Social Media Tips for Photographers
Lesson 11 from: Photography Essentials: Getting Your Best ShotsSean Dalton
Social Media Tips for Photographers
Lesson 11 from: Photography Essentials: Getting Your Best ShotsSean Dalton
Lessons
Chapter 1: Introduction
1Class Project
01:57Chapter 2: Understanding Exposure
2Camera Settings
15:04 3Balancing Exposure
07:24 4Chapter 2: Quiz
Chapter 3: Understanding your Camera
5Is Manual Mode Necessary?
05:39Achieving Perfect Focus
06:46 7Chapter 3: Quiz
Chapter 4: Essential Photography Concepts
8Composition
11:50 9Lighting
07:01 10Manipulating Your Environment
02:58 11Social Media Tips for Photographers
08:54 12Chapter 4: Quiz
Chapter 5: Personalizing Your Photos
13Finding Your Photographic Style
04:22 14Photo Editing Tips & Tricks
11:51 15Chapter 5: Quiz
Chapter 6: Conclusion
16Summing Things Up
02:10Final Quiz
17Final Quiz
Lesson Info
Social Media Tips for Photographers
So now I want to take a little bit to talk about social media and as you very well know, social media is massive in this day and age, it's everywhere we look. Um and a lot of our lives are consumed by social media, whether it's instagram, Youtube, facebook twitter, I mean there's, there's so many forms of social media out there, but the reason I wanted to add this section of the course is because in this day and age it's incredibly important for photographers to be on social media and in fact it's become so huge that a lot of photographers shoot almost exclusively for social media. A lot of the photos that I go out and shoot when I'm traveling are shot with the purpose to be posted on instagram or to be shared on facebook or something like that. Then that's because um those social media platforms are important for me from a business standpoint for photography and that's the case for a lot of other photographers as well. So I just wanted to add this section to give you guys some social ...
media tips um specifically related to photography to kind of help you grow your social media or have your social media as a resource that you can use to score more clients or just use as a portfolio going forward. So just to preface this, um most of my experience with social media is on instagram, you guys might have seen my other courses here on instagram. So a lot of the things I'm gonna be talking about are related to instagram, but they're also related to other forms of social media as well, whether that's facebook, twitter, youtube etcetera. So the first social media photography tip I have for you is to shoot vertically. The reason why it's important to shoot at a vertical aspect ratio um is simply due to the fact that a lot of people are consuming content on their phones. Nowadays, a lot of people are consuming content. They're seeing your images or your videos from their cell phone, not from their computer like they used to and because they're viewing it on a cell phone while a cellphone has um a vertical aspect ratio which means it's longer than it is wide. And when we're presenting our work online, we want to take up as much real estate as possible. The bigger we can get our photo in someone's face, the more they're gonna see it, the more they're gonna recognize it and it's just going to affect them more emotionally than a smaller photo. And that's really why we want to shoot vertically, we want to take up as much real estate on that smartphone screen as possible. And when I say shoot vertically, I mean actually flip your camera into a vertical aspect ratio and take a picture like that. So instead of shooting in landscape mode, shoot it in vertical. But with that said, we shouldn't totally confine ourselves shooting vertically because horizontal photos still very much have their place, you know, a lot of websites still want horizontal photos because um, laptops and computer screens, you know, they're a horizontal aspect ratio. So don't completely confine yourself to a vertical aspect ratio when you're shooting, but just think about that. Maybe take a photo and a vertical aspect ratio and then take another photo at a horizontal aspect ratio. So you can go back and choose which one you think is better. Maybe you have one for social media and then you have another one for your website portfolio or something like that. So the next social media tip I have is probably the biggest one and that is consistency. And when I say consistency, I mean consistency in two different ways, stylistic consistency as well as thematic or content consistency. So starting things off with stylistic consistency. When I say that, I mean having all of your photos kind of fit a similar stylistic look. So maybe that's all of your photos kind of look dark and moody or maybe they're the opposite. Maybe they're bright and airy, Maybe they're very colorful. Maybe they're all black and white. Having some sort of stylistic consistency is I think really important for standing out in social media in this day and age specifically if you're shooting for a social media like instagram where you have A grid format and all of your photos are presented in a nine x 9 grid. It's very important to have all of your photos kind of looking similar because then it shows somebody when they come to your profile that this person has their style dialed in, I know exactly what I'm going to be following them for. I'm following them so I can see more photos of this style. One of the easiest ways to have a consistent style um, in your photography is to have a similar editing style with all of your images. So for example, you know, I saw presets and a lot of the time, I'm only using one preset for months at a time. So right now it's my Auckland preset. I love it and I use it all of my photos and then I make small adaptations. So all of my photos have a similar color scheme, a similar lighting scheme and everything just looks stylistically similar. So if you're using an app like V. S. C. O. Or just some other filter app or even a filter on instagram, choose one filter and go with it and use it on all your photos and then just adapt each photo so that um, filter fits that image. The second piece of consistency is content or thematic consistency. So instead of you identifying yourself as a photographer, you should identify yourself as a travel photographer or a food photographer or a fashion photographer. The more specific you can get with that, the better off you're gonna be because you're gonna be able to appeal to people that are looking for something very specific. If you're just a photographer, well there's millions of photographers on instagram, but if you're a dog, photographer, well that is a lot more specific and I think you'll be a lot more successful because you can stand out from other people, which is very important for social media in this day and age because there's just so many people on social media, everyone's on social media. So find some sort of theme that you can focus on. Maybe you photograph flowers or you photograph people the street photography or you photograph food or coffee, um, whatever that might be. Find some sort of theme to focus on and then produce content around that theme and I really want to hammer in this point of consistency. I think it's so important and it's probably the biggest mistake that I see people making on social media is they have a lot of really awesome photos, but there's just no consistency there. Whether it's stylistic. All their photos just have very, very radically different styles or the theme is just completely out in left field. There's a picture of a dog which is a great photo and then there's a picture of an airplane, another great photo, but you know, they just don't really match. Now, I want to caution you about this too because this can also limit you creatively if you just go out and you only ate it one way and you only shoot one way. Um, and you only post certain photos well then you're going to be kind of limiting yourself uh creatively, which is you should not be doing that when you're first starting out as a photographer. So I think you should maybe have two instagrams or two forms of social media, one where you just post whatever the hell you want, and then the other one you maybe experiment with more of a consistent style. So my next tip for you is just to post as much as you can. When I first started out Um teaching Instagram, I always said that you should only post your best content, 10 out of 10 content only. Um but as social media has kind of evolved and as I've learned more about social media and more about creating in general, I've kind of changed my mindset on this. I think you should just post as much as you can post all of your photos because maybe there's a photo that you feel like it's not that great, but maybe you post it and everyone loves it, you know, we can't predict what people are gonna think. So post everything you have, get it out there so people can see it, the more visible you are on social media, the better and going off of that and being as visible as possible. Um you should engage with other accounts, no matter how much you post, if you're not actively going out and engaging and commenting on photos and liking photos or however, that process looks like on the social media platform of your choice. If you're not doing that then you're not gonna be able to grow. You know outreach is very important for every industry in this world and the same thing works with social media, you're gonna be posting photos but you should be going out and liking other people's photos and providing feedback and providing criticism and just kind of going out and getting your name out there, the more you can get your name out there, the more your account is gonna be seen, which means that you can grow and you can continue to establish yourself on social media. My last tip is just don't shoot exclusively for social media. Yes, instagram is an important piece of the puzzle and other forms of social media are important as well, but you really are confining yourself. If you're just shooting for social media, just shoot what looks good and shoot at how you want to shoot it. Don't worry about shooting a specific way. Just go out, be creative and just take as many photos as you can because that is the most important thing when it comes to learning photography and becoming a better photographer, it's just to pursue your creativity and just go after it and take as many photos as you can
Ratings and Reviews
Neil Brumberger
This is an excellent, fast paced review of processes and techniques for someone who is not a raw newbie, but still in the beginner stage. The title is accurate. It covers the essentials, not deeply, but broadly. Being somewhat older I find the fast pace of the narrative a bit too much, but I am a dinosaur
Matt House
Good basics class, however one of the questions in the chapter 3 quiz is incorrect: When shooting in aperture mode, what settings does the camera adjust? Quiz answer (aperture) is incorrect. The photographer selects the aperture, however the camera adjusts the shutter speed (and ISO if in auto) in order to make a proper exposure.