How can I take better Instagram photos? or How can my photos look like your photos? I get questions about how to edit an Instagram photo and photography tips all the time. One of my favorite things to do is to actually teach people, so I am finally excited to share my tips for taking better photos. Most of the photos we create for Hello It’s LOH are photos you can create for yourself without the need for an expensive camera. We shoot with a Nikon DSLR camera but the tips I am sharing work with any kind of camera. This means that an iPhone camera can get really good photos as long as you know what to look out for when shooting. So here are some of my favorite tips to note when trying to take a the perfect Instagram, travel, lifestyle shot.
When should I take photos?
There is no wrong time to take a photo, its all about what works for your schedule, but there are more optimal times that will help make a photo look better from the get go. You will always hear photographers or anyone who knows a bit about photography say never shoot at noon or when the sun in directly overhead. The reason for not shooting around mid-day is because of the way the sun casts shadows on you face and environment. Generally you get what people call “raccoon eyes” or unflattering shadows on a face and specifically the eyes. This unflattering light is not something a casual photographer knows how to combat so avoid it if you can.
If mid-day is no good then when is a good time to take photos? The answer, mornings and afternoons! We shoot both depending on what we need and what our schedules allow for. We generally shoot in the mornings around sunrise especially if we want to avoid people. Mornings are very quiet and can help you avoid traffic and people, especially in travel destinations. The light is great and you can really have a lot of places all to yourself. The other time we love to shoot is sunset. Sunset casts beautiful light all over your subject and can even turn an ok location into an amazing one. You get beautiful soft shadows (very pleasing) and that golden sun look in your images!
I don’t want raccoon eyes!
So what can you do if you have no option but to shoot mid-day? Well here are a few quick tips:
Shoot with the sun to your subjects back. Placing the sun behind your subject (backlighting) allows for their face and body to be out of harsh light and have it a bit more even and flattering. Facing the subject away from the sun not only minimizes the harsh light but it also reduces the chance the subject has to squint, which = better images.
Take photos in the shade. Have your subject stand in shade or under an overhang. This again allows for more even light and cuts out the sun beaming down and creating all kinds of shadows. As long as it is not too dark in the shade even your phone camera should produce a nice image.
Wait for the clouds. On some sunny days we get clouds and clouds are our friend! If you’re lucky to have some clouds around the time you are shooting then waiting a few minutes for them to cover the sun will help your images so much. Clouds act as a diffuser for the sun and give you much better and softer light. Everything becomes more even and soft.
Sunset Lighting. This is our favorite time to shoot when we can, it’s a preferred time, the light is soft almost like using a soft box but without all the equipment. Most of the photos we have shot for Hello It’s LOH are in the early mornings and in the evenings during Sunset.
Where should I take photos?
Wherever you would like! Really! Whatever location you like will work but there are a few things to keep in mind to get the best out of it. Try to keep the background uncluttered because you do not want the attention being taken away from the main subject. This means avoiding signage, people in the background, random trash on the ground (grrr), busy streets, cars or any other things that call more attention than the main subject. To help with avoiding clutter trying different angles, crop or zoom in or block the items with the subject. We take the time to clean a location even if it means kicking away random rocks or debris with our feet to make it more presentable. You spend so much time in finding the locations, styling and writing the blog posts that if you take an extra few seconds on the location itself your photos will thank you 🙂
Now that you have some tips on taking photos, check out our PRESETS to help you edit them and a blog post to get some more info about the Hello It’s LOH Lightroom Presets.