Camera. Check. Something to Photograph. Check. Now How Do You Actually Take the Photo?

📸 You’ve got the camera. You’ve found something worth photographing. Now what? In this episode, Rick walks through the seven steps that happen between picking up your camera and pressing the shutter — the process that determines whether your photo is sharp, well composed, and actually what you intended. Practical, in order, and immediately usable. 

🎟️ In this episode: 

1.    Hold the camera with both hands — every single time — Right hand on the grip, left hand under the lens. Both hands reduce camera movement and reduce blur. 

2.    Look through the viewfinder — When you look through the viewfinder you have three points of contact with the camera. Far more stable than holding it out to look at the screen. Use the viewfinder. 

3.    Compose the frame before you focus on anything — Composition is a creative decision. Make it first. Focus is a technical one — make it second. 

4.    Half-press the shutter button to focus — never stab it — Two stages: half-press to focus, check it’s on the right thing, then gently press fully. 

5.    Stand still. Breathe out slowly and shoot — Breathing is movement. Movement is blur. Stand still, breathe out slowly, and shoot. 

6.    Check the shot you just took — every single time — Playback immediately. See what you got. Adjust if needed. Delete rejects at your computer, not in camera. 

7.    Take one great photo and move on — Usually the first photo is the best one. Take your time, get it right, and move on. This is the one photo rule. 

📝 Full show notes: rickmcevoyphotography.com/blog/how-to-actually-take-a-photo 

🎙️ Related episodes: 

Episode 93 — How Do You Hold a Camera Properly? This Is Very Important! 

Episode 152 — How My One Photo Rule Will Help You Take Better Photos 

⏭️ Next episode: Episode 232 — I’ve Got Hundreds of Photos on My Camera — Now What? — Friday 8 May 2026. 

🌐 Website, courses and resources: rickmcevoyphotography.com 

📺 YouTube: Rick McEvoy on YouTube 

 My brand new course Photography for Beginners: Sunrise in Mexico, will teach you exactly how to get out at sunrise and come back with photos you love  all told in plain English. it includes real footage of me photographing an actual sunrise in Mexico with an entry level camera. Find out more at rickmcevoyphotography.com/courses.

 If you want to start taking stunning sunrise photos, and why wouldn't you,  check out my Photography for Beginners: Sunrise in Mexico course at rickmcevoyphotography.com/courses.

Transcript

Camera ready. Something to photograph. Now what? Here is how to actually take the photo.

You’ve sorted out your camera. You’ve found something worth photographing. You’re standing there with the camera in your hands.

Now what?

This is the gap in most beginner photography advice. There’s a lot of content about what camera to buy and what settings to use. But the actual moment of taking a photo — what you do in the five seconds before you press the shutter — almost nobody covers that in any useful detail.

How do you hold it? Where do you look? When do you focus? When do you press? These things matter. They affect whether the photo is sharp, whether it’s well composed, whether it’s what you actually intended.

Seven things. The process from raising the camera to pressing the shutter. Let’s go through them.

Hello and welcome to episode 231 of the Photography Explained Podcast.

This episode is titled… Camera. Check. Something to Photograph. Check. Now How Do You Actually Take the Photo?

A very good morning, good afternoon, or good evening to you, wherever you are in the world. I’m your host, Rick, hi, and in each episode, I try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 27 minutes, without the irrelevant details. Yes, really.

I’m a professionally qualified photographer based in England with a lifetime of photographic experience, which I share with you in my splendid podcast.

Let’s get into this.

Right. Let’s get into this. The moment you pick up the camera and point it at something is the moment that actually matters. And most of the time, people rush it.

These seven things are a process. Follow them in order and your photos will be sharper, better composed, and more of what you actually intended. Better photos. That is the whole point.

Tip one. Hold the camera with both hands — every single time.

Right hand on the grip. Left hand under the lens or under the body of the camera, supporting it from below. Both hands, every time, without exception.

This matters because stability matters. Any movement of the camera during the fraction of a second the shutter is open will show in the photo as blur. Two hands, properly placed, reduce that movement significantly.

It sounds basic. It is basic. And you would be surprised how often people — especially those switching from a phone — end up holding a camera one-handed, or gripping it loosely. Right hand on the grip, left hand underneath. Every single time.

Tip two. Look through the viewfinder — it steadies the camera against your face.

Your camera has a viewfinder — the small eyepiece you look through — and a screen on the back. Both work. But there is an important difference.

When you look through the viewfinder, you are excluding everything else. This is one standout difference between a camera and a phone for me that will never change. And doing this is a much more stable platform to take a photo from. Hold your camera out in front of you, and it is less stable. Bringing your camera to your eye naturally places your arms in a more stable position.

I never take photos using my LCD screen unless there is a specific need to.

When you look through the viewfinder and press it against your face, you have three points of contact with the camera: two hands and your face. That triangular support makes the camera significantly more stable than holding it out at arm’s length to look at the screen.

More stability means sharper photos. Especially in lower light when the shutter speed is slower. Use the viewfinder when you can. You will notice the difference.

Tip three. Compose the frame before you focus on anything.

Before you worry about what is sharp, decide what is in the frame. Move. Change your angle. Step left or right. Get lower or higher. Try a few different positions before you commit.

Using your viewfinder helps with this process. I know I am repeating myself but if you have been taking photos with a phone, when you take photos with a camera you need to use this massive improvement in how you take your photos.

Composition is deciding what appears in the photo and where it sits in the frame. It is a creative decision. And it is much easier to make that decision before you start worrying about focus. And when you are looking through the viewfinder.

Compose first. Focus second. It is a simple sequence that makes a real difference.

Tip four. Half-press the shutter button to focus — never stab it.

The shutter button has two stages. Press it halfway down and the camera focuses. Press it all the way down and the photo is taken.

Half-press. Pause. Check where the camera has focused. Is it on the right thing? If yes, press fully. If not, try again.

Most beginners press the shutter button in one fast stab. The camera tries to focus and take the photo simultaneously. The result is often a photo that is slightly out of focus. Slow it down. Half-press. Wait for the focus confirmation. Then gently press the shutter button.

Tip five. Stand still. Breathe out slowly and shoot.

This sounds like something from a different discipline entirely. It is not. It is straightforward physics.

Breathing is movement. Movement during the exposure causes blur. A slow breath out, followed by a natural pause before you breathe in again, is the moment of least movement in your body.

Compose, focus, stand still, breathe out slowly, shoot in that natural pause. It costs you nothing. In lower light or at slower shutter speeds, it makes a visible difference to the sharpness of your photos.

If this helps you get better, sharper photos, there is really no reason not to do it. Is there?

Tip six. Check the shot you just took — every single time.

Press the playback button and look at the photo you just took. Is it what you intended? Is it sharp where you wanted it to be sharp? Is the composition right?

This is one of the great advantages of digital photography. You can see the result immediately. Use that information.

If the photo is not what you wanted, take another. If it is overexposed, adjust and take another. If the focus is wrong, fix it and take another. Looking at the result and adjusting is how you learn and how you get the shot. How utterly splendid that we can see the result instantly — make the most of it.

And delete the rubbish when you are sat in front of your computer or whatever device you are using. Don’t delete the photos in camera — it is too easy to delete the wrong thing. Don’t let the rejects distract you.

Tip seven. Try to get the best one photo you can.

Try to get the best one photo you can.

You don’t need to take loads of photos. Usually the first photo is the best one. I used to take loads of very similar photos of the same thing, then agonise about which was the best one. And 99 times out of 100 it was the first photo.

If you take your time and think about taking a photo, that should be all you need.

Check out Episode 152 — How My One Photo Rule Will Help You Take Better Photos — where I talk a lot about this.

Get that one photo the best you can and then move on. This is a game changer, believe me.

Quick recap.

Right hand on the grip, left hand supporting from underneath — both hands, every time.

Use the viewfinder rather than the screen for greater camera stability.

Compose the shot first, before you worry about what is in focus.

Half-press the shutter button to focus before pressing fully to shoot.

Stand still, breathe out slowly, and shoot.

Check the shot you just took and adjust if needed.

Take one great photo and move on.

What if I use a phone?

With a phone, most of this happens automatically or instinctively. You hold it with both hands, usually. You look at the screen. You tap to focus on something. You tap to shoot.

The difference with a camera is that these steps become more deliberate and more distinct. The shutter button is physical. The focus confirmation is visible. The two-stage press is a real thing you have to learn.

That deliberateness is actually a good thing. It slows you down in a way that makes you think about the shot before you take it. Which is exactly where better photography begins.

What do I do?

Well, I use a tripod most of the time. And the viewfinder much more than the LCD screen on the back of my camera.

But when I am shooting handheld I do all of the above.

And I try to just get one photo and move on. The best one photo that I can. No need to repeat what I have already told you — move on Rick!

Here’s something for you to do, dear listener.

Go and take ten photos of different things today. Not fifty. Ten. And for each one, follow the seven steps in this episode in sequence. Compose. Look through the viewfinder. Half-press to focus. Breathe out. Shoot. Check. Move on.

Ten deliberate photos using the full process. That is the exercise. Let me know how it goes — you can text me from the podcast feed.

Related episodes.

How to hold a camera properly is covered in brilliant detail in Episode 93 — How Do You Hold a Camera Properly? This Is Very Important! — well worth your time.

The one photo rule that underpins Tip 7 comes from Episode 152 — How My One Photo Rule Will Help You Take Better Photos. If you haven’t heard it, go and have a listen.

And if you’ve just got your camera and haven’t yet done the setup, Episode 230 — Shiny New Camera? Calm Down and Do This First — is where to start.

Next time, in Episode 232 — I’ve Got Hundreds of Photos on My Camera — Now What? We tackle what happens after the shoot. You’ve taken hundreds of photos. They are all on your camera. What do you do with them now? We’re going to walk through the whole post-shoot process from getting them off the camera to organising, backing up, and doing something useful with the best ones. I’ll see you in two weeks.

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe so you don’t miss future ones. And you can text me from the podcast feed!

For everything else — courses, resources, questions, my weekly email — it’s all at RickMcEvoyPhotography.com. And you can find me on YouTube by searching Rick McEvoy.

If you’d like to support the podcast and get the video version of every episode, find me on Patreon at patreon.com/c/rickphoto.

This episode was brought to you by a cheese and pickle sandwich, consumed before settling into my homemade, acoustically cushioned recording emporium.

I’ve been Rick McEvoy. Thanks again very much for listening and for giving me 27-ish minutes of your valuable time. I reckon this episode will be about 23 minutes long after editing out the mistakes and other bad stuff.

Thanks for listening. Stay safe. Cheers from me, Rick!