Take Better Phone Photos, Part 4, Composition Tip #3

by Jenifer Juris

For each of our composition tips so far, movement has been the key. And this tip is no different.

To review, removing distracting backgrounds from behind our subject can be as simple as taking a few steps and/or turning. You can also fill the frame by taking a few steps closer or capture the scene by taking a few steps backward.

For our last composition tip in this series, we need to remember that taking a photo at our own eye level isn’t always the best “elevation” for our phone to capture the subject in a flattering way. Move your phone up or down to take better-looking photos.

Here are some visual examples using my dogs:

In the before picture, I’m holding my phone at eye level and looking down at Bilbo to take a picture of him sleeping with his favorite dinosaur toy. It’s not the best angle for a picture of Bilbo, as I can’t really connect with his face or eyes. Top-down photos can be great for some things, but in this instance, it’s not. In the after photo, I moved my phone much closer to the ground so that I could snap him doing the same thing, but in a way that helps me visually connect with him. I can see his cute face, his eyes, and I can easily see he’s using his toy as a pillow.

This past week, we had a gorgeous afternoon, so I took the dogs outside to sit on the blanket, and it was so nice! Tayla was content to sit next to me, and I wanted to capture this moment. In the before photo, I’m taking the photo at my eye level again. And again, it doesn’t capture Tayla very well. I can’t see her face or her eyes. In the after photo, I moved my phone closer to the ground and took another photo of her. This second photo better captures her in the scene. I can see the look in her eyes and feel more connected to Tayla because of it. (And that one ear sticking up cracks me up, too!)

In this landscape example, the before photo isn’t “bad”. But there is a lot of foreground that does nothing visually. It’s just a lot of dry, brown grass and dirt. In the after photo, I took my phone from eye level and moved it up. This helped to eliminate the boring foreground and include the trees and that sky with the cool clouds. And since the after photo is less boring, I feel more connected to the scene. I’m no longer distracted by the boring parts and am visually drawn in.

In this last example, it’s the same thing. I have a lot of boring grass in the foreground of the before photo. In the after photo, I held my phone up higher before I snapped the picture. This helped me to remove more of the boring grass from the foreground. And it also helped me add some nice “framing” around the edges of the photo from the other trees’ leaves showing. The after picture isn’t going to win any photography awards, but in general, it’s a better photo than the first one.

I hope these examples help you see that moving your phone up or down can really make a difference in the way your photos look. Small movements or changes can have a lasting impact on the pictures you keep in your camera roll. These tips can create a visual connection to the subject or scene or memory that we are trying to capture, and that makes such a difference in the visual appeal of our photos.

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Author: Jenifer Juris | Contact Us
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