Taking social media photos with your phone

This morning, I partnered with the National Institute for Social Media to present a webinar on how to take amazing photos with your cell phone. For those of you who missed it, I thought I’d share my No. 1 tip for taking photos with your phone: GET CLOSER.

This tip actually is one that I’ve held onto from back in my days as a newspaper reporter. I happened to be in the newsroom when newspaper photo departments were moving from film to digital. Back then, news staffs were starting to shrink pretty dramatically, and photo staffs simply couldn’t manage all of the assignments. So reporters like me were told to take digital point and shoot cameras with us on assignment and use them to collect simple photos like headshots. I remember our photo editor handing me one of those cameras and telling me, “Get as close as you think you need to be to your subject – and then take two big steps forward.”

Almost 20 years later, it is still extremely sound advice for taking digital photos (in this case with your cell phone). There are two primary reasons this is the best tip for non-professionals:

People just tend to stand too far away. I know, it’s not rocket science. But if you’ve ever watched professional photographers work at say a press conference or a big event, they are not afraid to get close. The reason is simple: You have to be in the right position to get that great shot. Non-professionals tend to feel a bit uncomfortable getting in people’s face like that or being “in the way.” So, while it may be uncomfortable for you, it’s important to model that behavior. There’s a reason professional photographers do that – and remember they have WAY better camera equipment than your cell phone.
Resolution. This one is very particular to social media and digital marketing, but it boils down to this: If you stand too far away and take your photo from too far back, if you crop it, blow it up or otherwise expand the picture, it may wind up looking blurry or pixelated. Remember that digital photos are composed of digital pixels, and zooming in on a photo means you can only zoom in on the pixels you have captured. A photo taken from a closer distance simply has more pixels and therefore will appear less distorted.

Now, if you feel like for some reason you might want a photo that shows the background or the broader scene around your subject, do yourself a favor and take both versions. Or take several pictures at varying distances. Options are always good. And in the age of digital photos, it’s not like you’re going to run out of film. Remember, you will never regret having too many options. The only photo you will ever regret is the one you didn’t take.

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Shameless plug: I have a number of additional webinars coming up soon. They are all free and will all contain helpful information like this!