4 TIPS TO BETTER YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY

Well taking a good aesthetic photograph is the most simplest thing you could do that is of course when you're a semi or pro photographer, but with just a little few steps they can turn you from an amateur photographer to uhhm! a proper student photographer cause of course you won't be learning everything just few important fundamentals of photography, that will make you better.

- Location Scout & Lighting
- Shooting
- Composition
- Model Poses

Step-1: Location Scout & Lighting.

By doing a location scout you're not just searching for a beautiful place with flowers or awesome buildings those aren't important that much. Look for a surrounding with good lighting condition, lighting that will compliment your models skin, shouldn't be harsh direct sunlightlight that will make your model look like she was swimming on cooking oil like those instagram girls.

A location with good lighting can determine not only darkness or brightness but also tone, mood and atmosphere depending on how your model poses too). Recommendations use Golden hour this is before the sunset or Blue hour when the sunrises cause they're less available shadows and harsh lighting in those times, and yeah! You can always skip the Golden/Blue hour cause shooting schedules aren't the same, but avoid harsh sunlight it's undesirable because it creates hard shadows on the skin that highlight little facial details (i.e. blemishes, pores, imperfections, discolorations, wrinkles, etc), which is totally unflattering.. If it happens that there's harsh lighting use a diffuser, change your camera settings or find a spot with a flattering shadow for that soft light.

Step-2: Shooting.

Assuming that you've found your location with good lighting condition, shoot manually and be in control of your settings, your camera settings should be based on the scene (i.e. Aperture, Shutter-speed, and ISO) Darker scenes will have high ISO and low Shutter Speed and Daylight Scenes should be the opposite. I.e.

- Darker scenes (f2.8 + S1/160 + ISO 800)
- Daylight scenes (f2.8 + S1/1600 + ISO 100)

As for the Aperture you can change it however you like but you'll have to change other settings too.
Another important setting is your white balance note: It should always be on 'Auto' as it will change itself depending on scene.
Remember: always shoot Raw cause you can always restore details that are overexposed or underexposed in images that you would've rated unable to use.

Step-3: Composition.

Composition is how you'll frame your shot to set the mood, direction, motion etc...They're several types of composition techniques, but the simplest and most effective is the Rule of Thirds. Using the rule of thirds draws the viewer’s eye into the composition, instead of just glancing at the center. By placing the subject off center, you also embrace more blank space. The rule of thirds is also helpful for highlighting an interesting background. Off-centered subjects tend to convey more of a feeling of motion than centered ones.

Step-4: Model Poses.

I always tell myself "You're as good as your model" (Bad model + good photographer = bad pictures, same results if you were to switch the roles). You don't need high fashion models, normal models who are camera ready and active always get the job done and you as a photographer should focus on the above steps, do less coaching on model poses but do direct the model when necessary even with clients. Don't forget to also play with different angles and use your surroundings objects to enhance your pictures. It also helps to have reference pictures for poses but you shouldn't rely on those, as some poses may make your model/client uncomfortable especially on first shoots.

They're more tips you can look into to better your photography, to me those are the most important basic principles one can keep in mind to create a fine image.

---

---