225 photography tips to inspire you

Martin Parr
Documentary Photographer

Born in Surrey in 1952, Martin Parr is one of the UK’s best-known documentary photographers. He studied (and taught) photography at Manchester Poly in the 1970s. Career highlights include an Arts Council Award in 1975, full membership of Magnum Photos and a retrospective at the Barbican in 2002.
See Martin Parr's photos

1. Make sure people aren’t smiling. Otherwise you end up with a snapshot.

2. Move in closer when you’re taking people shots.

3. Find the right environment – by which I mean the right environment for that person.

4. Then make sure people aren’t smiling again. This is the biggest error in portraits taken by amateurs.

5. For candid shots, just keep persevering. Your luck will come in the end.

 

Rankin
Advertising & Portrait Photographer

John Rankin Waddell, aka Rankin, was born in Glasgow in 1966. He originally studied accountancy at Brighton Polytechnic, but changed to a photo course at the London College of Printing. Rankin co-founded seminal style magazine, Dazed & Confused, in 1991 and he’s a contributor to Arena, Vogue and other style magazines.
See Rankin's photos

6. You should never think that the camera is the most important thing. You need to simply find a camera that you enjoy using and stick to that. You should just use the camera as a tool.

7. You need to experiment and take risks. This is what we did in the early days of Dazed & Confused. Take risks. Look at good work being done by other people, but never copy.

8. You need to think about light all the time. Photography is about light, and it can come from any source – the sun, a candle, a computer.

9. Try to engage with the subject. You have to like people to do my job. You need to look outside of the lens, get the relationship going, and only then take the photograph.

 

Vincent Munier
Wildlife Photographer

Vincent Munier is one of France’s best-known wildlife photographers. Munier hails from the isolated Vosges Mountains in South West France, and was inspired to take up photography by his naturalist father, Michel. His work has appeared in National Geographic, BBC Wildlife magazine and more, and he’s won several high-profile international prizes, including the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2006 (bird category).
See Vincent Munier's photos

10. You can’t rush nature photography and you really have to watch your subject for a long time in order to understand its behaviour.

11. You need to know when it’s the perfect time to take the shot. I try to use only natural light and avoid heavy digital enhancement.

12. Spend time studying the species and habitat you’re shooting. Try to visualise how you’re going to take the shot before you do so.

13. Never disturb the animal or its habitat to get the shot.

Nick Danziger
Documentary Photographer

Nick Danziger was born in 1958. He published the best-selling Danziger’s Travels in 1982 and went on to write other award-winning books and direct documentary films. He’s won first prize in the World Press Photo awards (portrait division) and his ‘Blair at War’ collection was exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery.
See Nick Danziger's photos

14. Be engaged with your subject, but at the same time be considerate – you are the guest.

15. Think about combining the composition of the shot with the context of where you’re taking it. The two shouldn’t be separated.

16. For my kind of work, I try to use natural light wherever possible. It’s more natural!

17. Ask permission to get in close. It’s much better than trying to shoot people farther away.

18. I only use Photoshop very sparingly as I believe I shouldn’t add or remove anything from the kind of portraits I take. I just use software for dodging and burning in black and white for example.

 

Bob Martin
Sports Photographer

Bob Martin is one of the most successful freelance sports photographers in the UK. His work has taken him all over the world, and his photographs have been published in numerous publications including Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, Life Magazine, Stern, Paris Match, Bunte, L'Equipe, The Sunday Times and The New York Times. Martin has received more than 50 awards including the 'Sports Picture of the Year' in the World Press Photo Awards, 2005.
See Bob Martin's photos

19. Pre-empt the action. Even the fastest SLRs will have a delay.

20. Never forget about composition. The background is crucial.

21. Make sure the subject is big enough in the frame and think about what the subject will do next.

22. When shooting sports, you must have the right lens on a camera at the right time – there’s no time to change lenses.

23. Learn how to shoot in RAW. You won’t get the most from your photography if you only shoot JPEGs.

 

Bryan Adams
Portrait Photographer (and rock legend)

Bryan Adams was born in Canada in 1959 and quit school for music at the age of 15. He became one of the most successful singer/songwriters of the ’80s and ’90s, with a string of hit albums, singles and soundtracks. Since 2000, Adams has risen in prominence as a photographer, specialising in fashion shoots and portraits.
See Bryan Adams's photos

24. I remember one of the assistants at Herb Ritts’ studio said to me, always shoot another roll, even if you think you have it.

25. Always make people feel like it’s their photo, not yours. There’s nothing worse than a pushy photographer.

26. If you can see something odd in camera, then adjust it at the time you’re taking the shot. In my view it’s better than relying on using Photoshop later.

Matt Stuart
Street Photographer

Matt was born in Harrow, north-west London, and had a keen interest in skateboarding as a teenager. He assisted the photographer Marcus Lyon for three years before starting out on his own. He combines his obsession with street photography with commercial work for clients including Sony, Fuji and Sainsbury’s.
See Matt Stuart's photos

27. Have a camera with you at all times. You never know when something is going to happen.

28. Wear suitable shoes. If you’re walking around for a long time, you need something comfortable.

29. Keep your elbows in. If you put your elbows out like a chicken when you lift the camera to your face, it makes people very aware of you.

30. Be patient and optimistic. Give things as much time as you can and never lose hope that a great picture is just around the corner.

31. Don’t forget to smile at people when you’re photographing them. It makes you less threatening.

 

Dan Chung
News Photographer

Born in 1971, Dan Chung is one of the most respected photographers in Fleet Street, and winner of Photographer of the Year at the 2004 Picture Editors’ Awards. Chung began as a trainee on the Derby Evening Telegraph before landing staff jobs at the Reuters news agency and more recently, The Guardian. A keen exponent of digital photography, Chung went digital back in 1997. He is now focusing on the video potential of the latest HD DSLRs.
See Dan Chung's photos

32. Respect your subject and try to be sensitive to their wishes.

33. Know the law where you’re shooting, and how it will affect you taking photos.

34. Take note: it’s very hard to make a good living out of serious news photography. Be persistent and be prepared to be quite broke too!

 

David Doubilet
Underwater Photographer

Born in New York City in 1947, Doubilet is one of National Geographic’s best-loved photographers. After graduating from Boston University in 1970, he began working for National Geographic in the following year. Doubilet has authored and photographed over 65 books, including Fish Face (2003) and Water Light Time (1999). His numerous awards include The Sara Prize and the Lennart Nilsson Award in Photography.
See David Doubilet's photos

35. Underwater photographers need to get comfortable with water before they try to photograph it intimately.

36. Learn about light – study great images and see how they were made.

37. Go to a museum and learn about pictures – who made them, and which ones you like and why.

38. Lay on the bottom of a pool and watch the light. Learn how to use strobes to manipulate light, too.

39. Try everything – we’re no longer constrained by 36 exposures.

Jill Furmanovsky
Music Photographer

Rhodesian-born Jill Furmanovsky emigrated to London with her family in the swinging sixties. She became house photographer at the Rainbow Theatre when she was 18. She made her name during the punk era, and became a contributor to Sounds, NME, Melody Maker and Sniffin’ Glue. Furmanovsky became the official Oasis photographer in the mid-90s, and produced the Was There Then collection and exhibition.
See Jill Furmanovsky's photos

40. Be prepared. I saw The Who and missed Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend hugging as my lens had slipped from Auto to Manual focus.

41. Don’t forget other settings too. Is your card formatted? Have you got the right image size? I once shot Oasis at Glastonbury in the smallest JPEG format!

42. Always check your position – it’s not directly under the singer. Try stage left or stage right. It’s the same when shooting in the studio. Stand on a chair, lie on the floor – don’t get anchored to the spot.