This is a special year: It’s your last year of high school. It’s the perfect time to plan your graduation yearbook and immortalize all your most precious memories.
As a photographer, I know that filling blank pages isn’t easy, but in a yearbook, pictures speak volumes. When we try to remember something, our mind relies on images. They help us relive the laughs, the looks and the emotions.
So here are five basic tips to remember when taking a picture, whether it’s with your cell phone or a camera.
1. Light
In its essence, photography is a play of light. Understanding how to control natural or artificial light changes everything.
If you’re indoors, move closer to a window. If that’s not possible, make sure the lights are on. However, if you’re outside, make sure your subject isn’t in the full sun to avoid creating dark rings under the eyes or making them squint. Seek out a slight shade or a soft, glowy light, like the light at the end of the day.
Tip: I like taking pictures of my friends with a nice landscape as a background. If the sky is too bright and seems completely white, that means you are backlit. To fix this, just tap the sky directly on your phone. The photo app will automatically adjust the exposure to make the sky more visible and detailed.
2. Image composition
One of my favourite shortcuts is the grid. You can find it on cameras and phones, but it is often disabled by default. On your phone, you may have noticed lines that divide the screen into nine squares. These are used to apply the rule of thirds, a composition technique that can transform your pictures.
The recommendation is to position the key elements of your picture on the grid lines or at the points where they intersect. For example, say you’re taking a picture of a friend with the landscape as the background. The picture will hold more interest if you position your friend on one of the vertical lines and the landscape’s horizon line on the horizontal line.
Another important consideration is the direction in which your subject is gazing. If your friend is gazing to the left, you should place him on the right-hand vertical line. That creates space to look into the image, creating a more harmonious composition. If you position him on the left-hand line and he’s looking outward, it makes it seem as though he’s looking at something outside the frame, which makes for a less pleasing composition.
Lastly, don’t hesitate to play around with different angles. A picture taken from eye level is a good start, but if you stand on a chair or sit on the ground, you can create a completely different image that’s much more interesting.
3. Avoid using the digital zoom
I tend to photograph subjects that are far away. The problem with that is the digital zoom doesn’t give good results. Yes, phones are constantly getting better, but the zoom enlarges the image artificially, making it blurry and pixellated. It also makes it hard to get a good picture if you can’t keep your hand completely stable.
4. Clean your phone lens
Our devices are often exposed to dust and fingerprints. The camera lens can get dirty, which makes your pictures look blurry or smudged.
I recommend cleaning your lens with a microfibre cloth before you take pictures. It’s a small gesture that will result in clearer pictures and allow you to immortalize important moments for your graduation yearbook.
5. Live in the now
The most important photography tip is to tell a story. Look around you, there’s something happening everywhere. Breaks in the cafeteria, belly laughs in class, sports games, field trips, reading sessions… These are often the most natural pictures.
Therefore, the key is to experience each moment and capture it. When you flip through your yearbook in the future, you’ll not only see familiar faces, but also be flooded with the memories, emotions and special moments.
Andrés Moreno
Graphic Designer and Professional Photographer