1. Create balance with grid lines

The rule of thirds is one of the most basic photography skills you should know. This technique will improve the composition of your photos and create balanced, visually appealing images. You should position your subject and anything important in your photo where those lines intersect. An amateur photographer centers everything on the screen. But that’s not appealing.

2. Find symmetry

Symmetry is another visual element we are naturally drawn to. If you have the opportunity to capture symmetry in an image, you should definitely do so. It’s simple, but it works. Now, take a moment and imagine what this photo would have looked like if it weren’t taken from this angle.

3. Crop instead of zooming

Another rookie mistake I see people make all the time is using the zoom feature. Manually zooming on a subject is a big no, unless you’re using a professional camera. But as I said before, that type of equipment is unnecessary. Your smartphone will capture pictures that are good enough to post. However, once you start zooming, you will damage the quality of the photo. Instead of zooming, get closer to your subject. If that’s not possible, don’t worry about it. Take the picture from where you are, and use the rule of thirds to improve the composition. After the photo is taken, you can crop the image to your liking.

4. Embrace natural frames

Framing your image is another basic photography skill. No, I’m not referring to developing your photo and putting it into a wooden box. Sometimes, subjects are perfectly positioned to be captured within natural frames surrounding them. Any time you have the chance to use a natural frame, you should take advantage of it. Here’s the thing, if you’re not happy with the natural frame, you can always edit it out by cropping the image, as I previously discussed. When you’re taking a photo, keep an eye out for natural frames such as trees, fences, bridges, archways, or anything else that creates a similar framing effect.

5. Look for reflections

I briefly mentioned this before when I talked about cropping. Taking photos of reflections can add a unique perspective to your photos. Taking a picture of just the bus or just the sunset would be pretty basic. But capturing both in the window reflection elevates this campaign to new heights.