Lighting is one, if not the most important thing to consider when taking a photo of someone. The best way to think about lighting/the sun is to think about it like a torch. If you shine a torch straight into someones face then their face will be very lit therefore if you're facing towards the sun you'll be well lit. If you shine a torch to the side or from above someones face there will be very harsh shadows. And if you shine a torch behind someone, then the person will become a silhouette which means they'll be a black outline since there is no light to light up their face.  So before you take a photo think about where the sun is as it'll makes a huge difference to your photo!

Example of fixing harsh shadows/lighting by adding sunglasses!

My go to trick if you have to shoot in harsh sunlight is just to get the person to wear some sunglasses. Problem solved! Lighting is completely up to you, however I prefer lighting that lacks shadows and is gentle on the skin. Usually this kind of lighting can be found in shaded places or when it is overcast (my favourite weather for photos!)

Photo in overcast weather vs Photo in the shade

2. COMPOSITION
Composition is tricky to explain but once you understand it, it makes so much sense. Composition is the way you frame and arrange the subject matter in your photos. The main universal concept of composition revolves around an idea called 'The Rule of Thirds' which means that whenever you take a photo you align the subject matter to where the interception points are (where the lines cross over each other) on the grid (as seen below). This helps to create a balanced photo. Once you have learnt the basics of composition, you can then learn to break them. Stick to the basics first though! I'm really bad at explaining things- feel free to watch this youtube video if i'm making no sense!

Photo from https://www.photovideoedu.com/Learn/Articles/jim-zuckerman-on-composition-the-rule-of-thirds.aspx

Also other basic things such as if you're taking a full body photo of someone, don't cut off their feet and/or their head. Please I beg you don't do it. These simple things make such a huge difference in the framing of photos!

Example of making sure you don't cut off feet! Keeping all the limbs in the photo makes it looks well framed

Colour!

More Colour!

Seriously just have fun, move about, have a giggle, a little shimmy and just enjoy where you are. This new trend of 'plandid' (planned candid) is not a new idea. We have been doing it forever! I've always been as comfortable in front of the camera as I have been behind it and this allows me to set up the photo I want before I ask someone else to take it. And if they don't do it properly I won't hesitate in asking them to do it again. I do this all the time and have no shame in doing so! Shoutout to anyone (there's a lot of you) who has helped me take a self portrait before! Just because you're the usual photographer, doesn't mean you have to miss out on also having fabulous photos. Don't forget that!

Queen of being 'plandid' #1

Queen of being 'plandid' #2

This is where the fun begins, once you have your well lit and well composed photo you have two choices- 1. leave it as it is or 2. edit it. I love to edit my photos and always have and probably always will. It allows me to add my own touch to my photos and make them uniquely mine. My main editing app on my phone is VSCO and if i need to whiten the f out of something then i use the whitening function in the Facetune app.
You can read about how I edit my photos in VSCO here!
You can read about how i whiten the f out of my photos in Facetune here!

Before & After Whitening in Facetune!

Before & After Editing in VSCO