Our world is more connected today than it’s ever been in history. With a simple click of a mouse, you can speak with people on the other side of the world. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have made these interactions easy to attain. It’s currently estimated by Pew Research Center that 65 percent of adults in the United States use some form of social media, and this opens up new and exciting ways to meet people, share your life, and keep in touch with the world.
Whether you’re new to social media or have long been taking advantage of the many opportunities it has opened up, you understand the importance of photography. A picture is worth a million words, and a quick snapshot into your life can quickly express even the deepest of sentiments quickly and efficiently. If you’re ready to up your game and post professional pictures that elegantly document your life online, there are five things you can do to get started.
Invest in a Quality Camera
You get what you pay for, and that old adage certainly rings true when it comes to modern cameras. With so many products on the market, it can be difficult to find just the one to meet your specific needs. For the purposes of social media, vlogging cameras typically have the proper specifications to produce quality pictures you can take pride in. A few tips to find the best vlogging cameras include:
- A 24 mm camera allows you to photograph yourself in entirety
- A 1080 is better quality and considered Full HD
- A product with Optical Image Stabilization allows you to minimize movement and shaking
By investing in a vlogging camera, not only can you take great pics, but you can also produce quality videos that can be uploaded to sites such Youtube, allowing you to expand your social network, make new friends, and maybe even grow an impressive following.
Consider the Lighting
The lighting is one of the most important aspects of a professional picture. By failing to take this into consideration, you can significantly reduce the overall quality of your photography. Your goal is to highlight the feature subject of the photo, and there are several tips you can employ to best ensure you have proper lighting when you take your next social media picture including:
- Place photo subject in a shaded area in order to put even lighting on their face
- Turn the subject’s back to the sun in order to prevent shadows from raking across their face
- Avoid taking photos around the noon hour- instead, take important outdoor photos in the early morning or evening
Pick Your Center of Attention
Whether you’re trying to produce the most exciting cover photo for Facebook or highlight the subject of an upcoming event, it’s important that you pick the center of attention where you want your followers to focus. To achieve this, you can simply zoom in on the main subject of the photo, and this simple tip rarely goes wrong and is easy for even beginners to follow. While many are hesitant to zoom in too tight, it more often than not results in a quality picture that more readily draws attention.
Digital Touch-Ups
Technology is amazing, and now even the novice photographer has at their fingertips the ability to take standard photos on their cell phone and apply the right edits and filters to make them look like they were taken in a studio. Photoshop and Lightroom are two excellent programs that can offer you a number of exciting editing options including:
- Displacement effects
- Cropping
- Linear light
- Addition of background drops
- Addition of reflections in objects such as sunglasses
- Change of hair color
- Lighting adjustments
The possibilities are seemingly endless. If you’re serious about increasing the quality of your social media pictures, investing in an editing software program can prove well worth your money.
Lifelong Memories
We’ve all been at a family reunion surrounded by family members, some of whom we have never even met, looking through old albums. While there’s a certain nostalgia associated with this act, the fact remains that printed images aren’t known to stand the test of time. Today, we can carefully document the significant moments in life on social media, and sites such as Facebook even offer memorialization services that keep your memory alive even after your life is over. By employing these tips, you can be on your way to producing professional pictures that will most accurately depict those amazing moments you want to keep alive for many years to come.