Tis the season of special moments with friends and family. It seems like this time of year is always full of awkward family photos. Professional photographers can get pricey, so many people opt to take their own pictures. Whether you are just taking a squad picture with your friends or you are trying to take a picture for the annual Christmas card, it can be difficult to capture the perfect moment. Whether you are trying to be artsy or just take a classic family photo, here are some tips for taking and editing your pictures with ease!
1. Take Pictures On A Cloudy Day
The bright sun can create unattractive facial shadows midday since it is directly overhead, and these can be nearly impossible to edit out. If you have time to plan ahead for your photoshoot, choose a cloudy day or shoot in the morning or evening. If you are set on taking outdoor pictures and it happens to be an extremely sunny day, follow tip 2.
2. Know How To Use Flash
Flash can help minimize the facial shadows that the sun naturally creates, and it can brighten the subject when the lighting is too dim. The standard camera has a flash range of about ten feet.
3. Change Perspectives
Get on your subjects level instead of always shooting from your perspective. Lie down on the ground if you have to! Sometimes you will want to change your perspective on purpose to get a different angle. For example, you may want to stand on a chair to be able to capture your whole family on Christmas. Do not be afraid to experiment!
4. Move The Subjects From The Middle
Imagine that your field of view is divided in nine quadrants. You want the subject(s) to be concentrated at the four focal points, where the lines of the quadrants intersect. A good tip is to place one of the subject's eyes at one of the focal points. This strategy is commonly known as the Rule of Thirds. This gives the picture a better sense of direction and gives movement to the image. Putting the subject(s) in the dead center of the image is amateur and makes the image imbalanced.
5. Focus In
When the subject(s) are not in the center of the image, it will typically default and focus on the background. Most point and shoot cameras and iPhones do a good job of letting you automatically focus on the faces, but the more intricate cameras have more tools. Intricate cameras can be a little less user friendly when you are first trying to learn how to use them, but they can create artistic effects like blurring the background and focusing on the subject.
6. Blur The Background
Blurring the background not only creates an artistic effect, but it also draws more attention to the subject(s). This is an easy way to be artsy if you are naturally not an artsy person.
7. Use A Tripod
Using a tripod minimizes the blur that comes from accidentally shaking the camera. This is an easy trick to make sure you can capture a sharp moment.
8. Go Incognito
Instead of forcing a candid to happen, photograph people when they are not expecting it. Some people just are not good at posing, and the best candids are always the natural ones. Everyone will be themselves instead of their cheesy grin-self.
9. Less Is More
You don't need to filter your filter to make your picture flawless. Simply adjusting the brightness can make the difference that you are looking to achieve. Sometimes the view is already perfect.
10. Filters Are Not Always The Answer
Filters seem like an easy way to perfect your picture, but they can be overrated. Filters can add artistic edge to your pictures but sometimes they just make your picture appear grainy. Every picture is completely different because the brightness, contrast, sharpness, and angle are different, but the individual filters are always the same. Thus, it is important to edit your pictures by adjusting the brightness, contrast, warmth, sharpness, focus, highlights, exposure, and shadows. These add clarity and crispness to your pictures and can help blur your blemishes.
Now give it a go and capture those moments!
