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How To Take
Professional Photos:
A Beginner’s Guide
Do you want to learn how to
take professional photos?
Here are some professional
photography tips that will
show you how to make your
pictures look more polished.
FORMAT TEAM 26 FEBRUARY 2019

To inexperienced photographers,
taking a great photo can seem simple:
just point and shoot. But anyone
who’s tried to learn how to take
professional photos knows that
there’s a lot more to it than that.

From choosing the right subject and

setting up a cool composition to
finding the best light, it takes a lot of
consideration to capture a great
photo.

If you want to take your photography

to the next level, here are some tips to
help you learn how to take good
pictures. Once you get a hang of these
basic pro techniques, it should vastly
improve your results.

The best part about knowing how to

take professional photos? It leads to
new opportunities. The more
professional-looking photos you’ll be
able to produce, the better your
online photography portfolio will
look. And the better your online
photography portfolio looks, the
more photography jobs you will land.

So, let’s dig in!

1. Master the Fundamentals of

Composition

Choose a Strong Focal Point

The focal point of a photo is the main

point of interest. It could be anything
from a tree, to a building, to a person
(or their eyes). Finding a strong focal
point is one of the fundamental steps
of how to take professional photos. So
when you’re planning out or setting
up a shot, you should stop and ask
yourself, “What do I want viewers to
focus on?”

Once you know what your focal point

is, you can work towards making it as
strong as it can be. Many of the
composition rules below will help
you create an interesting focal point
that draws in and holds the viewer’s
attention.

Follow The Rule of Thirds

Instead of positioning the focal point

in the center of your shot, it can make
for a more interesting composition if
you follow the rule of thirds. This rule
states that you should place the most
important elements in your photos
off center.

Imagine there’s a tic-tac-toe grid in

front of your shot. That means two
lines divide your frame into thirds
vertically, and two lines divide it into
thirds horizontally. You should place
the subject and other important
elements in your shot along these
lines or at one of the four points
where they intersect.

It’s one of the easiest ways to learn

how to take professional photos.
Instead of having all your portraits
look like mugshots, this guideline can
help you find a better balance
between the main subject and
background.

Use Leading Lines

Leading lines are line shapes in your

shot that can help guide a viewer’s
eyes to the focal point. They can be
anything that creates a line in your
photo, like roads, fences, buildings,
long hallways, trees, or shadows.

The trick is using them take a

viewer’s attention where you want it
to go. That can include drawing their
eyes straight to your subject, or
leading them on a kind of visual
journey through your composition.

The direction of your leading lines

can also change the mood of your
compositions. For example, vertical
leading lines can convey a powerful,
imposing mood, while horizontal
leading lines tend to be associated
with calm and tranquility. For more
information on why this technique
can help with taking professional
photos, check out this guide on how
to use leading lines in your
photography.

Put Some Thought Into

Perspective

Perspective has a massive impact on

the composition of any photo. By
simply changing the angle or
distance you shoot from, you can
totally change the mood and
meaning of your images.

One simple way to see that is by

shooting the same subject from above
and below. A bird’s-eye view can
make a person in your shot seem
small, while shooting from below can
make it look like the same person is
now towering over you. Shooting
from far away can make a person look
insignificant, while getting up close
and having them fill the frame can
convey a sense of power.

So when setting up any shot, spend

some time thinking about
perspective. Don’t be afraid to walk
around your subject to search for
interesting angles, and see how
drastically it can change the
composition’s mood. It will bring you
one step closer to perfecting how to
take professional pictures.

Create Depth

Finding ways to convey depth is

another important step in learning
how to take professional photos. If
you ignore this rule, your photos can
end up feeling very flat and boring.
The best way to convey depth is to
include some elements in the
foreground, middle ground, and
background. So for example, instead
of shooting your portraits with the
person standing up against a wall,
bring them closer to the camera, or
find a better background with some
depth.

Make Your Subject Pop by

Using Bokeh

Adding a bokeh effect can help when

you are trying to add depth to your
photos. Bokeh is the term for that
intentional out-of-focus blur effect
you can see in a lot of professional
photos. Often, photographers use this
effect to keep the subject to be crisp
and clear while the background is
soft and blurry. The result is your
subject will seem to really pop out of
the background.

One of the simplest ways to do it is to

bring your subject right up close to
the camera and shoot them in front of
a distant background. If you have a
zoom lens, even better! Use it at the
maximum focal length to decrease
the depth of field and create an even
stronger bokeh effect. When knowing
how and when to use bokeh becomes
like second nature, you’re on your
way to understanding how to take
professional photos.

Frame Your Shot

Framing is another technique that

can help you take professional
photos. It involves finding something
that can act as a natural frame for
your composition, and then shooting
so your subject is inside it. Some
examples include a doorway, an
archway, some foliage, or a hole in a
wall. This type of framing can help
direct the viewer’s attention to your
focal point.

Also, if the frame is relatively close to

the camera, it can act as a foreground
layer that adds depth to your image.
Similar to creating a bokeh effect in
the background, if you manually
focus and zoom in on a subject the
middle ground, you can keep the
frame out of focus, which makes sure
it doesn’t draw attention away from
your focal point.

Fill The Frame

When photography students are

being taught how to take professional
photos, they are often told to “fill the
frame.” It’s great advice because if
you leave too much space around
your main subject, distracting
elements in the background can take
away from your composition.

So, for example, when shooting a

portrait, you might decide to just
include the person from the waist up,
or, even better, to fill the frame with
their face. It makes for a much more
captivating and professional-looking
photo when all the unneeded extra
space is cropped out.

Look for Patterns and

Symmetry—Then Disrupt
Them

Including patterns or symmetrical

elements in your photos can make
them more eye-catching. Humans
have a tendency to spot patterns, and
it’s one reason that including them in
your shots can help you learn how to
take professional photos.

So keep an eye out for ways to include

patterns, symmetry, and repetition of
shapes or colors in your photography.
Also, including an element that
disrupts the pattern makes for an
interesting focal point. A simple
example would be a picket fence with
one broken or missing picket.

2. Make Sure You Have Good

Lighting

Making sure your shots are properly

lit is an essential part of how to make
your pictures look professional, and
it’s something that inexperienced
photographers often overlook. The
first step is making sure you have
enough light that your subject is
visible. If there’s not enough light,
your camera may struggle to capture
the details in the scene.

If you happen to be shooting with

your camera on automatic settings
(which is not how to take professional
photos, but more on that later!), it
will use a high ISO setting or extra-
long exposure, and you’ll probably
end up with grainy or blurry results.
And, if you try to brighten things up
in Photoshop, you may find you have
to make massive adjustments, which
also results in a low-quality image.

On the other hand, if there’s too

much hard light in your shots, it can
ruin your photo with unwanted
shadows. So spend some time
carefully picking your location and
the angle you shoot from to ensure
there’s enough light in the scene.
Another way to deal with this
problem is by using lighting
equipment.

3. Get Some Lighting

Equipment

Relying solely on available light is not

always the right way to take
professional pictures. If you do, then
you are severely limiting yourself.
Professional photographers spend a
lot of time planning out lighting and
they use a range of lighting
equipment. But you don’t need to
spend a lot of money to take the
lighting in your photography to the
next level.

Try Out a Light Reflector

One affordable piece of equipment

that will help you manage your
lighting is a light reflector. You could
pick up a 5-in-1 light reflector for
around $20, and it will give you a lot
of options for manipulating light in
your shots. These versatile light
reflectors come with reversible covers
made from different types of
reflective materials. For instance,
they have silver covers that reflect
lots of bright light, white covers that
reflect softer light, and black covers
for helping you remove light from a
scene.

By providing a simple way to start

manipulating light in your shots,
light reflectors are a big help when it
comes to wrapping your head around
how to take professional photos.

Take Advantage of Camera

Flashes and Diffusers

If you understand that lighting is an

important part of how to make
photographs look professional, you
may be thinking about investing in
lighting equipment such as a studio
strobe. But don’t overlook your
camera flash!

If you shy away from using it because

you find the light is too harsh, there
are a number of solutions. One of the
best options would be to invest in an
external flash. External camera
flashes, whether used attached to
your camera’s hot-shoe or used off-
camera, can give you much more
flexibility. For one, they enable you to
aim the light rather than have it
blasting directly on your subject.

This allows you to bounce the light

off a nearby surface like a ceiling or
wall. The result is that the light is
spread out much more evenly and
looks less intense. There are also a
variety of flash diffusers available for
external flashes that will help you
soften the light without having to
bounce it off a surface.

But if you aren’t ready to invest in an

external flash, there are less
expensive options for diffusing the
light from your camera’s built-in
flash. One example is this diffuser for
built-in camera flashes. It costs less
than $20 and simply clips onto the
top of your camera. It uses frosted
plastic to soften the light.
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