Five Tips for Better Business Photography
Experience and high-tech equipment aren’t always available when shooting photography, but with these five tips from professional photographer Matt Ruddick, quality photos are still possible!
Capturing the best quality photos helps create a clean, professional brand image for your business or company. Following these five steps will boost that first impression with your audience.
Ruddick has been a photographer and videographer in East Central Indiana for more than 20 years. He cut his teeth producing television commercials for small businesses throughout the state, and has worked as a photographer for events of all kinds, from local charity events to major national sporting events such as the NCAA Final Four and the Indianapolis 500. Ruddick brings his experience to Intersessions, a networking and marketing workshop hosted by Intersection, in five user-friendly steps.
1. Clean Your Lens
The first step to better photos is a simple, yet foundational process for the rest of your photography.
“I promise this is the most important thing you can do: Clean off your lens,” Ruddick said.
While modern cameras have improved in the last decade, light bursts and blurry shots continue to corrupt image quality. Getting into the habit of wiping off your lens on a cloth cleaner or shirt will automatically improve the quality of the photos you shoot.
2. Light Sources
“Photography is all about light; it’s about how much light is hitting the sensor of your camera,” Ruddick said.
Any type of light source can work for photography, but it is all about how you use it. For an easy route for the best lighting, large light sources create the most even, soft lighting. Smaller lights create harsh shadows while large lights, light boxes and windows soften the shadows and highlights of the subject.
To take advantage of the light you are using, angle the subject towards your light source.
At the end of the day, there is one, big, free light source best for any kind of photography: sunlight coming through a window.
“It’s free, it’s available and it’s going to give you the most pleasing light that you can get for your photos,” Ruddick said.
3. Composition
Composition consists of leading the eye of the viewer. Laws of composition help shots become more aesthetically interesting and catch the interest of the viewer.
Increasing interest and engagement for your photos can take as little as adjusting the angle. Don’t hesitate to get in positions that you might not normally stand to get a better shot.
“It’s not the photographer’s eye level that’s important here, it’s the eye level of the subject,” Ruddick said. “Don’t be afraid to get low. Don’t be afraid to get high…get interesting with it!”
The rule of thirds additionally makes images more pleasing to look at by placing the subject of the photo, whether that be a person or product, in the intersection of the frame’s thirds. The grid function on phones allows for easier estimation of the frame’s thirds.
Depth also creates visual interest. Having the subject in the foreground and a good environment in the background gives more information to the viewer who can then get a fuller impression of your company or business.
4. Know Your Destination
Photos are shot for different purposes and end up on different digital platforms.
The dimensions of Facebook vary greatly. Social media sites tend to use square or vertical shots. The type of photo taken for a website landing page will look differently than one taken for Instagram.
“Before you take the shot, before you even set up for the shot, think about where these pictures are going to go.”
If you know your photo’s destination, you can take pictures accordingly. If you are ever in doubt or are taking pictures for a variety of platforms or sites, you can always shoot multiples with a variety of vertical and horizontal shots with extra space if cropping is needed.
5. To Zoom or Not to Zoom
The most important thing about zoom is knowing the capabilities of your camera. Optical zoom, most common in traditional cameras rather than phone cameras, allows for higher quality zooming capabilities. Digital zoom crops the frame of the photo, which is the same as if you were to take the photo and crop it afterwards. Digital zoom can even distort or lower image resolution. Instead, simply take the photo and crop later as necessary.
To get the absolute best results, don’t be afraid to get close. According to Ruddick: “You zoom with your feet.”
Zoom can be useful, but will typically decrease your image quality. The quick and reliable fix is to position yourself as close or far away as you need to be to the subject.
Conclusion
Ruddick’s final encouragement to beginning photographers is to treat photography as a trial and error process. With time and practice, you will find a style that suits your goals and will be able to match the impression you are typing to communicate to your viewer.
“Have fun, get creative and build your brand,” Ruddick said. “Those are the most important things you can do with your photography.”
Sad to miss this session? Join us in the future for interactive marketing sessions as speakers dive into interesting and relevant marketing topics, tailored for professionals, entrepreneurs, and business owners who want to advance their marketing skill set. Meetings are held six times annually with ongoing content and discussions shared on our social media, email newsletter, and more.
Stay up-to-date for upcoming session topics and news on future speakers.