My Fave Tips for Taking Professional Looking Pictures

Whether you’ve got an expensive camera or not, you’ll want to know how to take professional looking pictures. Having a great camera helps, but it isn’t necessary. You can take amazing pictures with only the help of your smartphone! Whatever you’re taking your pictures with, use these tips to make them look more professional:

Get Rid of Clutter

One thing you’ll notice about all professional pictures is that there’s little to no clutter in the background. Scan around the pictures you’re taking to make sure there’s nothing getting in the way, spoiling your image. You may need to remove some things from the wall, or even move furniture out of the way to get the perfect shot.

Develop an Eye for Detail

You need to develop an eye for detail if you’re going to be taking professional looking pictures. You might not think that a hair out of place would make a difference, but it will if you’re planning on displaying this picture somewhere, or framing it. Everything needs to be just right, so check all of the little details before you start getting click happy and snapping away. Do this even if you’re just taking a selfie!

Play With Light

Lighting is one of the most important aspects when taking a picture. If it’s too bright out, it’ll ruin your picture. Most photographers like to take pictures First thing in the morning or right before the sun goes down, as the light is the softest and best for pictures here. Play around with light depending on your device and see what you come up with. Remember, you don’t want to cast too many shadows. Juan Portrait have some good examples of pictures where light has been used the right way.

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Learn How to Edit Them

Occasionally, you might take a picture that you’re so happy with you don’t need to edit it at all. However, most pictures you take will need at least a little editing. You might want to do this with an app on your phone, or photoshop on the computer. The more careful you are when taking the actual pictures, the less editing you’ll have to do afterwards. Editing can be a painstaking process. There are free tutorials online though, so make an effort to learn.

Try Off Centre Subjects

Instead of taking pictures with all of your subjects in the centre, try some off centre subjects to add interest. Your pictures don’t all need to be symmetrical to work. Move things around a bit to see what look you like best. There are lots of other things you can do to make your pictures look unique too. Develop your own style!

Taking professional looking pictures can take time and practice, but you’ll get there. Practice often enough and you’ll learn as you go along. Something that works for your camera may not work for another. You’ll more than likely develop lots of your own tricks too! Has this post helped you? Do you have tips of your own? Leave a comment below!