Photography is like any craft: you aren’t born a professional. You have to constantly study, practice and tweak your craft. I have been consistently taking pictures for more than five years, and I still feel like I’m trying to drink water out of a fire hose. One of my mentors uses this analogy (bear with me on this): Learning is like a pie. One sliver is what you know you know, another slice is what you know you don’t know, and the remainder of the pie is everything you don’t know you don’t know.
Marinate on that for a moment.
I crave getting lost in photography, but it can also feel like I’m in way over my head. I’ll never learn everything I want to know about it. When I have these moments of doubt, I step back and see how far I’ve come. When I compare my early work to my recent work, the evolution is so transparent and so satisfying. Sometimes a little sliver of knowledge I stumble upon, once applied, changes my photography forever.
The other day, I came across a cake smash session that I photographed last fall. The pictures were undeniably cute, but I lost the butterfly feeling I had when I first sent the finished images to my client. Knowing what I know now, I had an uncontrollable urge to tweak and change these photos to make them go from good to great.
I threw the entire session back into Lightroom and used my current workflow that incorporates the techniques I have learned in the last six months. Once I made adjustments to a couple images, the butterflies were back!
At the risk of sounding neurotic and obsessive, I contacted the client and sent her a new online gallery of the re-edited images along with dozens of bonus material. She loved this look even more than the first batch!
Want some easy ways to improve your photo taking? Whether you are using a professional DSLR or an iPhone, here are five simple ways to make your good pictures great.
1) Crop. Crop is the Goldilocks component of photography. With your subject in mind, avoid having too little background, or too much extra space, if it doesn’t add to the story you want to tell. Make it obvious what you are trying to show off in the image. If you are taking a picture of people, be sure not to crop them at the joints. Mid-thigh, mid-shin, mid-bicep and the chest are great places to crop a portrait.
2) Alignment. Straightening a horizon or vertical column you see on a building will instantly polish your picture. You’ll never look at a crooked image without cringing again.
3) White Balance. This is that weird temperature or tint that makes photos look really blue or yellow, green or magenta. The white balance is thrown off by the type of light your subject is in. You can adjust the temperature and tint in any image editing program- even on your iPhone or Instagram! If you are photographing something white, check to see i f it appears pure white in your image. If not, you will likely need to adjust the white balance.
4) Lighting. Amazing light can make even the simplest subjects absolutely gorgeous. Look for indirect, even light when snapping photos, like under a shady tree. Harsh, direct or splotchy light can be extremely unflattering and may distort your image.
5) Distractions. Cluttered and busy backgrounds will fight for your attention when viewing a photo. Look for simple, clean and uncluttered areas to use as backgrounds to help compliment, rather than compete, with your subject.
Bonus: Sometimes you just have to throw out all the rules for amazing, organic moments that make themselves great.
Do you already use any of these tips? I’d love to hear about your go-to techniques. Thanks for reading and happy snapping!