Getting The Shot: Nailing Photos Of Yourself & Others
Exactly What I Ask For When Someone Takes My Photo | #PhotoEDITED4
From years of being both behind and in front of the camera I’d say I have a preetttyyy good idea of how to get the shot, whether it’s of myself or someone else. When it’s not something you’ve practiced thousands of times it can feel totally unnatural. We all deserve to feel great in photos so I wanted to share what I’ve found to be reliable photo-taking formulas.
When I started writing this I realised there’s actually so much to share from many years of practice and observation. Of course you don’t have to do all these things - these are tips you can take, leave or add your own spin to. If an obsessive eye for detail or taking instruction doesn’t come naturally to whoever is taking the pic (cough my husband cough) then you might be forced to try one thing at a time!
We’re going to cover full-body, cropped and seated shots of people and I’m going to refer to the photo-taker (who ever is behind the lens) and the subject (whoever is being ‘shot’). Let’s start with the setup..
THE CAMERA & SETTINGS
GENERAL
You don’t need an amazing camera to take great photos. The recent iPhones (probably from the 11 and ideally Pro) have really good cameras. Use whoever’s got the best iPhone camera around and make sure to clean the lens by wiping it on something cotton
Most of the below is applicable with any camera really, but I’ll be referring to the iPhone. I’ve documented my exact iPhone camera settings previously and deep dives on lighting and zoom so you are welcome to refresh on those to set your camera up -
SETTINGS -
Live Photo diminishes the quality, so I never use that
Being able to see the grid and spirit level is really helpful (you can switch these on in settings as shown in the above newsletter). Photography often uses the rule of thirds so it’s helpful to have the visual aid of the grid
If you’re shooting for Instagram you’ll want to shoot on a 3:4 ratio for grid posts or 16:19 for stories. In general I shoot on 3:4
ZOOM -
I never shoot on 1x Zoom - more on that here -
