How To

Try to tie-in details from your subject’s outfit with the backdrop – whether it be a particular colour, theme or print. It helps to tie everything together and will give your images an artistic edge. Bonus tip: think about ways to personalise your pictures and tell a story – e.g. Nicola is a choreographer so we captured her dancing.

A relaxed subject always looks best. If you’re shooting someone else, ease into it – talk to them, tell jokes, encourage LOLs. Nothing will draw an emotional response from the viewer like a genuine smile. If you’re shooting yourself, take a deep breath, relax those shoulders and breeeathe.

Try holding the camera at arm’s length and at different heights and angles (sounds strange, but bare with us!). This will often capture abstract or unexpected points of view that make your images more interesting.

Always be attuned to details (like jewellery, tattoos, piercings etc) that make your subject unique. Don’t be afraid to capture them in interesting detail crops (these usually do well on Insta, too!). This helps to draw attention to things people may not have noticed like the logo on Poppy’s shirt and jacket.

This gives a cool ‘party’ and old-school/film camera vibe to your images (think supermodels in the 90s!). You can use an external flash and direct it to bounce off the wall or ceiling rather than pointing directly at the subject or keep it simple a play around with your iPhone flash. Use an editing program or app to bring down the ‘highlights’ – this will create a flatter-looking image with nostalgic vibes.

Go digi! VSCO has so many cool filters to play around with. We love filters that up the contrast in our images and make colours ‘pop’, but vintage desaturated vibes are cool too. Find one you like and then play around with it on various images until you understand the effect it creates. Then, keep this in mind when you’re shooting to ensure you always get an amazing outcome.