How to take a great photo!

Life can be hard in the lime light!

Photography has been a great way to document and capture moments for ages. I bet half of you carry a camera around with you or can be seen snapping away at things on your camera phones. As I look through the albums of friends and relatives on facebook and myspace, I see that they seldom have nice photographs of themselves and their friends, etc. This is not because they are fat or ugly or cant dress properly. On the contrary! Some of them are drop dead gorgeous! It is because they, or the person shooting the photo has no idea about the basic principals of how to take a truly GOOD photo!

Like this! Thanks b!

Note: For the sake of this entry I have used some of the horrid shots I have been subject to being in over the years.

As a photographer, I see this as very troubling. Because sometimes, more often than not, I will find myself subject of these 'happy snaps', only to be terrified by how I look in the photos and quickly snatch the camera away and delete the evidence.

Here are a few tips on how to take a good photo of your friends and family that'll make everyone look like a star.

First up. When you are taking a photo of a friend, where do you usually position their head in the frame? Let me guess.. In the centre of the frame, right? Wrong. When you take photos like this you are 1) cropping out vital information about the evening/ day by removing their outfit from the photo, and 2) making no use of the space above their heads leaving a boring empty gap. This is a recipe for disaster. No one ever looks nice in these photos. Another mistake with this is taking the photo in landscape. (Holding the camera horizontal) Which as point number 2 also applies to. It is a waste of space and doesn't capture your models best features.

This doesn't look that good now does it? Too much space!

When taking a photo of a single person or a group of up to 3, hold the camera in portrait position, placing your models heads at the very top of the frame, making sure to keep the tops of their heads in only slightly. For extra props on being an awesome snapper, make sure you have it cut off just below their hips. Keep them as the most important part of the photo. This means having it tightly cropped around them leaving not much room for background. And before you start with the 'but its a cool club.. etc' remember this. When a club or dark room is lit up with a flash. It doesn't look as interesting as you think it will.

Its a ghost!

Another cool tip is to hold the camera up and tilt it down slightly, getting your models to look up to the camera. This will make their jaw lines look more elegant and them look thinner. It will also place focus on their hair, which if they're anything like me, they will probably have spent hours doing.

When taking beach photos, if the sun is behind you, always make sure you tilt the camera down. If it is in front of you, make sure the flash is on so when you take the photo your model isn't all dark or just a silhouette.

Things wrong with this picture; I wanted a photo in front of the dragon.. Yet you only see its feet. What is the point of the patch of concrete in front of me? Why do my thighs look sooo fat?! And can you tell the sun is blinding me?

If you happen to be in a room filled with funky colors and want to get a photo of this, remember that depending on the color in the room, will be the color of your model. As the walls will reflect their colors onto them giving them an orange, blue or even purple tinge.

Now for some fun stuff!

To get cool photos of light painting in your portraits, turn your camera onto night mode with the flash on. This will make your models glow and is great for shooting DJ's or bands with.

I'm glowing!

If you want a photo in black and white, always ALWAYS change the settings on your camera. Never take the photo in color and then change it on your computer. Doing that will wash out the contrast that taking the photo originally in black and white will hold.

Lovely contrast!

Try these tips out and comment me with the results! I'd love to see how you went with it!

Happy snapping!

xo-xo