A photo never ends up exactly as we expect it to when we first look at the scene. The eye is always drawn to the subject, but the camera captures all elements in the frame: a bright corner, an uneven horizon, the chair behind someone, a hand that gets cut off, the unnecessary empty area on the left that makes the subject look a little too isolated from the world. It only takes a few seconds for you to scan the frame. It is the shortest way to make beginner photos look more like the ones you see on professional photoshoots.
The first element to scan is the subject. What is this image really about before I take it? If I am about to photograph a cup on the table in front of the window, is it the cup that is the subject or is the light of the window on the table the subject? If I am about to shoot someone, is it about his or her face or is it the person and the scene that surrounds him or her? Knowing what your subject is helps you determine how close you should get to the scene, where you should stand, how high up or low to you should hold the camera where you should focus and which direction the background is in.
After you decide who or what the subject is, look at all the things on the outside of the frame, as the parts outside the frame don’t matter for the photo. But they will definitely appear in the image. Are any hands being cut off? Do they appear too far from the camera to be a part of the subject? Does a plant look like it’s coming from behind someone’s head? Is there an area in the frame that is super bright, and is the bright area drawing all the eye’s attention? Before shooting, trace the rectangle on the top, bottom, left and right edge of the frame as your eyes go over all the edges. That takes two or three seconds. But it’s enough to stop you from accidentally cropping out the subject’s face or accidentally including an unnecessary plant behind the subject.
A background should get a separate glance as well. The majority of photos shot by beginners are considered to be too busy or cluttered. The subject appears too close to or right in front of objects. It doesn’t always have to be perfectly clean but a clean background is always an option. Take an example: your subject is standing in the background of a very busy and colorful room. You need to notice the background as you set up the frame. If the color of the wall or any object is distracting, just change your shooting position to a different corner of the room, move the subject in front of a more calming background, move slightly closer to your subject, raise or lower the camera by an inch, etc. Even the slightest change can give a photo more focus on its subject.
Before you take a shot with natural light, don’t forget to check the lighting direction as well. A window might be behind the subject or the light is shining onto the person’s face. Depending on the light direction, a person can look like he or she is glowing or he or she can look a bit dark. Before taking the photo, notice how the frame is filled by the light. Is a large portion of the light in the frame not important? If that is the case, turn the subject so the window light comes from his or her side or you can always find your shade or move further away to let the window light fill the frame.
For this, try to shoot a subject three times. For the first shot, shoot as you would normally shoot a photo. For the second shot, look at only the background and edges. And for the third time, look at the subject, focus point, light direction and cropping before shooting. Once you’ve shot all three of them, look at them in your phone and see what you’d change with the photos. The photos that end up looking good isn’t the one with the most exciting composition; it’s the ones that are least distracting.
Try not to make this into a long inspection of the scene that will make every photo feel overanalyzed. It doesn’t have to be the perfect photo before shooting; it just helps you to get familiar with the frame. The frame check is just: subject, edges, background, light, focus. Once those become your habit, pressing a button to take a photo will not just be a guess. It will be a conscious, well-considered decision.