10 tips to boost your photography

TECHmunch Tampa

April 21, 2012

Presented by Susan Filson

Anyone can learn to make beautiful pictures. All it takesis the desire to learn and a willingness to invest your time.

You don’t need to have a fancy, expensive DSLR or a lotof pricey equipment, either. If you know how to use it, youcan get great shots using a pocket-sized Point & Shootcamera.

I am not a formally trained photographer. But, with thehelp of some good resources and generous friends whoare pros, I have learned a lot about how to make a picturepop. And, I’m still learning every day.

My hope is that I can pass some helpful tips on to you!

Making Shortcake taken with a Canon S90

Whipped Butter taken with a Canon S90

Heirloom tomatoes at the Portland Farmers Market taken with a Panasonic GF1

Artichokes at the Portland Farmers Market taken with a Panasonic GF1

Tip # 1: Buttons! Buttons!What the heck are all of those BUTTONS?

• Learn how to use your camera.

• Read the instruction manual!

• Find a good camera-specific “How To” book and read it too.

• If you don’t know what your camera can do, you wont know how to make it do what you want!

• Practice! Practice! Practice! It’s free!

Tip #2: A picture paints a thousand words. Tell your story!

• What mood do you want your pictures to convey? What feelings do you want them to evoke?

• Use tools like Evernote & Pinterest to create an “Inspiration Board”.

• Draw on your own memories & experiences when searching for ideas.

• Tell your story!

Always use natural light whenever possible.

Play around with light by physically moving around your subject to see how the light plays off it from different angles.

Use the “clock formula” to try out different ways to light your subject.

Bounce your light to control shadows and create interesting effects.

Use the number positions on the clock as a guide for setting up the light source for your photos.

Practice directing the light flow from various positions, ie 3:00, 9:00 or 12:00.

Note how changing the direction of the light flow can completely change the feel of your pictures.

Light coming in from 9:00

Light coming in from 3:00

Light coming in from 10:00 & 11:00

White plates & bowls make food stand out.

Avoid serving vessels with busy patterns. They compete with the food.

A fork , spoon or knife placed casually in a shot gives the impression that the food is about to be, or has just been eaten.

Layering linens and stacking plates adds texture and dimension.

Scrapbooking paper

Ceramic floor tiles

Salvaged wood paneling and doors

Fabric remnants

Scenic posters mounted on foamboard

Antique kitchen gadgets, bottles and jars

Old baskets, buckets and fruit crates

Human hands

Homegoods (www.homegoods.com)

Target (www.target.com)

Shop Sweet Lulu (www.shopsweetlulu.com)

Bake it Pretty (www.bakeitpretty.com)

Classic Hostess (www.classichostess.com)

Craft Stores

Thrift Shops

Garage Sales

Architectural salvage yards

When staging a shoot, try setting up a whole vignette or “scene” to set a mood & make your food more “real”.

Add props like utensils, napkins, drinks & vases.

Drips, spills & half-eaten plates make the viewer want to “dig in”.

Place ingredients used in your recipe, like fruits or herbs in the shot.

Don’t overdo it. Less is sometimes more.

Keep a little food styling toolbox handy with tools to make your food “picture perfect”.

Fill it with things like tweezers, toothpicks, q-tips and a small spray bottle filled with water.

Compose your shots to bring your viewers’ eyes to what you want them to see first.

Understand the Rule of Thirds, but don’t let it “rule” you.

A sharp eye is the best composition tool.

Cropping is your friend.

Composition technique used by the pros

Grid divides a photo evenly into thirds

Place main elements of photo where “power points” are to create more balanced shots and engage the viewer

Rules are made to broken

BEFORE AFTER

Learn to shoot in manual mode.

Learn to shoot in manual mode.

Learn to shoot in manual mode.

Learn to shoot in manual mode.

Learn to shoot in manual mode.

PROS CONS

RAW files are the complete (lossless) data from a camera’s sensor. What you see is what you get. JPEG files are partially processed in your camera.

You can make endless, non-destructive edits and tweaks to an image.

RAW gives you more control.

RAW files are huge! They can easily gobble up a ton of space on your memory card and hard drive.

Special software is needed to open RAW files on your computer.

RAW files must be converted to another file format like JPEG before you can use them on your blog.

Unless you are a seasoned professional, most of your photos will need some kind of editing.

There are many post-processing options available, at various price points and levels of difficulty. There are also several free applications on the web.

Finding the right one for you and learning how to use it can take your photos from “OW” to “WOW”!

BEFORE AFTER

Photoshop

Photoshop Elements

Lightroom

Picassa

Aviary

PicMonkey

Picfull

Picnik

Instagram

Aviary

Filterstorm (can process in RAW format)

Photoshop Express

Photo Pad

Art Studio