seriously upgrade their portrait and artistic photography.
This phenomenal lens is built with a super-fast aperture with f/1.4 tuned at 85 mm, which takes sharp images even in low-light situations and can render a creamy bokeh in the background that separates subjects from backgrounds. The lens is a worthy investment for those beginners who aim to become better at photography, especially portraits.
Wrapping Up:
We covered 10 of the most important photography tips for beginners, all of which can help you get better at being a photographer. Invest in the SIRUI Aurora lens to instantly get better at what you do with your camera.
