How to take better photos
I’ve been working as part of the Unsplash Editorial Team going through the photo submissions that come in daily for a year — the best bit about it is, as it’s a 100% manual process, I get to see every photo that comes in 😍
As well as working for Unsplash, I set up a Photography Group in the town I lived in 11 years ago, which is still going strong, learned the technicals of a camera working up from bridge camera to DSLR and began as a Freelance Photographer working with clients around the country.
I decided half way through the client photography to focus on design which is where I am now, but I bring with me a huge learning curve for the photography that I now do.
The most common issues that get flagged in submissions are poor lighting, bad composition, have watermarks and bad focus — mainly because of low end cameras being used or moreso, mobile phones.
So here are my tips on how to take a good photo based on my experiences;
How to improve poor lighting
When taking the photo be sure to have the correct settings on your camera for the conditions you’re shooting.
When editing, consider too much or too little saturation, contrast, shadows and exposure — make sure to keep things balanced, and bear in mind which direction the light is coming from.
Shooting in harsh light or in darker areas inside or out, can be tricky. Low light requires higher ISO and brighter light requires lower ISO settings.
Ensure the camera and lens you’re using is appropriate for the lighting, if you don’t have lights or a decent flash an older mobile phone can produce poor results. My advice is, if you’re serious about photography invest in a good camera, anything from bridge, mirrorless to DSLR — it’s really worth the research.
How to improve poor composition/angle
Have a clear subject, take the time to frame the subject well, don’t just assume where you’re standing will work — move around the subject, see what works, angle the camera to suit.
Make sure only the things you want are in the shot when you take it or crop out afterwards.
How to improve poor focus
Be sure to have the correct settings on your camera for the subject and surroundings (is it night, day, low light, bright light?), do a few test shots, especially if you’re using digital.
If you’re using auto focus ensure the camera is focused on your subject, if you’re using manual focus, which can be more time consuming, practice a lot using your chosen lens.
As a 50mm manual focus lens fan, I can say this takes patience and practice 🙃
How to improve on poor editing
Too much saturation, HDR or clarity can ruin a decent photo. Balance is key.
If you do edit, choose an app or programme that is good for photo editing, including Adobe Lightroom (mobile app is free for iOS + Android), VSCO Cam, Snapseed are ones I’ve got experience with and enjoy using, take some time to learn …. but bare in mind that when editing on a small screen it may not look the same on a larger screen. If you can view your photo on a large screen at 100%, that way you’ll catch any oddities that you might not have seen.
Some general tips
Learn your camera. I think this was one of the best bits of advice I was given, there’s a multitude of ‘how to’ guides for pretty much every camera, even mobile phones to be found, learn your chosen equipment and make the most of it.
Then, learn the basics of photography. This was another thing that held me in good stead.
Take a look at the regularly updated editorial feed on Unsplash for inspiration and choose a few to imitate to get an idea of what you’re doing. Don’t copy though, be original with your final work.
When you’ve taken a bunch of photos, consider which images are the best of the bunch and focus on only a few. One thing that I used to struggle with is deciding which photos from the shoot to take and edit, now I’m brutal with myself and select only the ones that I really like, otherwise this part of the process can be laborious.
Take some time to crop, if needed, or touch up the colour and/or lightness. Be careful here, balance is key.
When you use some zoom functions on phones especially, it can create a lot of distortion and pixelation — be aware of what kind of zoom you’re using.
I hope these easy-to-apply tips help anyone new to photography or even refresh people who’ve been doing it a while.
