5 Easy Tips for Taking Great Photos with Your Mobile Phone
Great images are a vital tool for marketing your direct sales or party plan business online.
Facebook’s algorithm favors quality, unique images. Have you noticed how hardly anybody notices the images you post that are produced by your company? That’s because hundreds, if not thousands, of other consultants have already shared them.
Images that you create yourself will have a much higher impact and be seen by far more people on your business page or your groups and events. The better quality your image is, the better your reach will be.
And it isn’t hard to improve your photos with a few tweaks. And you don’t need professional gear – your smartphone or iPhone will be perfect!
Lightbox
Lighting is very important in photography. One the best ‘hacks’ I’ve found is to use a “light box” when I’m taking photos of my products. A light box traditionally provides even lighting and a solid background color. In my case I use the back of a wall planner. It’s glossy white and the perfect size to provide that clean white background.
I make sure to open the blinds to get the maximum of natural light and I turn on my overhead light (even during the day – but be careful of shadows) . And by putting my colorful products on this beautiful glossy white background, they pop in my photos.
You can use any glossy white cardboard – but I discovered my unused wall planner had the perfect backing .
Selfies
If you take photos of make-up or jewelry or outfits, consider investing in a ring light and mini tripod. A ring light sits around your phone camera and lights up your face beautifully without harsh shadows. You can get ring lights in a variety of price brackets, but check out this budget version on Amazon!
A tripod will help you to keep your phone steady when you take photos. Another option is a selfie-stick for shots from different angles. This Bluetooth selfie stick transforms into a tripod – the perfect budget option.
Flat-Lays
If you really want your images to stand out, jump on the ‘flat lay’ trend. Flat lays are photos of a bunch of objects taken from above.
A good flat lay uses a clean background, not too many objects and has some space between the objects.
Think of a theme for your photos. For example if you have a beauty product with citrus as an ingredient you can use oranges or lemons. Grab a good looking lemon or orange, perhaps some green leaves from your garden, and of course the product (s). Now don’t go putting strawberries in the photo – stick to your citrus theme!
Then create yourself a little still-life that looks good from above – you’ll have to lay bottles flat for example – and make sure you have enough natural light without harsh shadows.
Now you’re ready to take some photos & done!
A clever trick to make your flat lays look amazing is to use marble gloss contact for your background.
Technical Tips
- Use natural light whenever possible. You can boost it with your overhead lights or yourflash. Avoid taking photographs only lit by flash, you’ll get harsh shadows. When you use flash during the day it can help to soften some of the shadows created by your light source.
- Do not zoom in. Ever. The zoom on many smartphones is not like a camera lens, it’s a digital trick and reduces the quality of your images. Instead get closer to your subject or crop it later (in Canva for example or your favorite photo app).
- Adjust the exposure. It’s as easy as tapping your screen or dragging the exposure square or circle over to the object you want to photograph.
Play with Color
A fun way to make your products stand out is to turn everything in your image to black and white except for the product. The Color Touch Effects app on Android or Color Pop Effects for iOS will do the job for you for free.
Another option is to create a scene or still life of products all in one color. You can also go the other way and create a rainbow of color options.
Images are such a great way to express your personality and capture your products and business in a new way.
We’d love to see what you’ve been up to with your smartphone, show your results in the Direct Sales Inspiration Facebook page.
Learn how to rock your online marketing
Learn how to be active and sell on Facebook without annoying people and without spamming anybody – it’s called attraction marketing.
Learn how to maximize your Facebook Business Page, how to build an active Facebook Group and how to work with the Facebook algorithm.
Learn about the magic of video and how to do it well and learn all about avatars and how to get one for free.
Each Module contains a video presentation in which Christine talks you through the topic. Each presentation is filled with examples, explanations of why it works and tips. You’ll also get plenty of downloadables and printables to use immediately in your direct sales business.
