5 easy tricks to step-up your photo game – fort collins photographer
It seems like everyone these days is a low-key professional photographer- posting beautiful images that look effortless and just so, making the rest of us wonder how to step up our game and take above average photos.
If you’re wondering how these people are achieving such a polished and visually impactful look for their images you’re not alone. You can be right there with them with the application of a few tricks to step up your photo game. Follow the 5 steps below to achieve a polish branded vibe for your insta:
- Lighting
The most important factor in creating beautiful images is having good lighting. Nothing screams mediocrity more than a muddy dull image or a photo with the hottest highlights and deepest shadows. In general, even lighting is the way to go unless you’re intentionally manipulating the light to project a certain mood. Whatever it is you’re taking photos of, make sure you’ve got beautiful light to match the intention of your image. If you’re outside, look for an area with even lighting to shoot in, open shade is perfect. A quick trick to determine if the lighting is right, is to hold your hand up where you plan to shoot, and if there’s any weird lighting hitting your hand, best to move until your hand has even light all over. If you’re indoors you want a strong, filtered light source to illuminate your subject and give it a brilliantly polished look.
- Genuine Expression/Authenticity
People want to feel a connection when they look at an image. Forcing it doesn’t cut it. Whether it’s a photo of you, your friends, family etc. make sure the image pulls on people’s emotional center- making them feel connected and like the moment is real. Yes, polishing your images is good, but people want authenticity and vulnerability. Work for that true connection.
- Remove Distractions
After becoming a portrait retoucher my eyes were opened to what a difference refining little details in a photo can make. Removing fuzz from a sweater, calming fly-away hairs, straightening a necklace, etc. all these little things end up distracting you from the subject and emotion coming through in a photo. Don’t just think subject details, think surroundings details (a hot highlight on the grass behind someone, a dead branch in the background, a thumbtack on a wall. If you can make sure you attend to all the little details before you snap a photo, it’ll add a whole new element of refinement to your photos.
- Composition
The way you shoot and crop an image can totally change the impact it has. Consider what you want the feeling of your photo to be – close up and dramatic, far away and carefree? Also, the way in which you position your subject in the frame completely effects how people feel about a photo. Play around with different compositions of the same set up and see how each on makes your feel! Too bottom heavy, cropped too tight? You’ll start to develop an eye and sense for what feels right and looks the best.
- Simple Edit
Our Iphones basically offer everything we could want and need in this world including basic editing tools for your photos. Once you captured your perfects photo, a light edit with the camera tools can add a little something extra. Things to think about: healthy contrast, softening blown out highlights (although hopefully with your newfound understanding of good lighting this isn’t even a problem), sharpness or lack there of depending on your vibe, color intensity (again dependent on your vibe). Either way, a key piece of making your Instagram photos stand out is maintaining a consistent feeling throughout your images. This is called branding, and it’s what you fall in love with when you’re scrolling through Instagram and discover a grammer whose “vibe” you love. They strategically post in a certain style to maintain a cohesive look that feels just so.
Happy posting!