Make Your Snapshots Into Lead Story Photos With This Quickstart Guide
By: Martin Andersson Aaberge
Tags: Marketing, Branding, Writing Tips, Creativity, Photography

Composition

One of the most important aspects when shooting photos is composition. Amateurs have a tendency to frame an object dead center and not care about the surroundings. We find it esthetically pleasing when we use the golden ratio.

I’m not saying you should never center a subject, but you have to do it because it is an active choice.

The golden ratio

In short, the golden ratio is: math, math, oh my goodness, nature is crazy, math → 0.618. This means that if you place your subject 62% to the left or right in the frame, it will look more pleasing to the eye.

If you enjoy reading about the wonders of our nature, I suggest you read more about the golden ratio here (Wikipedia).

I did an experiment when teaching composition in 3d many moons ago and I asked the students to draw a line.

Then I asked them to add another line where it felt right. 80–90% of the students added that line smack in the golden ratio.

If you don’t consider this while shooting, have it in the back of your head when you edit the photo.

How would this shot look if the church tower was in the middle of the frame?

Tip: If you found this topic interesting, you can bump it up a notch by researching Fibonacci’s Ratio.

The “Rule of thirds”

Another well-known rule (which is meant to be broken as any other rule) is the rule of thirds. On most pocket cameras or phones, you can turn this grid on and get an overlay in your viewfinder.

The rule of thirds represented with vertical- and horizontal lines. Notice where they intersect as well. Graphics by author

The iPhone rule of third grids turned on. A nice, non-intrusive overlay. Screenshot by author

If you place your subject in the cross-section or along with one of these lines, the photo will subconsciously be more pleasant to look at. You can use several of them at the same time.

Try placing your human subject in the bottom left point while placing the distant mountain in the top right point. It will look good, I promise

Focus and depth of field

Focus is simply about what subject in the photo you give attention to. You can think about focus in two ways — what you are aiming at and how blurred out the rest of the image is. This is called depth of field, or DOF for short.

You have probably seen photos where the subject is crystal clear but the background is blurred out. You have also probably seen photos where the foreground is blurred out and the mid- or background is clear. You can use DOF to frame the action of your photo.

Focus on the book. Blurred out background. Photo by author

Subject and landscape all in focus. Photo by author

A high aperture (for example f1.8) will blur out the background. A low aperture (for example f16) will keep more of the image in focus. More about that in the technical part of this story.

Lighting

Without lighting, you have no photo. It is all about how you let light into the camera.

There is a lot of nice natural light out there. You don’t have to buy light equipment unless you want to experiment.

Remember that backlit tends to darken the subject, so unless it is a style you are going for, you might want to avoid that.

Don’t have the light hit your subject from the front. Have it hit a bit on the side. This way you will shape the subject instead of flooding it. If you need some bounce light from the other side, you can set up a reflector. This can be a piece of styrofoam.

Light from the side, additional help from the other side if needed. Graphics by author

When the sun is low you can get some amazing colors. When you have figured out what you want to shoot, you can do it in the early morning or night for the warm, golden feel.

Dawn over Oslo. Photo by author

Color

You might not be used to care about color. If you take a photo of a subject, it is easy to forget about the total feeling of the photo. You might find yourself focusing too much on the subject and not the colors in the photo.

Colors, like teal and orange, complement each other. This means that they go well together. All colors have complimentary colors and there are many websites out there that will help you find the right colors for you.

Screenshot from colors.adobe.com by author

If you have the main color established, maybe you can find another color to help the photo shine.

Here are a few resources:

There are tons of resources on color, so browse around until you find the one you like best.

It’s not just about finding matching colors. It’s also about making photos pop with strong saturated colors.

Without the yellow wall, this shot would not have popped as much. Photo by author

Make it interesting

How many times have you seen people take photos of their kids from above? Get down to their level and the photo will look better.

What is your subject and why is it interesting? If it’s not interesting to begin with, make the whole setting interesting.

A classic mistake is to shoot the main photos to reveal all the relevant information to the viewer. This makes sense. You’re trying to show the viewer everything you can. It is the most boring way to shoot a photo though.

Consider the following presentation:

Lots of info. So boring that I want to hide under the carpet in disgust. Photo by author

Absolutely not… Maybe you need this view in your article or in a graphical presentation. Do that, but as your header, you want to be more creative.

This shot does not give the user all the info — only a taste. It is clearly about travel and is probably part of user research.

Which would you click?

A much more interesting view. Photo by author

Here are a few similar examples.