The Rules of Taking Photos

So I’m not a professional photographer by any stretch of the imagination, but I often feel like one when comparing my photos to other people’s.

I’ve tackled this topic before in an earlier blog post, but I want to add on some basic, common sense rules along with examples so that you can be like me a better and less annoying photographer.

Rule No. 1 (for group photos): Let the best camera be used for the photo. Okay, so this has more to do with etiquette than taking good pictures, but I can’t tell you how many times people with older iPhones are like, “Oh, and can you also take the photo with my phone?” Please don’t be that guy and make the photographer use 5 different phones to take the exact same crappy photo…just use the latest iPhone and bug the owner to send you the photo.

Rule No. 2 (for group photos): Have only ONE person take the photo at a time. I can’t tell you how annoyed I get when more than one person tries to take the group photo, because nobody knows where to look and it just makes the photo worse. Be warned: I will speak up if this happens.

Rule No. 3: Rule of Thirds, people. You can read more about it here, but basically, try to avoid making the subject exactly in the middle of the photo. So I break this rule all the time (especially for group photos), but it’s okay because I actually know the rule: see below as case in point. Notice that the subject is NOT in the middle, but is about 1/3 inset from the right edge…it just makes for a much more compelling and interesting photo.

Rule No. 4: Follow the light. Sunsets (and golden hours in general) are your best friend since they provide the best lighting, so try to take more photos then (see below example of a great sunset lighting selfie). It’s also just a good rule of thumb to notice where the light is coming from so your photos are not backlit. Sometimes it’s unavoidable, but just try moving around a bit to mitigate that as much as possible. In addition, know that overcast days can actually be great for taking photos, especially in the middle of the day when the lighting can be pretty harsh on a sunny day.

Rule No. 5: Keep it level. It’s pretty straightforward (pun-intended)…try to keep the vertical lines in the photo parallel to the edges as much as possible. It can be easily fixed with the crop tool, but why not just take the photo correctly to begin with? The photographer could have made a quick adjustment and the photo below wouldn’t have turned out lopsided.

Rule No. 6: Be thoughtful about how you frame the photo. I’m convinced that if people just took 5 seconds to think about how they’re framing the photo it will come out 100% better. Pay attention to what you want to include/exclude from the photo, and more specifically, how much spacing there is above and below the subject(s). I typically always include more space above the subject than below, and I’m not shy about excluding the subject’s feet (or at least, have very little spacing at the bottom below the feet). To mitigate this I usually try to frame a photo before asking somebody to take the picture, but sadly people often just ignore what I tell them.

In any case, below’s an example of poor framing by a friend I asked to take the photo…there is too much spacing below the subjects (why include the towel in the photo??), and too little above the subjects.

Here’s a much better photo as a result of my framing the photo for my friend…although I would have still preferred a bit more spacing above the subjects.

And…that’s it! Six simple rules to help you take better photos. As mentioned, since I’m obviously not a professional I wanted to close by sharing some tips from somebody with better street cred than me. Apple CEO Tim Cook retweeted this guy so I figure he must be legit…(click on the tweet below to see all the replies/tips)

The beauty of photography is that it allows us to relive memories that we cherish forever and with a camera always in my pocket, I’m able to capture so many. In celebration of #WorldPhotographyDay, I want to share some tricks I use to capture the perfect #ShotoniPhone photo. pic.twitter.com/TpH6ZE65ev

— Gess8 (@gess_8) August 19, 2019