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How to take a “selling” photo for social networks Instagram is a social network for visual people, and photographs are of paramount importance here. Not without exceptions, but that's how it is. What to do if you want to conquer Instagram, but you are never a photographer? How to take cool photos on Instagram to increase sales? If you have been attracted to the art of photography for a long time, but are intimidated by the number of complex words, technical nuances and long processing, solve the problem and awaken your dormant creative potential. After all, anyone can take cool photos and upload normal, high-quality content to their profile! You have decided to take your handicraft talent to the next level and start making money from it. Your Instagram page or social network group already has a name and description. All that remains is to photograph the product in such a way as to attract the attention of potential buyers. Just “a beautiful photograph is not enough. In addition to the fact that the photograph must highlight all the details of the product being demonstrated, the photo must be of high quality and compositionally correct. To do this, you don’t have to be a professional photographer or have expensive equipment. It is enough to have a phone with a good camera and know some of the nuances of shooting. By default, Instagram photos come in two types: square and rectangular. This means you don't have to think about framing, weight or size of the photo. The social network will think about this for you. Catch cool shots and upload them to your account by publishing a post or story. If you make it a rule that your profile will only contain Instagram-sized pictures, that is, square ones, you can do the following: In the phone camera settings, set the frame format to 1:1 When publishing a post, crop the photo to a square format In the case of an ordinary camera and an ordinary website (or social network), in order to turn just a photograph into a beautiful photograph, you need to try. You will have to download pictures from the camera to your computer, deal with processing programs (Photoshop or similar), and learn a lot of complex words, like “exposure” or “trimming.” It's easier with Instagram. The application itself has a shooting function. You can edit brightness, contrast, saturation and other parameters in the application by moving your finger along the scale. Here, there are many filters that can be applied to photos with a touch; even a child can do it. When deciding how to take good photos on Instagram on your phone, follow a few simple rules. Daylight. The light from the chandelier and lamp makes the photo yellow and distorts the colors, so if you are new to photography, shoot only in daylight - it is the most advantageous. Daylight does not mean a sunny day, it is simply daylight. With this light, the photograph turns out “life-like”: with natural colors and shadows. To take a photo in daylight, you don’t have to go outside; you can take photos at home. If the house is dark, move closer to the window, shoot on the windowsill or set up a photo zone next to the window. Create a composition. A social network is not an online store, and photos of items on an etched white background that look great in a store window, as a rule, do not arouse much interest on Instagram. People here love photographs with details and textures that are interesting to look at. In this case, you can use a white background, but if it is a sheet or blanket, the frame will become more interesting. In addition to them, you can also use a special photophone. Backgrounds come in different textures and colors: wood, concrete, brick - choose any. The photophone itself, of course, is not very interesting. To make it interesting, you need to put something on it. It could be postcards, books, magazines, cookies, flowers, magnets from travel - all that junk that collects dust on the shelves and is a pity to throw away. Clean the lens. This may be obvious and funny, but it is a dirty lens that often prevents you from taking normal photos. Clean the lens. Always clean the lens. Get the focus. There may be several objects in the frame. The most clear one should be the main one. To “catch the focus”, just point your finger at the desired object on the phone screen. Take a lot of shots. Previously, when everyone shot on film cameras, every frame was worth its weight in gold. Now, in the digital age, we can click the shutter until we run out of space on our phone. Then delete the excess and click again. This is good, because it is not always possible to “see the frames” the first time. In theory, everything is simple and clear, but in practice, the accounts are full of trashy pictures. Why? Because after the lecture, you definitely need to work through seminars to consolidate the material. And if “just a photo” in stories is still somehow appropriate, then beautiful photos should always be taken for posts on Instagram. Taste can be trained. Perhaps now you don’t know what “beautiful photography” is, how to frame a frame, or how to choose a photo background. But there are many who know and post cool photos on Instagram - find them! Follow accounts that you like and whose style is close to you. Let their photos constantly flash in your feed. You cannot use other people's photos. But you can take your own photos based on them. At first, this will help you “get better” and get a feel for the style in photography. Don’t worry about repeating yourself, because you’re unlikely to get exactly the same photo. Over time, you yourself will learn to invent and see shots and the need for repetition will disappear by itself. Repetition is only needed at the very beginning while you are learning. Among the pictures you view, there will probably be those that you can hypothetically repeat for your profile. Surely you also have beautiful bed linen, or a cool mug, or you can also arrange dry leaves in a book, or it’s interesting to sort out a bouquet. If you like the frame and you understand that it is not difficult to recreate it, make a print screen and save the idea for creating a photo for the format. The simplest thing you can do. What's the point? You are asked to take a photo of a person. You take your smartphone, stand in front of it and press a button. To prevent the person in the photo from looking short-legged, sit down or stand up so that your faces are at the same level. For the next shot, climb somewhere higher and take a photo from above. Squat down and take a photo from below. Come closer and from below again. Take the shot from a slightly sideways angle. Go behind the tree and take a couple more shots through the leaves. This is called changing perspective. When you see cool pictures on social media, think for a second where the photographer was when the photo was taken. And what would the frame look like if the photo was taken in a standard way, from a height of human height? The technique is also suitable for subject photography. You can take a beautiful photo of a mug on a table from a dozen angles: from the side, placing the smartphone on the table, just from the side, from the side of the handle, from above in the center, from above slightly tilting the smartphone, and so on. Reflection is also a simple technique. Look for reflections: in store windows, in puddles, in mirrors, in sunglasses, and even in broken pieces if you are not superstitious. There is something beautiful in every season. If you're stuck with ideas, remember what you have now that you won't have later, and take a picture with it. In winter it’s snow, snowmen, a fairytale forest, garlands in the city and cool shop windows, snowy fun. In the fall... you can continue this list! Often, when we see something cool, we take a photo and take it thoughtlessly. Tip: Your photos will look more professional if only a small part of the beauty is in focus and the rest is in the background. The picture will attract more attention if you photograph not just an interesting street or forest, but insert a part of yourself into the frame. Let it be your feet, or your hand with a hat or ice cream, it doesn’t matter. When you are blogging and looking for shots, walk along the city streets and take a closer look at your surroundings. We are all often in a hurry to somewhere, and do not notice many interesting things. You can also ask to take a photo of you “in the crowd.” Here you are walking somewhere, or sitting on a bench, thinking, and people, bicycles, cars are rushing around. Just make sure that the focus is on you. Arches, a large mesh fence, an art object, even an inflatable swimming ring can become a kind of photo frame. Repeating objects, symmetry. A row of identical cars, a long fence, even identical white sneakers displayed in a row - all this attracts attention with its repetitions. It’s the same with symmetry: the eye automatically begins to look for inconsistencies in ideality, and you’ve earned attention to your photo. Use shadow. Complex but interesting technique. An ugly shadow will ruin even a beautiful shot. Want it chic? Train your observation skills and repeat like the pros. Selfie stick and tripod. A tripod will help you avoid shaking your hands when taking pictures, and also take a photo of yourself without outside help. And with the help of a selfie stick you can get breathtaking and amazing shots. Camera zoom. Do not use zoom on your smartphone; it is better to approach the object yourself. The zoom in a smartphone is not the zoom of a professional camera. It will ruin the quality of the photo. To achieve a beautiful photo card, it is important to take into account: direct sunlight produces too contrasting differences in bright light and deep shadows, not only the total amount of light is important, but also its uniform distribution; when shooting voluminous or glossy products, one light source is not enough to lighten the opposite side of the product, use a reflector. You can use a sheet of white cardboard or paper as a reflector. Composition and background. Don't forget about composition. First of all, you need to choose a background against which the product will stand out and not blend in. As a background, you can use a plain fabric, a wooden board or a simple sheet of paper. An old wooden table adds atmosphere to the photo. When you need to show the result before/after, a light monotone is an excellent solution. Chewed parchment paper can also be a good background. It’s also pleasing to the eye and doesn’t distract anything. Avoid colorful designs as they focus attention on yourself rather than on the product being sold. Now there are special photo backgrounds of various textures and colors that can come to the rescue in this matter. As a rule, on social networks the eye lingers on photographs with a lot of detail. It is important that the details create a unified concept and not a mess. To do this, arrange props with similar and matching colors, and use them to create a certain plot. Anything can work here, don’t hold back your imagination. But don't get too carried away. The emphasis should be on the product. There are many rules for constructing a composition. Some are sure that the composition should be built incrementally, others calculate the position of each object using formulas, others simply try not to block the horizon, and act according to taste. There is an opinion that the photo becomes more attractive if it shows an odd number of objects, for example 3. Thus, you seem to frame the main object with the help of two others. It’s more comfortable to look at such a photo, and the product being presented immediately catches the buyer’s eye. The simplest thing you can do to surround the main subject in a photograph is a hint of the material from which the subject is made. A piece of what's inside. A knitted sweater can be surrounded by skeins of wool or a toy sheep, silver earrings surrounded by blanks for them, and a wooden stand for a smartphone surrounded by beautiful cuts of wood. It is worth mentioning one more rule in constructing a composition - the rule of thirds. It is based on the simplified golden ratio rule. In this case, the frame is conventionally divided by two horizontal and two vertical lines. To make it easier to navigate, turn on the “grid” function in the settings. The point is that the emphasis in the photograph will be at the points of intersection of the lines - it is at these points that the main subject must be placed. Rule of thirds. The object is located along the lines or at the intersection of the lines Also, try to create some rhythm in the photo. It is achieved by repeating the same lines, shapes, and slopes. Remember: the angle should show the product from its best side. Therefore, try to photograph the product and the composition you exhibited from different angles. For the main photo, choose the best shot, but be sure to include several photos that show the product from other angles. Better yet, make a short video. As for handmade clothes, you should take care of a model or mannequin. Firstly, it is easier for the buyer to imagine this item on himself, and secondly, such a composition looks more aesthetically pleasing It is easier for buyers to imagine any item if they show it in use. In addition to the main photo, add a photo of your vase in the interior, jewelry on the body, a soft toy in the baby’s hands. But if you are a minimalist, then in the design of the page you can rely on your minimalist style - take all photos from the same angle, against the same background, without unnecessary objects. A page in this style always looks neat After snapping the product, process the photographs. From a series of photographs, select the most successful ones. After this you can start editing. You can use your smartphone's built-in photo editor, but in most cases even free post-processing programs are much more effective. Photo editor for smartphones and PCs with extensive free functionality for image correction. The shooting function is also available directly from the application with ready-made shooting settings, including flash. For example, let's take a photo taken with a smartphone in the worst shooting conditions. Simply by editing the exposure, brightness, contrast, sharpness and saturation, you can get a photo suitable for publication Photo editor for smartphones with good free functionality for image correction. Cosmetic filters are also available if you are displaying handmade products on yourself. The same settings were used here as in the previous photo editor. The result is different, but each is good in its own way But the quality of photography is ruined by the abuse of filters and other image processing tools on smartphones. In particular, they can distort colors and the buyer will have the wrong idea about the product. Important: the color in the photo and the color in reality must match. But it is possible, and sometimes even necessary, to adjust brightness, contrast, shadows and sharpness, as I demonstrated in the examples above. Another way to get an interesting photo is to blur the background, leaving only the product in focus. How not to blur. The background is not very good, the edges are blurred, which is why the toy itself does not look clear Your nickname must be on the “selling” photo. It can be done using the service. As a buyer, I really don’t like watermarks that cross the photo right in the center and hide the details of the product. Place a mark in the corner, with a slight swim towards the subject to be photographed. As you can see, you can learn anything if you really want to. And Instagram itself is ready to teach you this. Your task is only to find what you like, remember and practice a lot. The main thing in creating a photo that will sell is practice and more practice. Train, develop your sense of taste, use your imagination. If you edit photos on a computer, it is convenient to post them on Instagram using the SMMplanner scheduled posting service, which also has a built-in editor. See others' work. And then the result will not be long in coming. |
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