What I learned this week.

1. Make your photos tell a story. For example, instead of showing a signboard with a map, show two people looking at the map. This immediately engages the viewer. Are these two people on a trip to somewhere? Are they lost?
2. Bring a flash for your outdoor shots. People stare, but the flash is great for fill-light. When you are on a family trip, your subjects won’t allways be with the face towards the sun. In other words, a flash will fix a ton of dark shadow problems.
3. Take pictures when your subjects are moving around. People standing and looking very self-concious and stiff are very bad subjects.
4. Tell your subjects to jump or walk or do something interesting.
5. Use unusual angles from time to time.
6. Make sure the background is not distracting. Move around to avoid any garbage bins or flag-poles or other distractions in your photo.