The 9 Mistakes that ruin your photos!

These are the nine mistakes that you need to avoid when you're taking pictures of people. We see these mistakes over and over again. They're just ruining your photos. So, the biggest mistake to start with is the background. Nobody seems to look at the background of their photos. When you look at this picture over here on the left, this background is way too busy. It's noisy. There's clutter happening all over the place. >> It looks like a gray wall is coming out of her head. >> Yeah. You don't want anything coming out of the your subject's head. Now, this one here, for the most part, is also too busy in the background. You're supposed to be looking at the main subject, which is the guy in the middle. >> But, you know what's really distracting me is that building in behind his head. >> Yeah, we need no distractions behind his head. But then look at the photo on the right. >> And this is a beautiful uniform background. It's blurred out. It's repeating patterns. There's nothing that my eye goes to except for the beetle. >> Right? So, the eye of the viewer is just going to the three people and nothing in the background is a distraction. And let's look at the next three photos here. Look at the one on the left where we have clearly a a street scene with all these trees. There's literally a lamp post growing out of her head. So, the background is distracting. >> That's right. And those dark spots, they must be garbage bags or something like that. It's just really distracting. So, the photo in the middle here, look at all the people in the background. Again, we're supposed to be looking at the main subject, which is this one woman in the middle, but we tend to get distracted and start looking at the background. Now, take a look at the one over here on the right. >> Yes. Now, this is so clearly the portrait we want to see. We are taking a picture of just the one person. The background is uniform, the same color, and it just makes the eye go right to that person. So, the takeaway here is to look at the background just as much as you're looking at your main subject. And make sure you're choosing a background where there's no clutter and no distractions. This is a massive mistake. Everyone makes it. You don't want to make it. So, the next one is regarding the background and what is going through your subject's head. So, look at the photo on the left. You have the head of the subject exactly in line with that dark land there. And that is called an intersecting line. and it's distracting. Now look at the photo on the right. >> It looks much better. There's a little bit of space now between the top of the head and the dark horizon of trees. And I see this all the time. The head is always on the horizon. It's going next to a big line and it just doesn't look good. Yeah. So, all you need to do for this specific composition is to lift your camera higher in the air and that will have the effect of lowering down the head of your subject. Let's move on to the next one. And here are some more really distracting lines that are intersecting the head of the subject. Look at the photo on the left. >> And I see this all the time. People just don't think about what is behind the person. And this looks like a pole is growing right out of his head. >> Yeah. Look at the photo in the middle right here. We have a palm tree growing directly out of the middle of this woman's head. We don't want a distraction like that. Look at this horrible one on the right. >> That's right. I mean, literally water is spraying out of the top of the person's head. That's not what I intended when you want a picture of that person, right? Just the person. No distractions. So, how do you avoid this? All you need to do is you as the photographer, you take a step to your right or to your left. You're looking at the background just as much as you're looking at the main subject. Now, let's take a look at this common mistake that everyone seems to make, and it's having your main subject, which is the guy looking outside of the frame. Look at this. He's over on the right side of the frame. He's not in the middle. He's over on the right side. And that in itself is fine. But now he's looking towards the small side. He's looking towards the right. So he's looking out of the frame. And what happens in that case is that the eye of your viewer kind of tends to look in the direction that he's looking and the eye of your viewer never comes back. >> That's right. So, when you're taking a shot like this, you want the empty space to be in the same direction as the person is looking because they're looking into the scene rather than out of the scene. Well said. Let's go to the next mistake, and that is leaving the face of the subject in the center of the frame. We see this over and over and over and over again. This is a rookie amateur mistake that you can avoid so easily. You do not want the face of your subject smack dab in the middle of the frame. You want to generally, as a rule, place the face of your subject on the top 1/3 line of the photo. And because this is all unnecessary uh area inside the frame of the photo, you want the face on the top 1/3. >> That's right. >> Such a rookie amateur mistake. So, the next one is taking a portrait from too high of an angle. And when you do this, it just looks a bit jarring and the person's body and top of their head just don't look proportional. So, you really want to be on the same level as the person um of their head when you're taking this photo because it makes them look so small. And that's the problem. When your camera is way up above and you're looking down, the person becomes tiny. Sometimes you might want that as an interesting effect, but generally when you're taking pictures of people, you don't want this. And especially you don't want to do it when you are taking pictures of kids. >> That's right. So again, this is a great example of this person. They actually did the right thing by going on their knee, getting to the level of the person. They go onto their knee, get to the same level as the child, taking the photo from that level, and if it's a little baby crawling on the floor, I even get down onto the floor to the same level as the head. So we're at the same level. >> Yeah. So don't be afraid. Get down on one knee. Especially when you're taking pictures of toddlers and especially pets. You're taking a picture of your cat or your dog. Don't photograph from the top. Get down onto one level. These are the top nine mistakes that people make with their pictures of people. Don't you make these mistakes?