Let’s get real! Nobody is patient in the photography industry and constantly scours their surroundings for photo hacks. And if you are the type of photographer who loves to leave audiences bamboozled with your shots, the list is full of ideas that aren’t your usual run-of-the-mill category. If you are looking for ways to create high-quality photos, this is a free guide to help you start shooting.
Table lamps, strainer, CDs… let’s explore some of the powerful photo hacks to improve the quality of images.
Photo hacks to improve images:
Here’s how you to win the hearts of your audience with photo hacks:
1. Begin with small steps:
Before diving into action, take a little time to observe the things around you. We often see learners jumping all over the place and wanting to grasp everything immediately. They are always on the internet, hunt for advice from their peers, and have no natural learning curve.
However, breaking the learning path into small chunks makes the learning process much more manageable. There is a logical path to follow when learning, and photography is no exception.
Catching the concept in the correct order means you are doing things accurately and implementing the rules better. Devoting a small amount of time upfront is a great way to ensure you are off to the right start and understand the image hacks adequately.
Mastering the basics ensures you take pictures like a pro, even with phone photography.
2. No tripod? Use the bedside lamp:
Want to get some steady shots? But every time you click the shutter, the result turns blurry. Yes, we’ve all been there at some point. If you need a place to set up the camera, don’t worry! We’ve got the perfect hack for your professional photos.
Just whip the lampshade from the lamp and screw the camera onto the lampshade holder. The thread size of the bolt on the shade is the same as the filter threads on tripods.
So your camera will fit like a glove in the lampshade. However, the photo hack only comes in handy sometimes.
But you’ll likely be the most incredible photographer on earth if you try it in front of your shutterbug friends and on your way to capturing some mesmerizing close-up shots.
3. Alter lights with a filter:
If you are immersed in shadow photography, you can position a filter or strainer with holes over the camera’s flash. You can follow the same rules with any kitchen utensils featuring interesting holes and capture candid photos like professional photographers.
You can also play with light to spice up your portrait photos in this way. If you think you still need to ace the proper exposure, use AI-powered tools like autoRetouch to fix the lights automatically. You can also try window blinds and get stripe patterns for more shapes.
Did you know the photo hack also works using natural light?
4. Use CDs to achieve a rainbow effect:
Did you know you could recreate the popular rainbow effect with zero fancy tools and gears? All you need is a metallic CD; voila, you have exciting patterns with rainbow color effects.
To use this photo hack, activate your phone’s flashlight and direct it to the CD. Next, you’ll need to hold it in front of your camera.
At this point, you must choose a sturdy medium to store your camera since you need to tweak the flashlight and CD to find flattering angles and colors.
Here’s the tricky part, though! The hack requires a bit of expertise while taking photos. So, feel free to spend hours with your camera lens; we guarantee the outcomes will be excellent.
5. Day to night in a flash:
Sometimes you might opt for bright natural light to capture your product, and the results look too plain. Eventually, you’ll get bored with the same lighting in every shot.
One photo hack you can apply is turning up the power of your flash to the max. The method makes the subject extremely bright, but when you change the settings to expose the subject, the background will look extremely dark since the flash didn’t hit it.
The hack turns the scenery into a nighttime shoot and generates excellent pictures, even though we had the session under broad daylight.
6. Achieve hazy scenes with plastic bags:
Remember the sandwich bag you got from a takeaway? Did you know you could convert the trash into a photo hack? Well, plastic bags are an innovative way to take photos.
First, make holes in the closed side of the plastic bag. However, please don’t do it with scissors, as the gaps should be roughly raggedly uneven at the edges.
Then use the bag as a hood for your lens. The hole end should go a bit further than the end of the lens. Be open to experiments and paint the bag with bright markers.
The hack lets you devise vintage, hazy, and sepia tones without breaking the bank.
7. Imitate rain with spray bottles:
If you want to avoid your gears getting wet and soggy in the rainy season, try a simple hack to achieve rainy atmospheres.
Take a spray bottle and a rectangular piece of glass.
Spray the glass surface with water and snap photos through the glass.
The result will get you all the attention since it’s difficult to tell you created the droplets artificially. Portraits through a car window, perfume captured through glass pieces– the photo hack gives you innumerable ways to capture drizzly settings, even with smartphone cameras.
8. Macro shots through your regular camera:
This is the most fabulous photo hack in the entire blog. You get a macro lens if you unscrew your lens and hold it in front of the camera. But there are four things you might want to take into consideration while using the photo hack:
- Your camera won’t snap with the lens off unless you switch to manual mode.
- An 18-50 mm lens kit is perfect for making it work like a charm.
- You have to fix the focus manually.
- The camera won’t open the aperture while you are trying the macro photo hack. So, open it by hand.
- The process doesn’t work with a smartphone camera.
If you want to take the step further, use a reverse mount lens. However, remember to edit photos before sending them off on the internet.
9. Achieve wind effect with a hair dryer:
Want to capture exciting and dynamic shots? Ask your assistant to hold a hair dryer to simulate a wind-blown outlook. This is one of the DIY hacks that will come in handy for those who are into portrait photography.
You can also create the winter ambiance using cotton balls and make them fly with a hairdryer to take candid shots like a professional photographer.
10. Custom bokeh patterns:
Who doesn’t need a bit of bokeh in their images? Creativity and imagination can transform any light orb into particular elements.
Cut out hearts, stars, triangles, or other shapes using a black poster board. Fasten the poster board to the camera lens and go crazy with different focal lengths. Turn the plain background into interesting settings using the bokeh effect.
In Conclusion:
If you implement the 10 photo hacks, your imagery will take a giant leap forward. We recommend experimenting with these hacks at least once for ten days.
After you get used to the tactics, you can internalize the lessons so they will happen spontaneously. If you still need tools to upgrade your photos, give autoRetouch a spin. It’s powered by Artificial Intelligence and will let you edit photos in seconds. Till then, happy snapping!