Bsrgvty

I have come across this previously and unfortunately, due to the world we now live in, I learnt that people in general have a somewhat distorted view of how they look and what their best look is on a photograph.

People, everyday, see themselves as a reflection in a mirror where they are able to create looks that they find pleasing.

These looks are often very limited and repetitive due to lighting conditions and can very quickly become the basis of how they perceive themselves at their most ideal.
This is why selfies are so powerful. They allow the person to twist and turn until they see exactly what they want to see on the screen.

Now, when you take an image which does not represent their ideal, then, of course, they don't like it!
Not because its not a good photo, but it does not represent their reflective ideal of what perfection is.
Its not your fault, but you can not have enough understanding of what their interpretation of a great photo is unless they have specified it.

Therefore, my trick is to, often, ask the subject to take a selfie of themselves in front of me with all the twists, turns and expressions.
Having observed them in action, I now have a much better idea of where to to take the image from.

I even quite often ask the subject to pretend that they have a phone in their hand and twist and turn as they were taking a selfie and then I position myself where the phone should be, ask them to pull their arm back and snap away.

These images may not be a true representation of the subject, but they will appreciate them a lot more as they will once again become percipients to their ideal.

Try it,

Consider moving closer to the subject and following the 'Rule of Thirds'.

The problem with most of the advice you've been given is that there's too much of it. How are you going to remember it all the next time you need to take a photo? Where do you start?

Telling you to improve your composition would be so broad that it would be useless. So I picked two points I thought most likely to provide the greatest benefit.

• Move closer to the subject. -- This will reduce distracting background elements and focus the viewer's attention on the subject.


• Follow the 'Rule of Thirds'. -- This is one of many compositional guides based on asymmetry. Basically, photos tend to be more interesting when points of interest are not perfectly centered. In this particular variant, the image is divided into a 3x3 grid, and points of interest are placed at the intersections.

Many compositional considerations will follow naturally from these. Others can be added to your repertoire gradually.

A few samples of your BEST photos may help us comment better.

If flash is not used, cellphones benefit from good lighting. Ensure your subject is well illuminated.

"Camera" motion must be minimised. Holding your breath and consciously steadying your arm helps image quality when light is not good.

ENSURE that your subject is in focus. Out of focus photos look terrible except when the effect is used for a specific purpose.

In portraits have the subject fill a significant part of the image. Sometimes the background is such that having the person involved 'small' is acceptable but, if the photo is of a person ensure that the photo is of the person.

Try to avoid having light sources behind the subject. If the background is brighter than the subject you will tend to obtain silhouettes.

Ensure the subject is looking at the lens. This does not matter as much if they are a reasonable distance away but, when taking closeups or selfies with two people, look at the lens and not elsewhere.

When taking portraits at medium to short distances ensure they are looking AT you (unless a looking-away stance is intended). If there are two or more photographers, if they are not looking at you but at another camera then it is often very obvious in the photo.

Identifying what it is that people say is wrong with your photos is a useful step in improving them.

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THIS is one of my "Random Strangers" albums. The photos are not designed as 'works of art' (if any happen to be, that's a a bonus :-) ) - they are largely photos which happen 'along the way' as part of my trip-record / life-record. People are generally happy with these photos of themselves when they see them. Have a look - decide if any look like photos that you would like to have taken. (Ignore the rest :-) ). If you like them, work out WHY - how do they compare with yours? What can you do to make yours look more like the ones that you like?

Screenshot from album - much more detail in album proper -

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It's not easy to properly simulate reducing exposure and then using flash - but this is a very (very) rough simulation:

Not a technical thing, but in my experience many people also like if you duck down so that they appear taller.

I have 3 pieces of advice.

1) When ever you have your phone out pointing at people who want to be photographed, just keep snapping and snapping, move the camera left - right, up - down etc, don't let them know you have started and don't let them know when you stop. I bet you will have a few decent shots!

2) Keep and eye on the background for both selfies and portraits.

3) Just enjoy taking the photos even if they are not good.

Is it the phone?

Don't get me wrong - most people are rubbish photographers. But a good phone camera can really make a difference.

I've got a Samsung S5 Neo. Samsung have always generally had good cameras, and this is no exception. Focussing is decent, the lens is good enough to keep up with the sensor resolution, no significant distortions or colour casts, and JPEG compression can be set fine enough that it doesn't kill you. It's basically a decent daylight snapper. But it falls down badly for low light, fast movement, and flash photos. And of course you've got camera shake to deal with.

My gf's old phone was a Huawei. The camera glass seemed pretty iffy, but worse than that, the camera JPEG compression was highly lossy. You simply couldn't get decent pics on it, and the phone wouldn't let you dial back the compression for better quality.

Then she got a new Huawei - their copy of a Samsung Edge. This thing now has 4 lenses, and the picture quality is outstanding. Focus is amazingly sharp, the flash does what it says, the range of light it's happy with is much better, and most importantly for phone cameras it does image stabilization. It's almost impossible to get a pic that's blurred unless you mess up with foreground objects. I'm still better at composition and spotting the opportunity, so occasionally she gives it to me to do the snapping. But good equipment still makes it easier to get something decent, and the quality of what she puts on Facebook these days has gone right up.

I have been through this same problem

My solution:

Explain that she already knows you are not really good at taking pictures and ask her to take a picture of YOU the same way she wants a picture of HER.
Once she takes the picture of you, change places with her and take the same picture, same angle and so on.
This may help :)

I see a lot of good answers. Let me just add a single point.

Get the flash off your camera!

A direct on-camera flash is a driver's license photo.

If taken as an art, photography is subjective and there is no right, wrong, good or bad. Mobile photography can be hard as phone cameras, although getting better aren't anywhere near as good as pretty much anything with a bigger sensor.

Typically, people have a best side, light has to hit them in a particular way for them to feel good, so take a lot of photos and not one, it's digital, very easy to remove.

If this is becoming somewhat annoying then I'd have two suggestions:

1. Don't take them for them:
   Ask them to get a selfie stick or just ask a member of the public to do it for them (if applicable)


2. Take some basic lessons/tuition:
   It's very easy to spend a few minutes on YouTube and grab some beginner information like composure, light and location, all very viable and easy to learn points that will help you take better photos.