Camera or phone?

Many of today’s smartphone cameras are just as good, if not better than standalone digital cameras, particularly if you get the most out of it using the tips below.

Of course, there will still be situations where you’ll want a professional SLR camera (and someone who knows how to use it), but in most cases, the convenience of having a smartphone to hand, enabling you to upload your photos directly to Instagram or Facebook will outweigh the advantages of lugging around a full camera, lenses, and other kit.

Tripods

Whether you choose to use a camera or phone, a tripod can be a good investment. A basic tripod will help you to avoid blurry photos indoors and in low light, as well as enabling you to use a timer so you don’t have to miss being in group photos!

The most fundamental part of taking a brilliant photo is…having something brilliant to photograph.

In advance of your meeting, event, or campaign stunt, have a think about what opportunities for photos there might be, and how you can make the most of them.

Interesting/unusual settings

• Think about a visually interesting setting for taking your photo. This could be as simple as stepping outside of your meeting room or hall, onto a street or in front of some nearby greenery.
• Having a local landmark or building as your backdrop makes your photo unique and enables the party to show clearly that we’re active across the whole country.
• For a specific issue or campaign, think about how you can put yourself right in the middle of the action. For a campaign on local buses, for example, you could use a local bus stop or even on a bus itself.

Using props and branding

• It’s worth thinking about how you’ll get your message across visually, using props, signs, or other objects. The Party has templates which you can print yourself or have printed onto rigid but lightweight foamex board.
• A group shot of many people holding signs creates visual impact, while a portrait of a single person holding a hand-written message can feel personal and emotive.

When you’re pressed for time, it’s tempting to immediately pull out your camera and start snapping away. But quantity doesn’t always equal quality. Don’t be afraid to take a moment to ‘set up’ your shot before you start taking photos.

Lighting

• Try to avoid extremes of light and dark, which can result in harsh shadows or ‘washed out’ photos.
• Even, medium light is best; outdoors on a cloudy day is perfect.
• If bright light is unavoidable, such as light streaming through a window on a sunny day, try to position yourself so the light is behind you and the camera, and on your subject.

Colour and visual interest

• On social media, you want your photo to be eye-catching and visually interesting. Aim for a strong contrast between the subject of the photo and any background objects, so it stands out. Photographing people against coloured walls or surfaces that contrast with their clothes or skin tone can be an ideal.
• Use background objects such as furniture, bookcases and greenery to add visual interest and to create a sense of place – just avoid overdoing it and making things too cluttered!

Portrait, landscape or square?

• You’ll want to line up your shot (known in the business as ‘composing’ your image) to minimise the risk of your subject getting cut off or cropped out when your photo is resized by social media sites such as Facebook.
• Most of the time, a landscape (lengthways) shot is the most versatile. However, a square (same width and height) format – which is used by Instagram – is increasingly popular.
• If taking a landscape shot, think about how the photo will look if cropped to a square (with the far left and right sides of the image cut off).

The rule of thirds

• The ‘rule of thirds’ is a technique which has been used by artists, designers and photographers down the ages to compose the perfect shot.
• On many cameras and smartphones, your viewfinder will have a grid overlaid over it, dividing the picture into 9 squares.
• For a visually pleasing shot, try to line up the horizon of your photo along the bottom third, and then aligning objects or people in the foreground of your image along the vertical lines and especially where lines in the grid intersect.

Having set up and composed your shot, it’s the moment of truth.

While the technical details and controls of different types of cameras and phones vary, with a few basic principles, you can’t go too wrong.

Staying focused

There’s nothing more disappointing than a blurry, out-of-focus image. Here’s how to avoid it:

• In normal light, on a smartphone you can ensure your shot is in focus by tapping the touch screen on the area you’d like it to focus on. On a conventional camera, you can do this by lightly holding down the shutter before shooting.
• In lower light situations (especially indoors or at night), a tripod can help keep your camera steady, avoiding motion blur.

No flash?

• You’re better off without using a flash if you can possibly avoid it. In natural light, you’ll get more natural-looking colour, and avoid red eyes, washed out skin tone and other unflattering features!

Too light or dark?

• Err on the dark side. It’s nearly always easier to brighten an image later, revealing detail hidden in the shadows, than it is to darken a washed-out, over-exposed image.
• For situations with extremes in lighting, with lots of bright lights and heavy shadow, most modern cameras have an ‘HDR’ mode. This feature will automatically take several versions of your photo, and then automatically combine them, ensuring you get enough detail in both the light and dark regions of your image.

Quick-fire

• For action shots – such as someone talking or moving around – there is a high risk of someone’s eyes being closed, or their mouth finding itself in an unflattering shape at just the wrong moment.
• For these situations, you’ll want to use your camera’s ‘Burst’ or ‘Continuous shutter’ mode to capture lots of images in quick succession, allowing you to pick out exactly the right one later.

The obvious advantage of a smartphone is the ability to immediately share your photos with the world from almost anywhere via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Here’s how to make it pain-free.

Don’t be a perfectionist

Unless you’re a professional photographer, a spontaneous, interesting shot taken and shared immediately will always beat one you’ve spent hours agonising over and tweaking, uploaded several weeks later.

Be real

On Instagram especially, it’s all about the image. No matter how worthy or important the underlying message, you’ll get your audience’s attention with an image that looks interesting and engaging or offering a candid or ‘behind the scenes’ perspective.

Avoid multiple images and galleries

While sites like Facebook offer a plethora of options for displaying multiple images in a single post via galleries, slideshows and carousels, we’ve found that a single image at a time usually works best in grabbing your audience’s attention and conveying your message in a straightforward way.

Tag away

On Facebook, Instagram and Twitter you have the option to tag the people in your photo and the location it was taken. This can be a good technique for nudging those in the photo into sharing or retweeting it themselves.

Let us know

When posting your photos, don’t forget to tag @coopparty or @cooppartylocal or to send us a link via mail@party.coop. With dozens of local party events taking place every day across the country, we need your help to give your local event the attention it deserves.

This guide is by no means exhaustive, and for the budding professional, here are some ideas for taking things a step further – particularly if you have time and money to spare.

• Learn how to use the manual settings on your camera or smartphone. Even smartphones now give you fine-tuned control over variables such as exposure, focus and depth of field. Unless you know what you’re doing, these are best left alone, but mastering them will give you additional control.
• There are a range of accessories for your smartphone camera that can improve your shot, from clip-on lenses, to stabilisers for filming on the go.
• For around £15, a pop-up reflector disc can be a great investment. This gadget (which folds and pops up like a pop-up tent), provides a #nofilter method of blocking out harsh light, reflecting into areas of shadow (removing unflattering shadows under chins!), and giving a bronzed, sun kissed look to your scene.