Get creative – three ways to make your pictures arty

The best bit of advice for a photographer is let all the magic happen within the camera. Sophisticated editing software is great, with an infinite number of possibilities at its disposal, but there's a subtle beauty in shooting an image in such a spectacular way, that even you are astounded that the magic took place in the camera alone.

Play with exposures

A good photograph doesn't have to be about perfect resolution, correct histograms, the need to do a white balance and colours that reflect the actual world. Like art, photographs can also be inventive and alternative to the norm.

Overexposure swamps your picture with an effervescent light, giving the image a vivid vitality, whilst underexposing a picture offers a darker, less defined, and more evocative feel.

The trick is to find the right balance for the right mood. For example, a day at the beach demands overexposure, whilst underexposure is perhaps perfect for capturing the atmosphere of an intimate music gig.

Get high and get low

It's easy to stand and take a picture, hence the proclivity to do just that. We may occasionally bend our knees but anything else is a rarity. But as soon as you get down low or up high you'll begin to notice a marked difference between images in your old photobooks to the ones post-static stand, click and shoot.

The most noticeable difference is the change in mood of pictures. A shot of a person or building from below can add menace and authority to a picture, whereas a shot from, let's say the Eiffel Tower, of people below, can reveal a certain vulnerability.

There are obvious challenges, like, for example, you're at a wedding and don't won't to smear your dress or suit, and, with high heights, it's safety first, so think practically.

Get to know your pal 'bulb'

There's a fringe setting that most untrained photographers come across on digital cameras known as a bulb. No one really uses it, no one really understands it, but we're here to help.

In layman's term it allows you to keep the shutter of your camera open for as long as you restrain the shutter release.

Poetically, it captures the passing of time, and works best in low light situations (longer a shutter is open, the more light the sensor receives).

It is therefore advisable to have the camera on a tripod, as this helps reduce camera shake and preserve the integrity of your images.