Taking the perfect social media photo – 8 quick tips!
By Marcus Logan, Apr 29 2021
At HGB we love getting photos from our clients! They provide us with authentic content that we can use across their social media platforms or build into bigger pieces of creative.
You don’t need to hire a professional photographer or buy an expensive camera and Photoshop to produce beautiful imagery and the perfect social media photo. You can take excellent social media pictures with most smartphones.
With that said, there are a few things to consider when shooting with your smartphone to help you capture the perfect social media photo.
1. Keep it clean
Wipe your lens. How many times do you pick up and put down your phone each day? Because we handle our phones all day, the camera lenses tend to get smudged. These smudges can distort your images and make them look foggy. Keep it clean.
2. Get some focus
A shaky hand means a blurry photo. A mount or a tripod is a relatively cheap pick up these days and is a sure-fire way to ensure a steady base. Failing that, keep your elbows close to your body and your feet shoulder-width apart. Before you capture the shot, tap on your screen to tell your phone where to prioritise in terms of focus to ensure a sharper photo.
3. Lighten up
Lighting can make or break a picture. Snap your images using natural light whenever possible. Try to avoid using your flash to provide better lighting, as this can create a flat looking photo. If you’re regularly capturing images of products you could invest in a ring light or kit lighting set for better lighting.
4. Come at it from all angles
Shoot from different angles. Don’t snap one picture and call it a day – play around with angles and perspectives to give yourself flexibility and options when choosing a picture to post. Angles can create the illusion of depth and height. Try shooting from above and below the subject to create a new perspective.
5. The rule of thirds
Grid lines are your friend! Enable grid lines on your smartphone to instantly improve your photo quality. This helps you invoke “the rule of thirds,” a theory that suggests that the focal point of any photo should be placed at the intersections of these gridlines. This helps to create a more balanced photo, thus allowing the viewer to interact with the photo more easily.
6. Give me some space
Not too close! When taking photos, one common mistake is taking extreme close-ups or putting too much in the frame. That often results in a very tight, claustrophobic feeling photo. By adding empty space around your subject you’ll actually demand more attention to what you’re photographing.
7. Personality goes a long way
Not all of your photos need to be of your product or service. Candid photos add a sense of variety to your social media page and show audiences the genuine, personal side of your business. Use these to your advantage: demonstrate how your product or service can be used or introduce your audience to the people behind the scenes.
8. Use editing apps
If you’re taking photos on your phone, it can be time consuming to send them to your computer just to edit them and then back to your phone to post them to social media. Luckily, there are a ton of great editing apps that you can download straight to your phone, and many of them are free!
If you’re looking for some more guidance on your social media game, get in touch with us today.