- “STOP TAKING PICTURES IN DIRECT SUN: Sunlight is harsh. When directly overhead, the sun creates unflattering shadows under the subject’s eyes. Even the most energetic toddlers will appear to have dark circles under their eyes. If the sunlight hits directly in front of the camera, the image turns into a silhouette (that’s the photo where the person or object is dark and the background is bright). There aren’t any easy tools or camera settings to compensate.
- “CHANGE YOUR HEIGHT: How do you take a photo? You probably grab your phone or camera, place it up near your eye, and shoot, right? That’s fine, but what happens is that all your photos start to look the same. Why? Because they’re all taken from the same height. Simply kneeling, sitting, or standing on top of something can instantly add variety to that ho-hum Instagram post.”
- “STOP PLACING EVERYTHING SMACK-DAB IN THE CENTER: Placing everything in the center used to be a necessity to get a sharp shot, but most cameras can capture a sharp subject even when off-center. And if your camera is a smartphone, you can simply tap the object on the screen to focus there. Placing the person or object a bit off to the side adds interest and tends to draw the eye. Off-center placements also create empty space, which creates a less busy image that’s often more eye-catching. We’re not saying to never take a centered photograph again, but we are saying to stop centering the photo without even thinking about it. Consider where the person or object is and what else is in the frame, and you’ll get better shots — this is referred to as composition.”