Can't get it right in night photography? CHANGE THE MODE TO NIGHT PORTRAITS/NIGHT LANDSCAPE AND/OR USE FLASH!

I took my son and some kids to enjoy Christmas lights in our city, Simi Valley, CA! There was a house which had amazing decoration. I wanted to take a photo of the kids against the decoration.

The photo was okay. I could see the kids but the Christmas lights were too dull. I wanted a good photo but really didn't know how to get it done! I had few seconds as kids are not patient to wait.. I knew it. So I started random trials. First I turned on the flash. The photo was a bit better but not the way I wanted.

I changed the camera to Scene mode. I found a mode about night photography! I set the camera in that mode and took another photo! The background was nice but kids were too dark!

Now I knew what I needed to do! I turned on Flash too and took some photos! There were exactly as I wanted. Photography is not that difficult as long as you are willing to help the camera!

Don't you agree that Trial and Error Photography can help you make your photos look better without getting into technical details of the camera or learning photography?

If you have any tips to share, we would love to hear from you, and share them with our other readers! Our mission is simple: help everyone take better photos in a simple easy way! 

Can't fit it in one frame? Need a wide angle photo? EASY, TAKE A PANORAMA PHOTO!

Sometimes, we have too many people  in a group and we can not fit them all in one photo! Outside, sometimes, you can't go too far to bring everything in one single photo.

Few months ago, we hiked on the Mt Lee that hosts world famous Hollywood sign. On this hike, you can behind the Hollywood sign. If you don't know, each letter is around 40-45 feet tall. The whole sign is difficult to fit in on frame/photo. I had a friend from India with me and he wanted me to take a photo. I took a photo with my Samsgun Note 4 camera. I couldn't fit in all letter!

What was the issue? The sign was too wide for my phone camera or for any regular camera.

What is the solution? I thought of the Panorama feature! It is available in most cameras these days.
I put my phone in Panorama mode and swiped it from one end of the Hollywood sign to the other end of the sign! Voila! I had what I wanted!

If you know some tips about easy photography and would like to share with the world, please write us back or post a comment!

Is your subject not coming clear, or is too dark? and you can't use flash? USE EXPOSURE COMPENSATION!

This is a photo of one structure at Disneyland, California. I wanted to take a photo from the line I was in for another ride there. The sun was in front so the first photo came very dark. As this structure was far away, using a flash would be of no use. What should you do to make your photo better?

The issue was with the object being too dark. Solution was to provide more light. Flash would not be useful as flash light does not work beyond 15-20 feet.
Solution: I needed to tell camera to take in more light. Most cameras and even smartphone cameras have EV (Exposure Value) compensation. You can access it with the button or symbol that reads like +/_



I clicked on it and moved it to the right, towards positive value. I sent it between +2 and +3. How did I choose this number? There is no rule. With Trial and Error photography, remember, we use our brain the least when it comes to photography? LOL. If I need too much light in the new photo, I would select +2. If I want only a little more light, I would select +1/2 or +1/3. By choosing +2.7, I wanted the camera to take in more than double the light than what it was thinking was correct light (exposure).

See the magic! As camera too more light, I was able to get the structure and colors better than what I had got in the first photo!

Similarly, if your first photo is too bright and you want to make it darker, press the EV compensation button and set some negative value. The more negative value you choose, the darker the image will be. What will be the correct value? Try 2-3 different values and you will have one photo you like!