Key Rules of Taking Great Photos (If You Must Have Rules at All)

Let’s get something straight before we spiral into a Pinterest-colored abyss of shutter speeds, ISO charts, and some YouTuber telling you to “always follow the rule of thirds, bro.”

No.
Absolutely not.

Photography - at least photography worth looking at - isn’t a spreadsheet of f-stops and carefully obeyed commandments. It’s a chaotic, glorious accident dressed up as intention.

Every camera manual, blog, and “10 Tips to Level Up Your Photography!” listicle will whisper the same sweet, sterile poison: follow the light, balance the frame, respect the histogram. 

They mean well, like the aunt who insists you need to “settle down” because you’re thirty and still take pictures of alleyway pigeons at 2 a.m. But the truth - the messy, inconvenient, liberating truth - is that rules are for people who desperately fear being interesting.

Good photos don’t happen because you remembered which direction the sun was setting while muttering “golden hour” like a monk. They happen because you were there, because something felt right, because your subject smirked or twirled or blinked at the exact moment your finger twitched on the shutter. They happen because you let chaos in and it rewarded you with a flash of accidental perfection.

Yes, technique exists. Aperture, shutter speed, white balance - all those delicious knobs and dials. Learn them if you like. They’re nice to know in the same way it’s nice to know how to make a sandwich before attempting to launch it into low Earth orbit. But don’t mistake technique for art. A perfectly exposed photo of a boring thing is still a boring photo.

You can nail the math and still miss the magic.

Nobody wants to scroll past another clinically correct picture of a beige latte on a reclaimed wood table and think, Ah yes, this histogram really sings.

Here is the only actual rule worth tattooing across your camera strap: do not be boring.

If your subject is a person, show them in a good light. Don’t take or publish shots that make them look bad - unless the whole purpose of the photo is to be unflattering.

If your subject isn’t a person, focus on the most interesting angles and details. Highlight the shapes, textures, and quirks that make it stand out, even if that means breaking every rule of composition.

Everything else - composition, focus, lens choice - is seasoning. Sprinkle or dump at will. Tilt the horizon if it feels right. Blow out the highlights like you’re setting the sun on fire. Let shadows eat half the frame if that’s where the story lives.

Photography isn’t a courtroom; no one’s coming to arrest you for crimes against symmetry.

So yes, go ahead and learn the craft if it tickles you. Read about bokeh, argue about megapixels, buy a lens that costs as much as a small car. But remember: the best photo you’ll ever take will probably happen when you’ve forgotten every “key rule,” when you’re too busy laughing, sweating, or falling in love to care about ISO.

The best camera is the one you actually have with you, not the one sitting at home gathering dust. The best lens is simply the one you have. Gear only matters if it’s there when the moment happens.

Point the camera. Feel something. Press the button.

That’s it. That’s the rule.