Do you consider whether to hold your camera horizontally or vertically before you take a photo? Some people always hold their camera the same way, never changing the angle of their composition. This leads to badly framed photos and ones that certainly wouldn’t look good framed, enlarged or as canvas prints.

When taking your photos, the way in which you hold your camera should be the most basic of composition choices, but it is one that is often over-looked.

Making this decision will also help you to move closer to your subject, which improves the quality of your image.

If you’re able to frame your subject vertically within the viewfinder (portrait format) then you should always take the photo that way. If you can’t, rather than move backwards, move the camera to take a horizontal (landscape) photograph.

As a rule of thumb, if you are photographing just one or two people you should use a portrait composition, but if there are more people in the picture you should take a landscape photo.

There obviously times when you may want to deviate from this rule, such as when you take a photo of a single subject with a spectacular landscape behind them. Then you may want to take a horizontal photo, but obviously it is the background that dominates this decision.

The important thing to remember when choosing your ration however is to move the camera before you move your subject or yourself. If you can frame the shot without moving further away you should do that because it means you’ll be closer to your subject, and that makes for better photographs.

When taking your photographs it’s important to consider the composition of the frame. Taking great photos is an art form, but it’s one that everyone can enjoy and learn. Improving your photos is very simple if you follow some basic rules and read the correct advice.

Once you’ve taken the perfect photo, you can use your photos for perfect canvas prints. A canvas print of your best photograph is a great way to reward yourself for the hard work.

So, when composing your photos, be sure to avoid cluttered backgrounds. If you’re taking a photo of your subject and the background is very busy and cluttered, your subject will get lost within the frame. Give your subject the importance it deserves by ensuring that the background does not detract from the image.

Try to manoeuvre yourself so that you have a clear uncluttered background, either by changing the angle of your image by lying down or simply move your subject to be positioned in front of a better background.
When composing your frame ensure that your subject isn’t merged with something else behind. For example, taking a photograph of a family member and finding that they have a lamp post or tree sticking out of the back of their head is a common mistake. Remember that items behind your subject will appear to be coming out of them when the photo is printed.

Also be sure to watch for shadows and reflections that occur naturally. Catching shadows at the right time can add real depth to what would otherwise be a flat picture.

With the advent of modern technology on home computers and on digital cameras themselves, taking panorama photographs has become easier. A panoramic photo is a photo that shows a wide view of a landscape, one that cannot usually be taken with a single photo. Instead several photos are taken in sequence and then ‘stitched’ together by the software.

Panoramic photos can even be a complete 360 degrees, showing all the way round a landscape. Panoramic photos are perfect for canvas prints as they look so spectacular when displayed on your wall.

The software to stitch the photos together is very simple to use, and doesn’t require extensive image manipulation skills from the user. You don’t need to know how to use PhotoShop or other tools as the software finds the edges of the individual pictures and stitches them together itself. Software such as ‘ArcSoft Panorama Maker’ will do the job fine.

Some camera, and indeed mobile phones these days’ come with ‘stitch assist’ which displays part of the last photo in the viewfinder so that you can line up the next one yourself. Landscapes make the best panoramic views, but remember to ensure you have the same exposure settings for each of the photos or the joins will be visible when the photographs are stitched together.

You could even take a panoramic photo of inside your home if you have a particularly attractive property, or your local football team’s stadium.

We recently talked about how to eliminate red eye when taking your photographs, because there’s nothing worse than having the perfect picture ruined by the red stare of your own flash bounced back into the lens from your subject. It ruins your photos, and while it can be touched up later by computer manipulation or even by some high end digital cameras, it’s always best to avoid it altogether.

But what if you want to take photos of your pets? Asking your dog to look slightly off centre of the lens isn’t really practical as they won’t understand what you’re saying. Even if they do, chances are they won’t do it!

Instead, you could reduce the chance of red eye with your pets by photographing them in action shots rather than trying to get them to pose. After all, it’s more natural for your dog to be leaping around the garden than sitting there staring at a camera.

Alternatively, if you must have that posed shot, you can try moving the camera away from your pet’s eye level just before you take the picture. This should ensure that no light is bounced back, causing red eye. You will run the risk however of causing the image to be blurred if you move too quickly. You’ll need to trial this for the perfect image.

Then you’ll hopefully have a photo of your pet worthy of printing on canvas.

Following on from a recent article where we gave you some tips on improving your photographs, we’d like to pass a few more pieces of advice on photography.

Great photographs make beautiful canvas prints, but taking great photographs isn’t easy; capturing that all important shot that you’ll be able to print onto canvas requires some patience.

Look out for lines
Lines and curves inject energy into your photography. Using natural occurrences such as rivers, building and roads to create lines in your pictures attract the viewer’s eye and lead them to your subject. Keep an eye out for such things and use them creatively to generate interesting images that will look great on canvas.

As well as naturally occurring straight lines, you should look for curves as photographing these makes your photos look more sensual. Sand dunes and hills for example, when used as part of your composition, add a special element to your pictures.

Watch for the horizon
It’s very important that when you’re composing your photos that you keep the horizon line level. A photo of a landscape with a slightly crooked horizon will ruin your photo, unless you’re deliberately taking the photo at an angle for dynamism.

Red-eye is the curse of the amateur photographer. You think you’ve taken the perfect photo, everything fell into place at the right time, you had the camera, you caught the moment. You think this is going to be an excellent photo, one worthy of printing on canvas in fact.

Then, when you see the final snap it’s not quite the photo your were hoping for. The old problem of Red-eye has surfaced once again as your subject is inflicted with a nasty red tint on their eyeballs.

But it is avoidable, you can take photos and avoid getting Red-eye altogether.

Red-eye is caused when the flash from your camera reflects in your subjects eye and is bounced back into the camera lens, causing the distinctive red glow. It can easily be avoided however, as the light is actually bounced back in an almost straight line. All you need to therefore is angle that line. For example, if you take the photo from a different level to your subjects eyes, such as from below or above, the light will not bounce back in the same way.

You can also have the person look at the camera, but not directly at the lens. This will mean the light will not bounce back into the lens, thus avoiding red eye.

An even easier method is, if you have a detachable flash on your camera; simply hold it above or to the side of the camera when you take the photos. This will completely break the light bounce line, meaning no red eye.

Then you’ll have a photo Worthing of a canvas print.

When you’re looking to take a photograph that will look great on canvas, you’ll want to be sure that your photos are as good as they can be. There’s no point printing on canvas a photos that is blurred, badly framed or just doesn’t live up the ideas you have for your image.

So here are a few useful tips to taking better photos, and getting the most out of your photography.
Use ‘Thirds’ in your framing and composition.

When composing your subject in your viewfinder; imagine the frame as being in three equal thirds. Placing your subject off centre, to the left or right, create a dynamic composition.

When you’re taking a photo of a moving subject, frame the shot that they are moving into the empty two thirds of the frame, leaving space within the image for them to travel into.

Close up!
Too often photographs are taken from too far away. If you’re taking a picture of your children or your pet, don’t do it from a distance. Get in nice and close and allow them to dominate the frame. Making them the focus of the picture will create a far more interesting composition. Try to think of it as a desire to illuminate any negative space. Make your subject THE subject of the photo.

Dynamic angles
A common trick to inject a bit of dynamism into the frame is to angle the camera, for example a 45 degree angle of a half body shots makes the subject of the photo go from corner to corner. This will look much more exciting on the photo, and on canvas.

One type of photography that always look amazing printed on canvas are photos of the nude form. Taking artistic photos of a nude body isn’t something that should be rushed into however, you’ll need to make sure you know what you’re doing first.

Before you take any photos of a nude you’ll need to make sure you have all of the necessary equipment to hand, as you don’t want to waste time looking around for it when you have the model waiting. Have a room with all of the lenses, tripods and equipment required laid out to save time.

In order to save money too, you could use a simple white or black sheet as the background. Using a one-tone sheet in this way ensures that the subject is the focal point of the photograph and you’re not distracting the attention away from them with any backdrop.

Another tip is to make sure your model is as comfortable as can be by ensuring that the room is slightly too warm for you. Turn the heating up so they are not cold, goose bumps look very unsightly on film.

A final tip would be to make use of lighting to create contours and shadows on the body. Use the body as a landscape in order take some really tasteful, beautiful shots that would great as canvas prints.

While your wedding day is supposed to be the best day of your life, it can also be the most expensive. Catering, the cake, car hire, suits and every other little expense mounts up into thousands, often tens of thousands.

One of the most expensive, and specialised, of these costs is usually the wedding photographer. All too often as well the bride and groom aren’t actually satisfied with the results from their wedding photographer.

However there is an alternative to hiring an expensive wedding photographer to capture your special day, and have the results turn out disappointing. You could allow your guests to take the photographs for you, by placing disposal cameras on every place setting at the dinner. This way your guests can take their own personal, special pictures of moments you will most likely have missed.

These photographs will then include images of your guests, and of course the happy couple, in a more relaxed and natural pose; making for much better pictures and a true record of the emotions and feelings of the day.

Then of course, for a truly memorable and unique memento of your special day you can transfer the best of these photos to canvas to make works of art of your wedding day.

Some of the best canvas prints are made up from photographs of children. They’re usually very willing subjects when a camera comes out and everyone in your family will want to see what your kids have been up to lately. Babies are even more popular subjects.

Of course, actually getting a decent photo of your baby can prove tricky, as their attention span is often short at best. So how do you get your baby to stay still for long enough to get a decent photo?

First off, keep it light. If you try to get a posed photo it will look forced. Keep your camera with you at all times, as you never know when the best moment will be. Try to photograph your baby without them knowing, when they’re going about their usual day, such as feeding, burping or playing.

To gain your baby’s attention try making noises to distract your baby, this should make them curious enough to look up from their current activity to see what you are doing.

It’s also worth taking several frames at once if you have a digital camera as babies are known for blinking at the wrong moments.

So long as you keep smiling yourself and keep everything light and fun, you’re sure to get a great photo that can be made into a great canvas print.