What makes pictures look professional

Changing the direction and intensity of your shadows can create a variety of lighting scenarios. Professional reflector kits are foldable discs. They come in gold, silver, white or black. You can use them interchangeably, depending on your lighting scenario.

You can also DIY your reflectors by using poster board, styrofoam, or cardboard for the same purpose. Use a grey card to determine the correct exposure and make sure that the whites in your images look white. A scene that is very bright or very dark will not match this standard.

A grey card will help you by providing a standardized reflectance target. All you have to do is place it in your scene at the same angle as your lens and take a shot. This will help you later when you are adjusting the white balance in Lightroom. You can click on the grey card with the eyedropper tool to get the c orrect white balance reading. Light intensity varies with the distance from the light source. The closer you are to your light source, the brighter the light.

And light intensity falls off as distance from the light source increases. Inverse Square Law is a simple and straightforward principle of physics. And the best part about it is that it can help you learn how to take professional pictures. This law states that the intensity of light is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source. And now in English. The same formula works in the opposite direction.

To put this in photographic terms. Doubling the distance between the light source and your subject reduces the brightness by two stops. And halving the distance between the light source and subject increases the brightness by two stops. So your images look different on your laptop screen than they do on your phone or your desktop computer. This has everything to do with monitor calibration.

Calibration ensures that your monitor is showing the real colour, saturation, and brightness of your images. It does this by making a colour profile, which you need to update often. If you are editing or shooting in a room with a lot of daylight, you cannot see your monitor accurately. The reflection of light on your screen will make a huge difference. You can use a monitor calibration tool such as that by ColorMunki to solve this.

I calibrate my monitor for each shoot I do. The digital file is equal to a film negative in the sense that it needs to be processed. A RAW file in particular lacks contrast and will look flat without editing. Learning the basics of Lightroom editing will improve your photography. And there are a lot of resources online that can help you with the ins-and-outs of the program.

You can quickly learn how to edit photos like a professional. RAW gives you so many more options when it comes to editing, and with that comes creative freedom. Choose one tip and experiment with it or investigate it further. Photography is an inseparable combination of technical skill and creativity. In fact, the more you understand, the more it will enhance your creativity. You will be able to get the most out of your camera and create images that reflect your photography vision.

For almost all the best photos taken on smartphones, the answer is editing, using a number of photography apps. From cropping to color correcting, small tweaks can make the difference between a forgettable snapshot and a truly great photograph. Today the process for improving a photo is incredibly easy. There is an app for almost any photo editing you want to do. Here are 10 favorite photo-editing apps, according to some of the most successful photographers on social media:.

With Snapseed, you can straighten, sharpen and color correct easily. The app also has filters that you can use to stylize your photos. Snapseed is free for iOS and Android. VSCO dominated the film-inspired filters shortly after Instagram first gained popularity, and is still a classic favorite among Instagram users. VSCO provides a plethora of filters and tools to edit photos.

If you find a group of editing settings that you particularly enjoy, you can copy and paste them onto photos, making it easy to edit clusters of images in a cohesive way. For people who are just starting out, I always recommend learning the exposure triangle ISO, exposure time and aperture and learn how those three components work together.

Experiment with different settings and see what happens. Reformat your card and start over again. Waste some pixels in order to learn those basics. I bought my 5DmkII almost five years ago now, and I have no idea where the manual is. Agency need a good picture from me. The way you teach us feel listening to a class without any boring. Makes more interesting to learn Photography skills. HI just bought a cannon 70 d upgrade from my D, interesting reading some comments about getting good lens than a new camera , just what the guy in the shop said looking at the quality of pictures.

Being mainly an amateur and having not really spend time with the manual and settings on the previous camera ,really appreciate a comment above Dennis P. I think learning the difference between the snaps under different settings is important,. Like wise learning to take the same snaps in different lighting especially outdoor settings.

Just a question? What editing program do you use to edit photos like these? Kara Riley — Almost every pro photographer I know uses Lightroom for most of their editing. Definitely, this post is very effective for the photographers. You are targeting on some vital things about photo. This helps us to make a photo more attractive and real. Thank you,. When I take photos I often focus too much on making them interesting, weird, or funny.

I love taking photos of my daughters dress up parties. How much of this kind of stuff can be fixed with photoshop? I just wanna say this has been so helpful, to me and my kids. Not for you but for your kids, also, the future. How they used to look when were younger, how they changed, do they still look the same? Sir, when we click a portrait behind a landscape, do we position the person in the center of the image or any side? Sir, when we click a portrait with landscape as background, do we position the person in the center of the image or any side?

I am new to photography and I am attempting to open an Etsy shop so I can make a living selling online. I am however, having trouble with the photography portion of this experience. Not all of my photos are bad, but I am using a professional lighting soft box-just one to light up my jewelry in a lifestyle shot.

It is doing the opposite and making the jewelry appear dark and everything else appears sort of colorless and washed out. Changing your camera's lens is a quick way to radically alter the type of pictures you can take. A basic adjustable lens can help you take professional-looking photos in many different settings.

However, if you want to focus on a specific photography style, you can significantly improve your results by finding the appropriate lens. A tripod is an affordable way to improve the quality of the pictures that you take. In addition to allowing you to trigger the shots remotely, a tripod keeps your camera steady to avoid blurry photos.

Although most modern cameras can produce professional-looking photos, it's important to remain within the limits of your equipment or experience. If you find that you're struggling to create the image you're looking for, it may be time to assess your current setup for potential upgrades. Getting the right lighting is the most effective way to transform a picture from everyday quality to professional quality.

Lighting allows your subjects to pop, makes your images more dynamic and helps you set a specific mood. Mastering lighting is one of the most important skills you can learn to improve the quality of the pictures you take.

If you're new to using lighting to enhance your photos, these tips can help you improve your skills:. Using the sun to light your subjects is the quickest way to light a scene, and you should always try to maximize the benefit of natural light.

The best natural light for photographs occurs in the hour following sunrise and the hour preceding sunset, known as the golden hour. The key to a professional headshot is ensuring that there are no harsh shadows on your subject.

A headlamp facing your subject, assisted by a softer fill light to balance out shadows, creates an attractive portrait. Although it is generally advised to keep light sources behind you, by positioning your subject between you and a strong light source, you can create an eye-catching and professional silhouette shot. When using natural lighting, you lose control of the direction of your light source.

A reflector is an effective way to redirect the direction light is striking your subject to help fill in your lighting profile. Too much direct light on a subject creates distinct shadows. While this can be useful, if you want to lessen the effect, placing a diffuser on your lights, or positioning one to catch natural light, prevents direct light and makes shadows more gentle. The way you position subjects in your picture is a crucial factor in taking a professional photograph.

When framing a shot, the choices you make can make your image more visually interesting, make the final product more appealing or even tell an entirely different story than a shot with slightly different framing. The best way to improve your framing is to practice. As you take more shots and try different framing techniques, this concept will come to you more naturally. Here are some tips you can use to frame your shots effectively:.

When lining up your shot, pay attention to everything that is in the frame, and remove as much unnecessary distraction from your intended focus as possible. One thing that makes professional shots stand out is that they show the world from an interesting point of view. Look for ways to find new angles that you might not have considered before, such as climbing up onto a stepladder to take a picture from a higher angle.

This can be particularly useful when taking an interesting picture of a person if you want more than just a simple headshot.