Friday Photo Tip #1 ZOOM IN

I'm going to start offering some photo tips every Friday!  Don't be alarmed, the tips are aimed for amateurs/non-professionals - I'm all about helping out people who are just getting started or who just want to refine their craft. This first tip is nice and simple, and will help make your images more visually interesting.  It's all about composition baby... #1 ZOOM IN When you're shooting portraits (of anything really... people, pets, food, flowers, etc), don't be afraid to ZOOM IN!  Many cameras these days have a very wide default settling - and many people forget that they can zoom in - or they're afraid to.  Don't be afraid to zoom all the way in and fill your viewfinder with whatever you're shooting. Here's an easy example of a photo of clementines on my desk... I took these photos with my iPhone.  Mind you the iPhone camera isn't the greatest... there's no zoom - I had to physically put my phone closer to the clementines.  I edited it a little bit using one of the AppStore's photo editing apps.

Notice in the photo above that you can see the whole desk.  As a viewer, you're not really sure what the focus is supposed to be on - is it the whole desk?  Is it the clementines?  Your eye is naturally drawn to the clementines though since it is the most colorful thing in the photo.... In the photo above the focus is solely on the clementines.  I zoomed in just enough so that the clementines would fit nicely within the frame.  Of course everyone has a different aesthetic so where you ultimately position the main focal point (clementines) is up to you - but this photo is much more interesting than the one above it. Good luck!