Social media is becoming an online photo album for the world to see. It is just as important to have great pictures as it is to have a "job appropriate" Facebook. Consider these steps to having a perfect picture included in your album!
First, you need to consider sunlight.
Sunlight can make or break a photograph. Having the subject in your picture front and center with the majority of the source light coming from behind will create a shadowed subject. The back lighting is more often used when you are trying to create a silhouette. Here is a useful tip for you. Try creating some source of light behind the photographer to shine on the subject of your picture if you can not help that the sun is in the background. Or, to be even more simple, just move to a different location with the light behind the photographer. You may be asking, what if I can not move around as easily? Simple. Create a shadow that may block the source light, but just remember to turn on the flash on your digital camera.
Next, you need to consider spacing.
This can be broken down into two different categories, cropping and the overall spacing from the length of the photograph. Cropping a picture is something that we find very useful. If you have taken a picture from a distance, you may take away some of the distraction of the background and just narrow the picture to the subject of your picture. Let's say you cropped the picture. Now you need to make sure the spacing is proper. The ideal setting for a picture is to have a small space above the subject of the picture. Wherever you want the focus of the picture should be slightly above the center. This is where the eye most naturally looks to. This is not a mandatory rule in picture taking. Often, if the subject is facing an outward direction, you may want the picture to be off centered to create an effect of almost being there.
You may need to eliminate distractions.
Sometimes you just can't help that there are things in your picture that you wish weren't there. That is okay though! Just refer back to the previous rule, and just keep the focus of your picture predominately in the center. You can also edit the photo, and create a focus on the center of the picture and merely blur the background. If you have the luxury of creating the setting of your picture, then consider clearing the background of any clutter and distractions. This may include bright colors that are not consistent with the picture, something overbearing, or anything that just happens to take away attention from what you want your audience to see.
There are several effects that you can do to your picture.
Sepia tone is when you have more red tones throughout your picture. This can sometimes make the picture look more "authentic" or "antique." Black and white pictures are one of my personal favorites. Some digital cameras allow you to take the picture as such, or you can use a free website like Picnik to edit the picture into your masterpiece. Boosting photos can create vibrant colors to give a more dramatic effect. It is often fun to use Picnik and Adobe Photoshop software to just experiment with your picture.
Lastly, you can troubleshoot a picture.
Yes, I said it, you can troubleshoot pictures. I'm not talking about troubleshooting a picture, either. Let's say you have a zig-zag effect on your picture. Try making sure the shutter is off on your camera. Sometimes everything will show up just way too dark. In this case, you can turn on the flash. If there is a blurred effect, you can also mess with a combination of the shutter, the flash, or the setting on your camera that determines whether it should be an inside picture or an outside picture, usually depicted with a flower on your camera.
This shouldn't be considered expert advice, but if you follow these basic steps you should end up having great pictures on your social media website. Just remember to smile and say cheese!
No comments:
Post a Comment