These five tips will help you take better pictures this summer (and beyond). Be sure to click on the pictures in this post to see some examples!

1. Get Out Of The Sun
When it comes to portraiture, direct sunlight is the worst. It causes weird shadows, gives a person bags under their eyes, and makes your subject look squinty. Move your family, friends, or kids into the shade and notice what a difference it makes.

2. Turn Off Auto Flash
If your camera is on auto flash, it probably has a tendency to fire the flash pretty often. Most of the time, if there is some light where you are, you probably don’t need it. Camera flashes are harsh and they make images look flat and they can wash out colors and skin tones.

3. Pay Attention To What’s Behind Your Subject
While the focus of your picture will most likely be a person or a pet or an object, you should be aware of what’s going on behind your subject, too. You don’t want to ruin a good picture by having a tree growing out of your grandmother’s head. A hilarious picture of my family was taken at my 8^th grade graduation. We all look great, but there’s a family behind us that is making funny faces. If we had just taken a minute to look around, we would have seen a better spot to take the photo. 

4. Don’t Forget the Little Things
If you’re always taking pictures of your kids, you probably are always taking pictures of their faces. But what about their little feet, their favorite toys, or their first ice cream cone of the summer? Get close ups of more than just your children’s faces and create some pictures that tell their story.

5. Photograph More
Bring your camera with you next time you leave the house, even if you’re just going to run an errand. The best way to improve the pictures you take is to take more of them. If your camera is a thing that exists in a closet until a holiday comes around, change this habit.