Do you know how to create good photos for your social media posts? Experts in photography didn’t take expert photos at the first try, instead through the time they have developed skills to get legendary photos. Everything starts in your mind by develop creativity, being attentive to little details and learning new trends. There is a lot of information you can use to improve photography skills, by simply looking to online websites, YouTube videos and blogs to educate yourself. Remember to pay close attention to those ones used for educational purposes and good audience engagement. This article is very useful if you want to start promoting your personal branding and increase followers. The following sources will help you to understand basic concepts about new trends, more effective camera angles, lighting for indoor/outdoor environments, and tips to improve your photos ideas.
New trends photography
According to Lindsay Kolowich a blog writer for blog.hubSpot in her article “What to Post on Instagram This Month: 18 Photo & Video Ideas to Spark Inspiration” (1), Instagram’s heavy emphasis on visual content like photos, videos, illustrations and GIFs is becoming a critical way for brands to communicate their story and message. She listed 7 ideas out of the 18 stated that are very useful for Instagram:
1) Behind-the-scenes content.
2) User-generated content
3) Inspiring or motivational quotes
4) Interesting statistics
5) Timely or current events posts
6) Humorous images or videos
7) Compelling drawings or graphics
Even though Kolowich name only seven ideas out of eighteen to be used on Instagram, that doesn’t mean you cannot apply the other 11 Ideas. Moreover, if you look at what the expert recommend you can use the same ideas for your other social media platform and try what works better on each platform.
Camera Angles
Trying new angles is always good, however remember that the most important factor is the story behind the photo, the shots follow the story and those are only helping your story looking great. By watching the video “Camera angles with Zach King” produced by King film school (2), you will learn very useful tips to create amazing photos and videos that will help you to improve your personal branding. In this video we can find different shots like: Wide Shot, long shot, medium Shot, close up shot, cut away shot, panning shot, handled shot, the popular steady cam shot, and arc shot. In my own experience, these tips are very helpful and highly recommended to create expert shots.
Lighting for indoor/outdoor environments
When taking photos, learning about lighting is essential if you want to catch your audience attention. Learning what is the best time of the day to get the best lighting possible for your photos will be very helpful to catch the essential feeling of those moments or specific aspects that you want to show your audience. In the YouTube channel Withhearts you will find the video “Learn mobile photography: Lighting and editing” (3), where you will learn about the different kind of lighting and how they affect directly your photos’ quality. Moreover, you will learn about what harsh light means and how this can blow out your photos immediately. It very important to pay close attention to the video to understand that closer to the sunset the light is best and richest. Very helpful tips for editing photos are also found in this video to make your photos looking as taken by an expert.
More tips and tricks to improve creativity and originality
If you want to improve your personal branding don’t forget to push yourself by developing creativity. Copying other ideas is not good, however learn about useful tips and tricks to create original photos and videos will make your profile looking serious for your audience and more likely to follow. Very useful tips can found in the video “7 smartphone photography tips and tricks” created by COOPH (Cooperative of Photography) (4), where you will learn about how to take shots using the following tricks: Panodash or Panorama sequence, Pano drive-by, Zoom lens, Macrolens, Reflector, Tripod & shutter cable, Underwater housing.
I hope you have found these sources and tips helpful to start promoting your personal branding. Remember that you can educate yourself by using the sources stated above. However, if you feel it is important to take some paid classes it will also help you to improve your photographic skills. Start your first try now, you are just one shot away to increase your followers.
Sources:
1. Kolowich, Lindsay. Blog.hubspot.com. May 14,2018. What to Post on Instagram This Month: 18 Photo & Video Ideas to Spark Inspiration. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-to-post-on-instagram?utm_campaign=blog-rss-emails&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email
2. Kingfilmschool.com July 17, 2014. Camera Angles with Zach King. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD63b6Z-Tr0&feature=youtu.be
3. LearnMobilePhotography.com. December 05, 2014. Learn Mobile Photography: Lighting & Editing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpvn9HR6Ahs
4. Cooperative of Photography (COOPH). August 25, 2014. 7 Smartphone photography tips and tricks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTz4Nhgm_SQ&feature=youtu.be
5. Photo by Reinhart Julian on Unsplash
