What's wrong with these photos?

Some common faults


EXPOSURE used to be a major problem for beginners, but now that digital cameras all have built-in meters, you will nearly always automatically get the correct exposure. But there are still some exceptions:


Hints and tips
by Philip Grosset



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Ely cathedral
Automatic cameras can sometimes be fooled by a very bright (or very dark) background, as in this photo taken in the Lady Chapel of Ely Cathedral, where the camera meter was so misled by the bright window that all the chapel interior was lost in darkness. The result is bad underexposure of the main part of the picture (it is too dark).
Ely cathedral
Here, I swung the camera completely away from the window towards a dark area, semi-depressed the camera button (this usually locks exposure as well as focus), then swung back to this original position before fully depressing the button. This is an improvement - although the interior is now slightly overexposed (too light)!
To get the exposure absolutely right, as on the left here, it proved necessary to include just a small part of the window when the exposure was locked on. Like so much in photography, you learn by trial and error! If in doubt, always be prepared to take more than one photo.
There's another example of this technique being used to compensate for a camera being misled by a bright window in the background on the Questions and Answers (4) page.

With sophisticated cameras, you can alter aperture (lens opening) and/or shutter speed (length of exposure) to suit different types of subject. These and ISO (film or digital sensor speed) numbers are all inter-related. So you can halve the exposure by moving one stop (say, from f5.6 to f8. The larger the number, the smaller the aperture) OR by moving from 1/100th sec to 1/200th sec OR by increasing the ISO setting (on a digital camera) from 100 to 200 ISO. (ISO, if you're interested, stands for International Organization for Standardization The higher the number, the faster the speed.)

If you have to use a camera without a meter, try to stick to easily recognisable weather conditions, such as sunny, or cloudy bright, then use the guide provided as either symbols on the camera or in the instructions leaflet.
If you're using a film camera, you could use this old formula: first, choose a shutter speed as close as possible to the film's ISO speed. So if you're using 200 ISO film, set the shutter speed at 1/200th sec. Then in bright sunlight (causing heavy shadows), set the lens aperture at f16. In cloudy bright weather (soft shadows), open up to f11. If it is heavy cloud (trace of shadows), try f8. If it is heavily overcast (no shadows), try f5.6. Or throw the camera away and go digital!
Close up of boy
Girl grimacing
On the left: a photographic disaster!The girl is pulling a face, the boy (who is meant to be the main subject of the photo) has just run almost out of the picture, and there is a large empty space on the right!
On the right: a great improvement. Never be afraid to come in really close (use a telephoto setting if possible) and be prepared to take lots of photos until you've got just the one you want.

Subject is leaning over
Another pretty obvious mistake: the camera wasn't held upright. Always check that vertical lines (such as the door in the background) really are vertical! This is particularly important when parts of buildings are seen. The photo would also have been improved if the girl's hand had not been obscuring her face!
Foreground subject out of focusThe background here is much sharper than the foreground.This can easily happen with an automatic camera that focuses on the centre of the picture, as indicated by these guide marks in the viewfinder.The solution, with most such cameras, is to swing round the camera so that the most important foreground object (here it is the man's face) is behind the focus spot in the centre of the viewfinder, semi-depress the camera button to lock the focus there, then swing back to compose the picture as required before fully depress the button

Focusing problems are most likely to arise when photographing two people, as it's very easy to let an automatic camera focus on the background between them.
Subject on left of picture
The subject seems to be disappearing out of the picture! If your subject is looking to one side, always leave more space in front of her than behind her.
Subject correctly centered
One way of achieving this is by keeping the eyes central, as here.
If, unlike the three-year-old seen here, you've got a real camera, it's important not to allow your finger (or any other obstruction) to cover the lens or the photo-electric cell. Practise until you find a way of holding the camera really steady. It's usually a good idea to keep your elbows well into your side. Then gently squeeze the shutter release, being careful not to jog it.
If you are using a digital camera and troubled by camera shake when photographing in dark places, you may be able to manually increase the ISO rating to, say, 400 ISO. This will automatically reduce the shutter speed to match, even if at the expense of a slightly grainier looking picture.
Boy with camera



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