Your camera battery is charged, your social media followers are excited to see your work, and you’re ready to start creating your own visual aids. But you’re struggling to come up with ideas to show off your skills.
More goes into getting good photos than just pointing your camera at a subject, pressing a button, and hoping for the best. A blog about all the details that go into getting a good photo from the settings to lighting needed would have a word count able to win you a Nanowrimo award so I’ve started off small with five easy tips that will give you photos you’ll be proud to post on your social media pages.
1) Lessen Distractions – When taking a photo, make sure that your subject (be it a horse, tractor, or mailbox) is what draws viewers’ attention. It takes a few extra seconds before you take the shot to make sure that there isn’t a post sticking out of your horse’s back in a conformation shot or a rusted out car isn’t the first thing that catches the eye in that fabulous jumping photo, but it is worth it. Yes, it is easy to photoshop some objects out, but it’s not always a good idea to attempt to do it – I’ll share more about that later.
On the same note, make sure your photo isn’t out of focus, unless you intentionally added some blur to it. Having a bit of blur can add some artistic value to a photo but in most cases, people can see through which photos are meant to have it and which photos are supposed to be sharp and just aren’t. This can easily distract them from your subject or your message.
One way to avoid distracting backgrounds is to change the angle you’re shooting from … crouching down or moving just a bit can make a world of difference.
2) Watch Your Angles – Horses can be majestic … But they can also look incredibly weird if you shoot from certain angles. Before posting a photo of your horse, make sure the angle is a flattering one. There are always exceptions to this, like when you’re taking a funny photo but even then, you can make the horse look good while getting the humor across.
Remember, images can never be fully deleted from the internet. Even if you aren’t going to sell your mare, you may sell a foal out of her one day. You don’t want buyers thinking that someone in the family looks like a cross between a giraffe and a horse. While posting photos that aren’t the most flattering of your animals may be okay for your personal page (even in that case, be aware of what you’re posting on that page if it may affect your business) if it isn’t a good representation of your work, it shouldn’t go anywhere you want to promote your photography.
3) Put the Effort Into Happy & Alert Expressions – Just like humans, animals can be in bad moods or over having their photo taken. But even if it takes an extra five minutes, try to get them looking happy. Of course, there can be exceptions to this depending on what you’re going to use the photo for (i.e. a Monday morning blues photo where you want a grumpier or disinterested look) but if there’s no reason for the horse to look like they’d rather be anywhere else, don’t post the photo.
I’ve found that most horses (and other animals) react well to sound apps and you can usually get apps with all different kinds of noises for free. Just be aware that if you have a flightier animal, they may spook at certain sounds. You’re better off testing out the noises you plan on using before a photoshoot so you know which ones will work and which ones are best to avoid with that specific horse.
It may take a bit of extra work but getting ears pricked can totally transform a photo.
4) Don’t Be Afraid to Have Fun – Some of the above tips may have made it sound like choosing and creating photos should be a 100% serious business, but that is not the case. You should make sure the photos are good quality and sell your business or services well, but if you love a photo and think it is hilarious, put it up. At the end of the day, if you’re not having fun with your social media, your followers won’t be either.
Tip: If you love a photo but it has a few quality issues, turning a photo black and white can hide a small amount of blur or other issues. As an added bonus, some photos just look great in black and white, even if there is nothing wrong with them. But don’t think removing color will automatically solve all quality issues.
5) Watch Your Photoshop – Photoshop and other editing programs are great tools for everything from a simple image crop to editing out shanks, but they are also tools to be very careful with. Admittedly, it is fun to play around in these programs, but it takes an experienced hand to make a highly edited photo look like it hasn’t been touched at all.
Editing that isn’t done well can be distracting and make viewers wonder what else you’ve changed, especially if you’re sharing a photo of something you’re trying to sell. Removing small objects can be easily done and may be worth it if you don’t have a clear space to shoot, but you also need to look at what is around whatever you’re removing. Do you want to remove the horse’s shank? Make sure you also remove the chain he’s wearing. Do you want to get rid of that poop pile in the grass? You’re better off selecting a similar area farther away from the poop and surrounding grass to make it fit in instead of just cloning the grass around it since it makes the edit look obvious.
After you make your edits, walk away for a few hours before coming back to look at the photos – if the edit is still obvious to you, odds are it will be to everyone else too.
Overall, choosing photos to use on your social media comes down to photographs you like and think best represent your work. But as said in a previous blog, if a photo won’t sell you on a product it probably won’t sell your potential clients on it either. Figuring out what people like is admittedly a challenge, but it’s an easier one to solve when you start out with good images that attract the eye even if they aren’t exactly what a potential client is looking for.
If photography isn’t for you, Pyrois Media offers photography services to help you get the perfect photos for your business. Feel free to email Melissa@PyroisMedia.com for more information.
Have a topic you’d like to see covered here? Email Melissa@PyroisMedia.com with your suggestion and you could see it in a future blog!