Thanks for joining us for our content workshop!
The Challenge
Take photos on the eight following themes using your mobile phone:
- Colour
- Silhouette
- Shadows
- Reflections
- A unique angle
- Simplicity
- Shapes
- A portrait (you don’t need to identify the person, and keep it simple)
- Enhance your photos using Snapseed (iPhone/Android). Be careful not to over-edit them. Most of the creative work should be done while taking the photo.
- Choose the photos you think are best and upload in a carousel on Instagram using the hashtag #TAFEmopho
But first – 8 tips to make your mobile photography amaaaazing:
- Have a subject
The subject is the first thing your eye sees.
Boring subjects are better than none
Multiple subjects can tell a story, or provide scale or context
If you don’t know what the subject is, ask yourself why you’re taking the photo - Take silhouettes
Sunrise and sunset are good times because of the directional lighting (though a bright source of light such as a sunlit wall will also work perfectly well)
Silhouettes look great because they’re high contrast (works well on a smaller screen)
Silhouettes also add an air of mystery
Shoot against the source of light (be careful of ‘flare’, or light shining into the camera lens) - Include shadows in your composition
Don’t crop shadows out
Increasing contrast in a photo editing app makes the shadows stand out
Best times are early morning and late afternoon (and winter is better than summer) because shadows are longer at those times - Use reflections
Find a good reflective surface (water, wet surfaces, glass, anything shiny)
Get close to the reflective surface, try little tricks such as breaking the surface of a smooth puddle of water to create interesting distortions - Take photos from a unique angle
Familiar scenes look completely different from a unique or unfamiliar viewpoint
Get low, get up high, point your camera up or down - Use simplicity
Don’t overcomplicate things
Simple, clean images look better on a smaller screen such as a phone or tablet
Eliminate distractions when you’re composing your photograph - Combine all the above techniques
- Take several photos of the same subject
Move around a bit, change the composition slightly, play with the exposure
Upload your 8 photos
Upload your pics to your Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook account using the hashtag #TAFEmopho
We’ll share the best photos on our Off Campus Instagram account 💛
Check out this MoPho Challenge gallery by our students – it’s great!