Mobile phones have really democratised photography. Having a capable camera with you at all times, and a way to upload these photos to an audience through social media has inspired a good lot of us to become amateur photographers.
For businesses, photography is becoming ever more important. To position your brand, you need to showcase your products in a way that whets appetites, not revolts potential customers. And sometimes you just want your customers to know what you’re up to.
The better the photos look, the more interested clients are likely to be. So here a few tips on bringing your skills up to scratch.
1. Respect the camera
Regardless of the cutting-edge camera innovation in your pocket or purse in the form of a smartphone, age-old wisdom still holds when it comes to how you treat it. This means, always keep the lens clean and clear of any dirt or rough surfaces that might scratch or otherwise damage the lens.
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2. Activate the 3x3 grid
This is usually found under the settings tab of your phone camera app. This will act as a guide when you’re arranging and framing the elements you’re capturing.
3. Use both hands
This is another old-school tip, but it will give you the most stable of shots at a moment’s notice.
4. Pay attention to composition
If yours is more of portrait photography, always try to fill the frame of your camera with the faces you’re shooting. In other words, take closer shots of faces. This makes the focus of the photo the face, providing more interesting composition. And as humans, studies show we really like seeing faces.
5. Rule of thirds
Imagine, with the grid’s help, that your scene is divided into three equal slices. Try and have your subject in between the first slice and the second, and then use the spaces you leave on the sides to capture the scene your subject is in.
6. Use a frame within a frame
Look for natural elements, for instance, doors, parts of buildings, door frames, trees, furniture and so on, and put the subject inside them using them as a frame inside your camera’s frame.
7. Leading lines
The main element of this tip is to use naturally occurring lines to lead focus to your subject. Placing your subject on the inside corner of a structure, say a house, can provide this effect since the connecting edges of the walls act as the leading lines pointing to your subject.
8. Find symmetry
We subconsciously love symmetry, so every time we see it, we appreciate it – some more than others. This is why you can’t go wrong with consciously balancing elements in your photos.
9. Rule of odds
If you’re shooting several objects and you have control over their numbers, try and choose an odd number of subjects. This usually makes for a more interesting composition.
