How do you usually approach the art of phone photography?
Before delving deep into the logistics of taking a good photo, you must first decide what kind of image you want to take. If you have trouble finding what to take images of, ask yourself:
What’s my story? What do I want the audience to feel when they see this photo?
TIP #1
Decide What Image You Want to Take
Let’s take, for example, you work in a small office space with nothing interesting to show. An image of you working at your workstation might seem boring in comparison to the other student’s bigger offices. However, you can instead spice the image up by taking a flat-lay image of your workstation. Although the context of the image is the same, the vibe that it’ll give is refreshing and new. Additionally, the flat lay of your workstation might tell your readers more about you than the image of you working itself. For example, you can showcase your notes or journal. Lots of people adopt a bullet journal note-taking style that might inspire others to do the same. The context of your notes might also give others an overview of some of your tasks in that position. In addition to that, you might want to showcase your favourite coffee mug from work – telling us that your workplace might provide you with free coffee! There’s a lot more character than can be shown in your image than you might think. Move beyond the company logo and the typical desk shot into something that shows off more of your character or your company’s culture. Another great idea is the workplace outfit. You can take images of your everyday work clothes spread and what essentials you bring to work, to show other students what kind of work culture and style your company adopts.
You want to focus on the story development aspect when taking a photo:
What story does this image tell of your experience?
These tips not only can be applicable to office settings, but they can also be used in the context of international working experiences or fieldwork. Usually, in the latter scenarios, you have a lot more options to take photos of. When you’re travelling for international working experiences, whatever interest you will most likely interest the audience. People rarely get to travel and see what you see. Therefore, having the opportunity to work internationally is great for taking amazing photos and letting other students know about your amazing experience there.
In instances of fieldwork, students can take photos to document their findings in a more interesting way. For example, you’re testing water samples to determine the different types of species in one lake versus another. Instead of sharing your findings with us (we might not be able to relate as much), you can share photos of you conducting your research right on the field! Other examples could be you enjoy some sun, taking a break from working, taking in the scenic view, anything at all! There are stories you can tell with these moments that you experience. You might think these instances as something boring, but actually viewers can relate to most of these instances. Let’s say you want to show how much you love working with animals. Taking the image of the animal itself, let’s say a cow, will not tell a story. However, if you took a photo of you feeding the cow, or embracing the animal, this changes everything. You want to show the readers what’s important to you, but also keep in mind what it is that you’re showing – make it make sense!
Another way of approaching the decision of choosing your photos is through the use colours, or more interestingly, the lack thereof! You might want to consider taking photos in black and white. Why? Because the use of colour can affect your image style. Black and white images evoke a journalistic style that is often used as dominant images within brand applications. Take, for example, SFU branding! Most of our materials utilize black and white images of students against a colourful red background. The images are exceptionally impactful. Keep in mind that when you do use black and white images, these photos should have a dynamic composition taken with different angles (we’ll get into that later). Other features of a good black and white photo include less visual noise, somewhat simple, and consistent tonal variation.
TIP #2
Framing & Composition
Have you ever had a moment where you take in a beautiful view, but its beauty got lost in the image that you took, and you don’t know why? Perhaps it’s due to the framing composition of your image. You can create a strong photographic composition by using framing techniques.
Portrait Mode
One of my favourite tips for phone photography users is to use portrait mode. The portrait mode in your phone focuses on a specific subject in your photos while blurring out the background. Sometimes, when you look at a photo, you can’t seem to find what the focus is. This is because the frame of the image doesn’t necessarily focus on anything, and the foreground element takes over the subject’s focus. What you want to do is use the foreground element to support the object, not take away from it. Let’s take, for example, you want to take a group picture with your coworkers. By using the portrait mode, or framing it to focus on you and your colleagues instead of the foreground, the picture will look a lot nicer and you can create a better impact on your audience that way.
Rule of Thirds
Another favourite tip of mine for framing is to use the rule of thirds. Rule of thirds is a type of composition of an image that is evenly divided into thirds (horizontally and vertically), and the subject of the image is placed on the intersection of those dividing lines. You can activate the lines using the grids feature on your mobile camera. This way, you can always make sure your focus is one of these intersections to make the image more compelling to look at.
Think Outside the Box!
You've probably heard this a million times, but trust me, being creative makes the image THAT much more interesting. You can use everyday objects and take advantage of shapes to frame your photo a little better. Take, for example, you work in an office with windows. Although it would be interesting to see the view from your office, it would be even more interesting if you used the natural shape of your window to frame it.
So what if you don’t have a window? How can you use everyday objects to frame things? Well, take for example your glasses. They’re super handy in elevating your phone photography to the next level. Not only can you use them to frame or put the focus on the subjects, but you can also use them as a reflective tool for a cooler and edgier photo.
TIP #3
Lighting
You should always keep lighting in mind. Taking a photo in a dimly lit office is probably not the best idea. Instead, use a desk lamp as a light source to provide focus on your subjects. However, it is almost always better to take photos in a bright area. Usually, open spaces with big windows are the perfect place to take a photo. Keep in mind too, that you shouldn’t take photos against the light source. Instead, take photos parallel to the light source. This ensures that the focus is bright and on the subject of your choice.
Here are some of my favourite tips to take the best photos using your mobile phone in different types of light:
Golden hour: this is the perfect time of the day for portraits as the light will flatter the skin tones of your subjects without creating any harsh shadows. You would want to avoid taking portraits when the sun is harsh with unflattering shadows on the face.
Blue hour: The blue hour is the time 20-30 minutes before sunrise and approximately the same time after sunset. You can take advantage of the soft blue low light of the sky, and take photos of the city. Cityscape photos with yellow light will definitely stand out against the contrasting blue low-light, making it a very beautiful emphasis on the city.
Bright direct sunlight: Although it’s not usually encouraged to take photos during this time, you can take advantage of the harsh sun to capture the movement of your subject in action shots due to the camera using faster shutter speed. I would also suggest to switch up the perspective of your shot, using low ground or objects to create interesting shadows on your subject.
Illuminate your subject from the front: as I mentioned before, taking photos of people should be done so to illuminate their faces without ay harsh shadows. Therefore, it’s important to illuminate your subject from the front to provide the best images without shadow overcast.
You can learn more about the different types of lighting techniques here.
TIP #4
Have fun! Be creative.
You might hear this advice a lot, but don’t really know how to implement it. One of the easiest steps you can do is look for inspiration online. My favourite source is Pinterest – they have so many creative and fun ideas for phone photography. Most people take photos at the eye-level; it’s only natural to do so because it’s your go-to way of taking photos for people. However, everyone sees the world differently. You see the office differently when you’re sitting on a chair as opposed to standing up! The focus is more on body language as opposed to faces for instance. The point of view can play a major role in composing your image. For example, you can change up your phone perspective. Instead of taking photos from above, why not drop to low ground and take your images pointing upwards? It might be a little weird to do in the office, but you and your colleagues can have a fantastic time taking fun photos of each other outside. Not only that, but you can also use your phone itself as a subject to focus on. Instead of taking the photos using your phone, frame the subject with your phone and take the image using your colleague’s phone. This creates a more interesting way to frame the image.
TIP #5
If you’re still struggling, find more resources!
There are tons and tons of resources online that you can refer to for taking an interesting photo. Maybe, you want to improve on your professional photography skills after trying out all these tips. Here are some of the most helpful online resources that I found:
Free sources to learn photography online: refer to this link to find out more about the different free options wherein you can take your photography to another level. If you’re a student like me with a low budget (or none at all) for hobbies, there are some good resources here for you to refer to and learn more about photography!
LinkedIn Learning: gives users a wide range of resources with in-depth tutorials. SFU Students have free access to LinkedIn Learning and all of its resources.
Pinterest: is a great source for trendy inspirations. It also allows you to learn savvy photography tricks with the images that inspire you.
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