Is a picture really worth a thousand words? These days anyone can pick up a camera and snap a shot, and with social media apps such as Instagram it’s easy to get your stuff out there– but how do you stand out from the crowd? Here are 10 simple tips to make your pictures worth a thousand words.

#1: The sun is your friend! Natural lighting can always elevate an image to the next level– and shoot at 4-5 o’clock for optimum conditions.

#2: Make a collection. Find something you really enjoy photographing, put a spin on it, and create a collection with your own creative stamp on it. This exercise gets your creative juices flowing and gets you feeling like you’ve accomplished something more than just capturing one great shot.

#3: Never, ever, ever use flash. Flash gives photographs a harsh, unnatural, and yellow light that I, personally– I don’t know about anyone else –can’t stand (remember, natural lighting is your friend!)

#4: Want to spice up a boring shoot? Recruit lens flare! Lens flare can be an interesting creative tool, and a good one to use if the time is right. To get the perfect lens flare, shoot directly into the sun.

#5: Use perspective. Perspective can also be used to make an otherwise ordinary image stand out from the crowd. Just a simple and unexpected tweak like this can catch someone’s eye.

#6: A basic but ever-so-important tip: your subject must be interesting! There are so many dreamy soft focus pictures of roses and daisies out there– it’s just so overdone that I suggest you don’t even think about getting pulled into that mess. Yes, flowers are pretty. Yes, they photograph well– but seriously, a flower? People want to see something that they don’t see everyday, and if they wanted to see a flower, they’d just walk outside and stare at a garden all day.

#7: Do not ruin your photograph. Over-editing is a HUGE problem, especially with all the photo-editing apps out there, so remember– your photograph is perfectly beautiful just how it is, so don’t make any rash editing decisions. My suggestion is always to pump up the saturation a little and be done with it. If you do want to use a photo editing app though, I highly suggest VSCO Cam, with the perfect, and not over-done filter for every photograph.

#8: Black & White. It is a simple tool, but totally worth using. There is so much that making an image black and white can do for you– it can make an otherwise unextraordinary photograph extraordinary, and sometimes it can make an extraordinary photograph even more so.

#9: Using the sun– again. Backlighting is one of my favorite natural tools. You have to be in the right place at the right time, but it’s always worth it. Get creative with different and unexpected angles, pair it with some backlighting, and you’ve got a winner.

#10: Try coming up with a daily challenge for yourself. Think of a fun, crazy, and possibly ridiculous thing to photograph each day and challenge yourself to do it for some amount of weeks: Monday- Photograph a cat’s tail, Tuesday- Photograph an old man walking a dog, Wednesday- Photograph someone running in heels… etc. This is another great exercise to get you inspired– and who knows, you might just get your best shot yet!