What are some cool photography tricks

My favorite photo trick involves a rabbit and a hat. Just kiddin, semantics, but the are techniques, not magic.
 
About 1982 or so I read my first John Hedgecoe Photo book. He was the first full professor of photography at London's Royal College. He wrote something like 33 or 34 books during his lifetime. He wrote some of the most well illustrated books possible, with many small short chapters, each one devoted to Various segments of photographic endeavor.

Even though the books are old now, the basics of photography have not changed in decades. His last book that I know of was written in 1994, it is still available on the used book market for less than $10 Atypical book of his has something like 800 to 1200 illustrations--both small photos, and also well drawn illustrations. You can leaf through one of his books,select a topic, and learn very quickly how the best way is to go about getting the illustrated type of photos. It really doesn't matter whether you're shooting film or digital, what he's teaching was about was how to approach subject matter,and how to find an approach to lighting. Personally I do not think there has ever been as good a teacher of photography in book form, although Michael Freeman has written some extremely good books in the last couple of decades. I personally learned a tremendous amount from this type of book, and after one year you'll learn a tremendous amount by studying just one good book. Today there's a great temptation to try to learn everything from YouTube, and YouTube is an excellent source, but it is not a good primary source,but rather a secondary or tertiary source.
 
1. Learn what the various controls on the camera do.
2. Think about composition and lighting.
3. Practice.
4. Have fun.

and consider merging photos to make panoramas.

cmw3_d750_.jpg
by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
 
Best trick of all?

READ THE MANUAL. Cover to cover. Have your camera in hand. Follow along in camera.

Shoot, rinse, repeat.

Sorry but there are no shortcuts to getting good at anything.
Only those that apply themselves will ever succeed.
 
One of the advantages of digital is the information available to you. Shoot a lot and examine what you like to see what contributed to that. Time shooting is the shortcut. Reading the manual is the best advice here though. I've had my F5 for years and am going through the manual yet again as I seek to become more proficient in using it.

Get out and shoot. Enjoy.
 
In the old days we'd get a roll of 36 exposure Tri-X when perhaps lots of shots may be needed. Even earlier I'd carry as many 2-shot film holders as I could (6 or 8 perhaps = 12 or 16 shots available)
NOW with digital I often shoot 100 or 200 casually without a thought for remaining exposures.
That to me is the TRICK of digital.
My advice would be to shoot and review, a lot. Look at the settings and see what you got.
 
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A lot of practice rem with digital you don’t have to worry about the cost of film and processing. Have spare batts and mem cards
 
If you get chance sit and watch people out in the street and try and predict what will happen next. Then when you have the camera with you you will see the same pattern and see the photo start to happen before it does a kid with a lolly on a hot day will sooner or later loose the lolly stand a adult with a cup of drink in a crowd sooner or later it will spill, you want the liquid in the air shot not the angry after event shouting
 
Another nice thing to do is to try to plan a photo.

Know in advance how you picture should look like, as for composition, position of models/objects, colors, ... and then try to get a picture as close as you dreamed it before.
 
Another nice thing to do is to try to plan a photo.

Know in advance how you picture should look like, as for composition, position of models/objects, colors, ... and then try to get a picture as close as you dreamed it before.
Just got back my panarama from the print shop. This was a planned photo, I knew what I wanted to achieve and had a good idea of how to do so. I needed pse9 to do the merging into a panarama even though I had todo it frame by frame 71 inches by 12 finished size from 12 shots canon 60d 17 85 mm non l series lens hand held
Tricks.. by limited by YOUR imagination not by what others do or say can not be done
 

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