An expert has tips to help you take better photos during holidays, or any time of year.

Family gatherings during the holidays mean holiday snaps and sharing those photos online or in the mail, either made into or tucked into greeting cards—a process made merrier and brighter if the photos are good. Certainly, the better the photo, the more treasured the keepsake.

“When I see people posting holiday photos, I often wish the photographer would move around a bit more,” says Michael Borowski, associate professor of photography in the Virginia Tech School of Visual Arts.

“The first instinct it to snap from our standing or sitting position, but a change in height, angle, or viewpoint can make a huge difference.”

Here, Borowski has five tips to improve your photography at any time of year, and he answers one holiday-themed bonus question:

1. Follow the rule of thirds.

“This is one of the most famous composition tips in photography, to shift your subject from the center of the frame.

“Imagine the rectangular frame of the camera as a three-by-three grid. Instead of putting your subject in the center square, line them up with one of the grid lines just to the left or right of center, or top and bottom for a horizon line. This small move makes a photograph more dynamic and engaging.

“Also, think about compositional balance. If your subject is aligned toward the right line, look for an object or texture on the left to balance the frame. That said, going for perfect symmetry is also a winning composition.”

2. Pay attention to lighting.

“Photography comes from Greek words for ‘drawing with light.’ Our eyes adjust easily to different lighting conditions, but the camera has a limited dynamic range. Unless you have a professional studio, you can’t do much about the strength of light, but you can pay attention to the direction of light.

“Light coming from an angle is very flattering. That’s why many photographers like to work close to sunset or ‘golden hour.’ If you need to photograph midday, look for a place in the shade to put your subject where the sun is above and behind the photographer. Try to avoid backlighting if you can.”

3. Plan your color scheme.

“If you are planning a photo shoot, spend a bit of time thinking about color relationships. Colors that are similar warm or cool hues, like blue and green or yellow and orange, will make a photograph feel calm and harmonious. Combining opposite colors like red and green or blue and orange will create pops of high contrast. Another idea is to use mostly white but incorporate one bold color for contrast. Working with a limited color scheme of two or three colors can really help your photographs look more professional.”

4. Consider your background.

“When taking photos, we tend to pay attention to the main subject. But spending some time thinking about the background will improve your photographs a lot.

“An evenly colored or textured background will not compete for attention with your subject. If you are at home, you can rearrange things to minimize a busy background. If you are outside, look for a brick wall or tall bushes. If possible, think about the lighting and the color as well. More and more we see architecture incorporating ‘Instagram walls,’ which are designed to be excellent backdrops for photographs.”

5. Get closer.

“The photographer Robert Capa says, ‘If your pictures aren’t good enough, you are not close enough.’ It sounds simple, but you would be surprised by how many photographs have a lot of unused space at the edges, especially on the sides.

“Cropping in too close on the top of the frame can make a photograph feel claustrophobic. But cropping in on the sides will typically place more attention on the subject and remove clutter and distractions. Also, remember that you can turn the camera. Some compositions will work better horizontally and others will be better vertically.

“A good piece of advice for every photographer is to take more photos than you think you need. Take some farther back and then a few closer up. And then another even closer. The camera can surprise you with what turns out to be an amazing photo.”

Bonus question: Do you have any tips for how to take a good-looking photo in which Christmas lights are on in the background?

“There is a beautiful effect called ‘bokeh,’ when background lights are out of focus in a photograph. With a high-end camera you can achieve this by using a wide aperture and a bit of zoom in the lens. But cell phones have designed ways to get this effect. On an iPhone you can use portrait mode in the camera app. There is a f-stop adjustment that will increase the background blur. You can also experiment with the different lighting settings.”

Source: Virginia Tech