Improving Your Photos and Videos

Improving Your Photos and Videos A quick tip guide

Turn the grid lines on in your camera settings (smartphone or regular camera). In rectangular photos try to put the main subject or area of most interest at a point where the lines intersect (this is called the rule of thirds). If you are shooting square photos, subjects tend to look balanced in the center.
Look for a foreground, middle ground, and background when photographing landscapes
Take one more – We all take the cliché shots of famous building and vistas. Try looking around and take one more in that place that is not the typical image.
Shoot from different angles – Go low or high. Changing it up will give you more variety and creative looking shots.
Get close to your subjects and look for details – Photojournalist Robert Capa said it best, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough.”

Take Videos Horizontally – While this standard could change with commonly used social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, horizontal video is still the best way to create video that can be viewed easily across platforms.

Change Your Phone Settings – The default for most phones is 30 fps (frames per second), but you can double your frame rate very easily. This is great for action and moving targets, which tend to make the best travel videos. The video will automatically be smoother, more professional and easier to watch. The file size will be bigger, so keep that in mind. It is worth it! (Changing the FPS on an iPhone: first open phone settings, scroll down to camera settings and under the camera settings, change record video to 1080p HD at 60 fps).
Don’t be afraid to move the camera – Try starting or ending your shot at different points to show details or surroundings. Beginning a shot away from the action and panning (moving the camera horizontally) over to the subject can draw your viewers in and give a sense of the environment.