Skip to content
Weddings, birthdays or creative shootings: There are many occasions to take amazing photos of your friends and family members, To make sure they turn out great, James Tucker Director of photography at Heritage, has compiled a list of eight easy tips for making great photos with your existing camera, even if it’s your mobile phone.
1: Engage with your Subjects
Always give your subject something to do and engage with them, have them interact with a prop of some kind while being photographed. It does not matter weather it's a chair or leaning on a stack of books. By adding some engagement to your photography, will always make it more interesting to the viewer.
2: Get Yourself a Assistant
Get yourself a assistant. Use a family member, friend, or child to become your assistant to fix subject’s hair, retrieve something for the photographer, etc. Maintaining contact between you and your subject must remain constant without distractions and having an assistant helps secure that. And don’t be afraid to make a child your assistant. It will keep them occupied and feel like an important part of the process.“
3: Use Reflectors
“Use a white reflector card to add more light and provide light in shadow areas. Everyone doesn’t have a professional reflector card in their home but a white piece of cardboard or white sheet will certainly do the trick. Move the reflector card around or move the subject slightly to take advantage of the added light the white reflector will provide. If you look closely, you will see the extra light the reflector is placing on your subject.“
4: Soften Light
I do not recommend using flash at all, But if you must use the flash built into your camera place a thin piece of tissue paper over the camera’s flash to soften the light. It can be taped in place and helps distribute the light evenly and avoid harsh shadows when using the camera flash.“
5: Use Your Intuition
“How do you feel about the person you are photographing? Is it a close friend or family member or a person you’ve met for the first time? Bring out the personality of the person or your “perception” of that person. If they are known for doing something (cooking, painting, etc.) you may want to consider them doing that activity.“
6: Relax
“How do you get your subject to relax? Your subject will relax when you relax. Have fun with what you’re doing and your subject will relax and have fun too, which will translate into great photos.“
7: Keep it Steady
“Many consumers are using their mobile phones as cameras, which is great. However, it is sometimes difficult to take a photo that is sharp, especially in low light. I would highly recommend buying a “Gorilla Pod.” They are small tripods designed for mobile devices and usually have legs that can bend and twist so you can wrap them around a pole or other objects to take a picture. For those with point-and-shoot cameras or digital SLRs, you can also buy an inexpensive tabletop tripod. It looks like a regular tripod but are designed to rest on a table.“
8: Print Your Photos
“Don’t let your great photos fade away by keeping them on your phone, in your camera, or on your computer. Everyone has at least one photo they think is really great or special. Print those great photos and display them in your home, office, or present as gifts. Whatever your preference, you need to print the pictures that are most special to you.