Are You Following These 3 Simple Tricks to Take Great Photos?

Vintage Cameras

As the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Whether you believe that or not, it is true that pictures are a huge part of our society. Instagram and Snapchat encourage us to post and share our life updates through photos.

But what if you can’t take a great picture? That puts a damper on the whole thing! So here are 3 simple tricks to help you improve your picture skills whether you use a phone or a camera.

1. Your Subject

When taking a photo, you need to make pick a good subject.

Every picture starts with a subject. What is the purpose of your photo? What or who is the photo of? Simply put, the subject is the main focus of your picture. Because it is the main focus, it's especially important. You want to choose an interesting subject, something that tells a story. If it has meaning to you, it’s much more likely that you’ll be able to convey that meaning to your viewers.

2. The Composition Rule

Following the Rule of Thirds creates more dynamic photos

The rule with composition is that as soon as you master the rules and guidelines, you can start breaking them! So let's talk about a few of the most important ones.

The Rule of Thirds: Picture a tic-tac-toe board. You know where each of the lines intersect? That’s where you want to place your subject. Always having the subject in the middle of the photo gets real boring real fast. Some cameras and phones allow you to place a grid on your screen or in the viewfinder so that you can see the lines and compose the image right when you are taking it. This is nice because you can see, in real time, what the composition will look like. Following the rule of thirds will help make your photos more interesting.

Leading Lines: Everything around us forms lines, and our eyes just naturally follow them. Because your subject is the most important part of your photo, you want the lines in that photo to lead the viewer’s eyes right to it. If you have lines that lead the eye off the page your viewer isn’t getting a good look at your picture! Sometimes there are natural lines that you need to pay attention to and figure out how to use to your advantage. But other times you have to make the lines yourself. Paying attention to lines can help you create a great photo!

The Background: As important as the subject is, the background is a really close second. If your background is distracting in some way it takes away from the appeal of your photo. This also becomes a problem if you are trying to convey a story or meaning in your picture. When your viewer becomes distracted by something in the background of your photo it keeps them from really understanding the meaning you are trying to get across. Some common distractions to keep a look out for are objects behind the subject that “cut” into them, colors that clash, and photobombers in any form. Making sure your background isn’t distracting will ensure that your subject is the star of the photo.

3. Editing is More than a Filter

Edit your photo in order to avoid being over or under exposed.

Editing your photos is super important! We live in a time where everyone just adds a filter. And while filters aren’t bad, sometimes you just want to make your photo look exactly like you want. There are tons of aspects to editing, but there are two areas that make a big impact on how your finished photo looks.

Exposure: This is how light or dark your photo is. While everyone has a different styles you still have to make sure that your photo is bright enough that the subject can be seen and identified. When playing with exposure you need to make sure that you don’t make the light too light or the dark too dark. It can be easy to get “blown highlights” which is when the lighter parts of the photo are so bright that there is no detail left. You want to keep your light and dark nicely balanced so that your photo is edited well.

White Balance: Another important part of editing a photo well is white balance. This is when you make the whites in your photo look white. Because different light sources have different color temperatures it is easy for your photo to look too cool (blue) or too warm (yellow). Fixing your white balance ensures that skin looks like skin and teeth look white.

Try, Try Again

Practice helps us improve!

The most important thing to remember when learning to take great photos is that it won’t be perfect that first time! Practice really does help to improve any skill. As you keep trying and take the time to look at and learn from people who take amazing photos, your ability to take a great photo will continue to improve. Now get out there, take some photos, and let me know what photography tips have worked the best for you!