Children's Web magazine...
Entertaining , Educational, Fun,Informative and MORE

This article will focus on how to take a good photograph. Personally, I prefer taking photographs of flowers, as there are so many varieties and I believe that they make truly striking pictures. Consequently, the pictures I have taken for this article are of roses. The first way you can make a composition appear striking, is by centering your subject. This being the roses, I have captured the flowers positioned in the centre of the image, and have focused the lens onto the roses so that what appears around the centre of the image is out of focus. This therefore blurs the twigs, plant pot and leaves, as they are not in my opinion as striking, meaning that the roses stand out and are more eye-catching. 

The first image appears striking because I have edited the image so that the colours are more saturated. This means that the colours appear bolder and brighter, which gives off a warm feeling, and creates a summery, bright photograph. With the second image, I have played with editing tools, which highlight the fact that the image is quite abstract. With the twigs and leaves being out of focus, it creates a blur of colours and shapes, and with this editing effect, it almost changes the photograph into a painting as block colours are used. This means that detail is missed; therefore it is harder to make out what the image is of, which creates an abstract look.

There are many editing tools you can use to edit your photographs, to give a more striking effect or a completely different effect to suit your taste. The basic editing tools can be found on your computer or laptop, and with these you will be able to change the contrast, saturation, brightness, hue etc. You can download other editing tools, or use online websites or Photoshop.

If you have a theme to your photographs, you will be able to take various different pictures, and explore ways in which the composition works best. Always try to be creative. Focus on particular aspects of the image, or try and think up different shots, such as from a birds eye view etc. Unusual pictures are the ones which stand out the most, and are the most striking, therefore don’t be afraid to explore with your camera. You may appear a little strange, taking pictures at weird angles, but don’t be afraid, the outcome is what matters! Also, as previously mentioned, never delete pictures from your camera. Take many, and then when you upload them to a computer or laptop, you can go through your pictures and see which have worked best and are in focus. Once you have chosen your favourite photographs, try different editing tools which you can play around with, and see what you can do to the photo to make it appear more striking. My favourite editing website is called www.picmonkey.com, where you have the simple editing tools but also the different effects. 

IMAGES: personal photographs