Four very important aspects of a photograph are
contrast, lighting, focusing, and content...


Contrast:

Contrast determines how the intensity of your blacks and whites. Too low of a contrast will result in a gray picture with no true blacks or whites. A good picture has all ranges of blacks and whites - from true blacks to grays to true whites.

Place your mouse over the picture to see the difference in normal and high contrast.



Lighting:

Without lighting there would be no pictures. Light gives definition and shape to your photographs. Lighting can be experimented with to create beautiful pieces of work.


The light used here creates shapes and draws your eyes to certain areas.



Focusing:

Focusing determines whether your picture is crisp and clear or blurry. The only time your picture should be blurry is when it is purposely planned. Otherwise, make sure it is in focus.


The rose in front is nicely focused with a blurry background.
This allows the viewer to be drawn to the main focal point.



Content:

Content is your subject matter. This will be the major factor of whether people want to look at your pictures or not. Better pictures usually come from something of interest or inspiration. Simply clicking anything you see will not guarantee you a good shot. Think about whether an object, subject, or landscape would make a good shot before you take the picture. Sometime you will find the most joy by taking pictures of things that interest you. Try to discover a passion you might not have known you had.


The content of this picture needs work.
There are many distracting objects such as
the white and black areas at the bottom and the top.




On the flip side...
Examples of bad pictures