Three amateur photography mistakes

Common photography mistakes

There are multiple things about photos I see that drive me crazy but three of them seem the silliest to me and are pretty easy to fix. We have so many editing tools it’s just crazy some of them aren’t edited before going public. Consider these photography mistakes when posting your photos to any public social media site. They are sure to up your game and get you more likes. If they don’t seem like mistakes to you, that’s cool too. I just offer suggestions into what I think can be improved from my art background.

Tilted horizon:

This is quite possibly the easiest thing to fix on a photo yet one of the biggest photography mistakes. Any photo editing software will let you tilt or rotate your photo. When a photo is just slightly off we know that it’s unintentional as opposed to being tilted as a “cool” effect. For me, when I see these slightly off horizons I compulsively want to fix it. It’s super distracting for my eye and I can’t focus on the good stuff in your photo because I just want to bump that horizon 2% to make it straight.

Visual interest:

What are you looking at that I can’t see? If it’s really that interesting why aren’t you showing me in the photo? If you’re looking outside the frame instead of inside the frame you’re causing us to feel like we’re missing out on the best things. I think you really want folks to look in your frame with you and be interested in what’s in the photo not what’s outside of it. If you’re stuck with the photo as is consider cropping it so you are more in the center (see my Instagram post) or don’t post it if it’s really off like mine is above. I’m way too close to the edge to make the above work well.

No feet:

There’s tons of room above your head yet you have no feet. Why? Because you didn’t take the photo yourself and some random tourtist did. The least you could do is crop it at a more intentional place. Cropping just the feet is super awkward and looks really amateur. The better thing is to cut yourself off at the knees or waist (if your hands aren’t there). Don’t cut off your hands either that’s another big photography no-no.

Want more photography tips? Tell me in the comments. I also wrote a top 10 on the blog and another top 3 for Our Family Passport.

Like these Maui photos? I wrote a top 10 on Maui a long time ago but it still applies today. I also post my final images on Instagram minus the above flaws.

If you like what you see, I sell images with or without the lady in red.