My photography is a constant work in progress. I am neither naturally talented nor particularly motivated. I can take decent photos in situations where taking bad photos is impossible…like on safari. I mean, if you take 100 shots of a herd of elephants, at least 20 have to look decent, right?
But when it comes to non-nature shots, particularly of things–like outfits or food or sometimes buildings or cityscapes, I’m a total expert in how to take photos.
Shitty photos that is.
Everyone writes about how to take better photos. Better light, better composition. But I’m going to write about what I know.
Make sure it’s rumpled and dirty. You know that new purse or scarf you are dying to stage for a cool new shot or a blog review? Stuff it at the bottom of your laundry sack for about a week. Or take it to a baseball game and make sure it gets beer and ketchup on it. And then try to scrub it out in the bathroom. Now pull it out and prep it for an outfit photo–awesome, right? No one will notice that looks like an elephant sat on it…promise.
Wait for the worst light of the day. Do you live in a home that gets either morning sunlight, afternoon sunlight, but not both? Are your overhead lights weird and strange? Do you dread editing photos just to fix what shouldn’t have been wrong? Then definitely wait for that time of day where there is no light in your home, and that glow from your fluorescent bulbs make everything look eerily miscolored. Take all your photos then. If they all look alike, people won’t notice how bad they are.
Eat & mix your food before taking photos. As soon as the food arrives, dive in to the middle and take an enormous bite, smearing food from one edge of the plate to the other. Pick all of the good stuff out, whether it’s pieces of lobster in that risotto or raspberries off that crème brulee. Then stick your fork in it just a few more times for good measure. Now it’s ready for photo-time..I’m sure it came out of the kitchen looking only marginally better.
Crop, crop, crop…and then blow up. Photo editing is for people who take good photos. Have a photo of something or someone you need–but with 10 other people or it’s hiding in the corner in 1/10 of the space? Just crop that desired puppy out, and blow it up! Hell, even MS word does this! Yea, it looks all grainy and awful, but people can totally still see what it is. Right?
I guess/hope the first step in getting better at something is recognizing your mistakes?
