Reel in potential consumers (and keep current clients captivated) with these easy photography tips and tools.

Your Photography Toolbox:

Not a world-class photographer? No problem! Browse thousands of free, high-quality stock photos on websites such as Unsplash, Pixabay, Pexels, Reshot, and StockSnap, and download with just a click.

If you can, select photographs for your digital aesthetic that match your brand. (If you’re a cutting-edge tech company with a brand entrenched in blues and turquoises, stay away from the picture of the bright magenta laptop. If your brand is bright and fun, don’t fill your Insta feed with black-and-white minimalism.)

Taking Your Own Photos:

Are you taking your own photos? Feeling intimidated because you don’t have a professional camera? Don’t sweat it! Capture great photos with your phone with these helpful do’s and don’t’s.

The Do’s:

Use natural lighting. This creates a more authentic feel and makes photos look less staged.

Take photos with personality! A little attitude is always welcome. Whether or not there’s a person involved, there are many ways add some character to your shots. Consider: a cupcake piled with a mountain of icing and rainbow sprinkles, or a business woman in bold sunglasses. What emotion are you hoping to evoke?

Add a pop of color. Depending on your brand, pops of color is a great way to sneak in some brand recognition for your audience.

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Work with angles. Change things up by taking people pictures at different angles – this will break up possible repetition and keep the audience engaged.

Keep product photos consistent. If you shoot your fall season product pictures in a coffee shop, be sure to keep that theme throughout your page, so as not to distract the user from the products themselves.

The Don’ts:

Don’t overuse portrait mode. Portrait mode – a new iPhone addition – has a unique feature of blurring out the background. Be careful not to overuse this options, as your content may start to all look the same!

Don’t use the same person in every photo. Mix it up! Seeing the same guy or gal in every shot can quickly get repetitive, and you may risk losing your audience’s attention.

Don’t make the process boring. Shooting high-quality pictures takes quite a bit of commitment and time – prepare in advance to make the process fun and enjoyable!