One thing I hear a lot from people is ‘Your camera takes such good pictures’. They think a $3200 camera + $2500 in lenses will automatically make all pictures come out great. They’re very wrong. While good equipment will help you consistently take better pictures, it’s the photographer that makes the picture look good, not the camera.

So, in a new series of posts here at Sharp as a Marble, I plan on giving out free advice so you can take better pictures at home. Yes, you. And I plan on doing most of the shots using my tiny Nikon Coolpix 4300 to show you that you can do it with an inexpensive camera.

The first lesson is Offsetting your subject. This is basically a simplification of the rule of thirds, but will instantly add a nice touch to any pictures you take of people.

To take a picture with most digital, point & shoot camera, you depress the button halfway to allow the camera to focus on whatever is in the immediate center of the screen then press all the way to release the shutter.

Notice how this picture has no impact (and not just because it’s a shot of me). Generally, when the subject is dead center, you won’t have the best composition and end up with more of a mug shot than anything.

Now look what happens if I take the exact same photo and crop it so that I am slightly off centered.

Notice how the image suddenly becomes slightly more pleasing (again, nothing to do with me being the subject, just the composition. Although I could understand the confusion). It is the offset that adds a sense of space which adds interest to the image.

To do this with your camera, center your subject, depress the button halfway and allow the camera to focus. Once focus has been locked in, keep pressure on the button (but do not press down any further) and move your subject slightly to one side or the other. Which side you move them to is dependent on the picture. Here, since I am looking slightly towards my right, it made more sense to have some empty space on the left of the image. Once you have your picture composed, press the shutter release button the rest of the way and take your image.

This not only applies horizontally, but vertically as well. For a more in depth description, see the Wikipedia link on rule of thirds.

I guarantee you this slight adjustment will make your snapshots of people (and even static objects) much more interesting. However, as always, there are times when the rules can and should be broken, but on average this technique will benefit you each time.

If you have any questions, please let me know and I’ll do my best to answer them.