9 Tips for Photography To Enable You To Click Amazing Photos

Updated on: Oct 23, 2017

The popularity of social media platforms has skyrocketed in recent years. With the emergence of Snapchat and Instagram, many photographers have been able to expand their online profiles and network.

People using mobile devices may also explore the world of photography and become known, thanks to social media exposure. Mobile photographers have risen as a result of this.

Check out: Tips on Choosing The Right Social Media Platform To Establish An Online Presence

Moreover, as we all know, social media has become an important aspect of everyone’s lives as a result of the current digital age. Businesses big and small, influencers all use social media to grow their business, brands, skills, etc.

Media content such as videos and pictures on platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat are highly popular. So if you want to grow, network, and build a community over your photos, social media is a good option.

And if you want to pursue a career in social media marketing or just improve your skills in that sector, you can check out our online social media marketing course.

Now to assist all of you aspiring photographers, we’ve compiled a list of our top tips for photography that will undoubtedly help you take better images for social media and grow your social media following.

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Top 9 Effective Tips for Photography 

We’ve compiled a list of great suggestions that will undoubtedly help you improve your photography skills and enable you to take stunning photographs.

1. Use Grid Lines

The ‘rule of thirds is something that everyone who understands anything about photography will tell you about. Essentially, you divide the image in your mind into ‘thirds,’ and then place the subject on the left or right side of the shot.

The rule of thirds encourages people to spend more time looking at the image while also adding depth to it. This technique is very effective with rectangular photographs, such as Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube cover shots.

Using the ‘grid’ option on your smartphone’s camera settings is a simple method to apply the rule of thirds. Your photo is divided into 9 equal sections by the grid lines. Aim to get your subject to move along the lines or where they cross.

tips for photography - use guide lines

However, with the growing popularity of square photos, placing your subject right in the centre of your frame also has a pleasing effect. The use of grid lines will thus help you to keep your subject in the centre bringing symmetry to the image.

2. The Art of Balance

Balance is a difficult concept to grasp, but it is well worth the effort. Imagine that all of the elements in your image have some weight. This is a fantastic approach to think about balance. The heavier the element, the bigger it is.

If you were to put your image on a balance scale, would it tip to one side? Most photographers aim to create a balanced photo i.e. the scale is made level.

There are 4 types of balance elements:

  • Symmetrical Balance
  • Asymmetrical Balance
  • Tonal Balance
  • Colour Balance
  • Symmetrical balance is also known as formal balance invokes the feeling of harmony and is great for illustrations, drawings, blog graphics, photographs, and much more.
  • When all sides of a picture are equally weighted, symmetry is accomplished. Even though each image is equally balanced when divided down the middle, one is symmetrical while the other seems symmetrical by using various aspects of the arrangement.

tips for photography - Symmetrical balance
                                                                                                                                                             Example of Symmetrical Balance           

tips for photography - asymmetrical balance
                                                                                                                                                              Example of Asymmetrical Balance                   

  • Asymmetrical balance, often known as informal balance, is more difficult to attain than symmetrical balance. Asymmetrical balance is difficult to grasp because of its complexity; unlike symmetrical balance, where the pictures are more clear, asymmetrical balance necessitates the observation of the images to completely comprehend the idea.

     

  • Tonal balance is a well-known and popular form of balance. Because of the usage of blacks, whites, and greys, it’s very simple to detect. The contrast between the bright and dark portions of an image can be used to determine balance.
  • Colour balance, often known as White balance, is the process of adjusting the intensity of colours on a global scale (typically red, green, and blue primary colours). This is used to make some colours stand out, or make the image look more “natural

3. Lighting is Key

Lighting is important for stunning photographs since it may give the spectator a sense of the emotions behind them. Use natural lighting to lighten your photos wherever possible (never use your phone’s flash as a source of light) to avoid harsh shadows, especially on individuals. As a result, try to divert the subject’s gaze in the direction of the light. However, keep in mind that the subject should not be overexposed to the sun.

tips for photography - make use of lighting

The ISO and white balance parameters may also be changed (the higher the ISO, the more the light in your picture). If you’re using your smartphone, you may tap on various items on the screen to alter the illumination automatically.

Furthermore, once you’ve taken the image, you may use any editing program to experiment with its exposure to change the photo’s brightness without compromising its quality.

4. Focus on Resolution

Creating high-resolution images is very important to portray yourself as a brand to be taken seriously. Why? Even today, a lot of people view media on their desktops. 

That implies that an image that appears great on a phone may appear fuzzy on a bigger computer screen. To address this difficulty, invest in a high-resolution camera (or a decent smartphone).

Zooming in and taking photographs is also not recommended since the image quality decreases, becoming grainy or pixelated. Instead, use an editing tool or app to crop a standard, zoomed-out shot.

To compensate for the loss of photo quality while uploading to Instagram, you should sharpen a shot by at least 15% before sharing it.

Interesting Read: How To Select #Hashtags For Instagram

5. Background & Style

The location in which you take your pictures has a significant impact on the final product. If you don’t already have a brand toolbox and style guide, you can think about how you want to convey your brand or product to your audience to make a decision. On rough terrain, for example, a tough SUV might be displayed.

tips for photography - background & style

When it comes to style, never underestimate the power of simplicity. What you choose to leave out from your image is just as important as what you choose to keep in. This is also referred to as ‘negative space’ or ‘white space’ and evokes a powerful reaction from the audience. It brings a certain aesthetic quality to the image and highlights the subject even more beautifully.

6. Structure

To process a picture, the brain seeks structure. There are several methods for assisting the brain in recognizing the structure, and a successful structure aids in ‘guiding’ your audience along a specific ‘path.’

  • Frame:

This entails putting an invisible frame around the image’s edge, with no components touching it. Only when items are close to the image’s edge is this significant. Framing enables the brain to rapidly comprehend the image’s structure or arrangement, as well as giving it a sense of order. 

tips for photography - frames

The orange border here indicates an image frame to assist the brain in comprehending a rectangular boundary and structure.

  • Lines:

Straight lines imply a sense of order and tidiness whereas crooked or curved lines imply a sense of movement or organized tension. Clever use of lines allows the audience to go through a visual journey stopping at the most intentional and important points on the way.

tips for photography - use lines

  • Scale:

Scale refers to the deliberate sizing of various elements in your design to bring certain elements into focus first and then guiding your readers to follow a certain path. People are naturally drawn to the bigger elements first and then the smaller ones. Scaling is used very often in typography – certain words are written big or bold to draw immediate attention.

tips for photography - scale

  • Direction:

The human eye moves across designs, images, websites, and other visual elements in a unique, but often consistent manner. People read in an ‘F’, ‘E’ and ‘Z’ pattern. They ‘skim’ through to see whether it is worth spending time on the design, image, or site. This tip is especially important when creating infographics. Try to send across the important aspects of your message in the F, E or Z pattern.

7. Be creative

tips for photography - be creative

You can say the same story in a variety of different ways. For example – instead of showing people in a team meeting, you can show a tabletop with notebooks, pens, and coffee mugs. It still paints the same picture but gives an effective and creative spin to it. So, think of different perspectives to display the same theme.

tips for photography - creativity & perspective

Other things you can do are look for symmetry or repetitive patterns, play with different camera angles, take abstract and candid photos, use reflections of objects, try different lenses, etc. Sky’s the limit when it comes to being creative!

8. Edit Effectively

While using filters is a great way to give your images more of an artistic expression, it may easily become over-saturated. Instead, tweak the shadows, highlights, brightness, contrast, and vibrancy of your image to give it a more refined and subtle finish that will make it look as if you just took an amazing, #NoFilter photo. An overly edited photo is not appreciated by today’s audiences.

9. Use Free Tools

tips for photography - use free tools

It may not be easy to capture new images for every social media post. That’s where free tools come in. There are many free tools on the internet that will allow you to use their HD photos for free or create your graphic for free. Here’s a list:

For stock photos:

Pexels, PicJumbo, Gratisography, Pixabay, MorgueFile, Unsplash, Little Visuals, New Old Stock, and Death to the Stock Photo

For editing and creating graphics:

Canva, Snappa, PicMonkey

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That concludes our top 9 tips for photography. We hope this article has given you a better idea of how to make more meaningful and striking photographs.

Taking some amazing photos for social media is just half your job done. To complete it right, you must market them well too. 

This is where digital marketing may help. Marketing is critical since it allows you to promote your photographs, increase awareness and exposure, build a community and interact with like-minded photographers. 

And some popular social media platforms we recommend are Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook. 

So if you want to learn more on how to market using social media, IIDE offers an online digital marketing course that covers all of the aspects you’ll need to effectively upskill in under 3 months! The course is led by industry experts & leaders that further benefit you by also gaining some corporate insights. 

If you want to learn more about what IIDE has to offer, connect with us at [email protected] to meet our excellent team of counsellors.

If we have missed out on any tips be sure to let us know in the comments section below.

 

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Meherzad Karanjia

Ex Chief Learning Officer, IIDE

He has over 19 years of experience in the Digital Marketing and Design space. He is someone who understands all the elements of the Digital gamut ranging from User Experience, Graphics Design, SEO, SEM, Analytics, Media Planning.....[Read full bio]

15 Comments

  1. Jay Patil

    Great insights! These 9 tips to create amazing photos for social media success are spot on. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  2. Rubertina Vaz

    These 9 tips to create amazing photos for social media success are the only ones you will ever need!

    Reply
  3. Varnika Vaid

    These 9 tips to create amazing photos for social media success will enhance my photography for more meaningful content.

    Reply

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