Photography Tips for Creative Businesses

Three top tips for taking better photos!

Contrary to popular belief a good camera doesn’t automatically equal good photos and lacking a professional camera does not mean you cant take some great photos. Professional images are always going to be best, but, realistically, you’re not always going to have a professional photographer at hand. Even if you’re not particularly interested in getting into photography, as a small business owner it’s important that your images reflect the quality of your work.

Someone once said ‘the best camera is the one you have with you’ so with that in mind here are three top tips for creating the best images, whether you’re using a phone or a camera. To keep my advise realistic I’ve shot all of the images below using my Iphone 7 ( i don’t even have fancy camera modes!)

Tip No 1 – Find The light

A big part of what separates a good photo from a bad one is lighting. If your not a professional who has mastered using studio lighting then natural light is always going to be best. Soft diffused light (eg light coming through a thinly curtained window) will have your subject looking lovely. While artificial lighting (fluorescent lights, mobile phone flashes etc) is the least flattering, so avoid these if you can.

An easy tool for finding the best light in the room is to use your hand to see where the light is falling and where it stops. Just hold it in front of you and move around until you’ve found the light you like the most.

Once you’ve found the light, make sure you place your object in it with the most attractive part facing your light source. Take the photo with the light source behind you but be sure not to block out the light.

Don’t use your camera phone flash

photo taken with flash

vs photo taken without flash

Do look for interesting light

Tip No 2 – Play with composition

You are a creative, don’t forget that! Just because photography isn’t your speciality doesn’t mean that you don’t already have some of the necessary creative skills needed to take better photos. You probably already have an eye for composition, whether that’s arranging flowers, or setting beautiful tables. Don’t be afraid to play around and experiment. Yeah you might get it wrong and some of the photos will turn out a bit shit, but practice makes perfect and figuring out what doesn’t work will only bring you closer to what does work.

Use a clear space

Make sure there are no ugly distractions in the background!

Don’t be afraid of colour or negative space, it can make the images much more interesting.

Tip No 3 – Edit your photos!

But only your photos, not photos a photographer has kindly shared with you. Don’t go overboard, Instagram filters might be good for a selfie but for an image of something you’ve lovingly created you might want to go for something lighter and edit in a way that does it justice. Adding some vibrancy/saturation, changing the exposure and cropping out any crap can work wonders. Forget about vintage style filters, you don’t have to do a dramatic edit to improve your images. All of the images below were edited using the VSCO mobile app, but instead of using the included presets, I’ve decreased the exposure, and added more warmth and saturation. It might be a little fiddly at first but have a play around until your comfortable using it.