With cell phones in virtually every pocket, more pictures are taken now on any given day then probably at any other point in history. Sadly, most of them are terrible, but they don’t have to be. Becoming a great photographer doesn’t happen overnight, but anyone can see a drastic improvement in the quality of the pictures they take by following just a few simple guidelines.
The rule of thirds
When looking through the viewfinder of your camera or at the screen of your phone, imagine if you will, dividing it up like a tic-tac-toe board. Many phones today even include an option in the settings menu to show grid lines on your phone screen to help with composition. By dividing your screen up this way you were creating an upper, middle and lower third as well as a left, middle and right third.
Instead of placing your subject directly in the middle of the frame move them to one of the thirds so that they are looking into, or moving into the frame. Likewise, don’t place the horizon right across the middle of the picture, instead raise or lower the horizon so it goes across either the upper or lower third.
Angles
Don’t think every picture you take has to be perfectly straight either. Sometimes tilting your camera or phone at a slight angle can create a sense of drama which can improve an image.
Point of view
There are many ways to approach this. For starters, try to get on the same level as your subject. So if you’re photographing a child or a pet try getting down on their level. Or get creative and get down low so you’re looking up or position yourselves above your subject looking straight down. Getting creative with angles will make your images stand out from the rest.
Zoom in or out
Try coming in close in order to isolate your subject from the background or zoom out wide in order to show more of the environment your subject is in. Be careful when zooming to only use the optical zoom range. Many phones have digital zoom but using digital zoom will degrade the image quality. If you need to get in closer for a shot than your optical zoom will allow, try zooming with your feet - step closer or step back for a wider view.
Final thoughts
There are many built-in settings and features you can tweak on your phone camera such as panoramic and portrait modes and image size and quality which will open up a new world of photography for you, so spend a little time getting to know your camera or phone camera features.
And remember, the above guidelines are just that - guidelines - and rules can be broken. Practice makes perfect.
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