A lot of small businesses struggle to find the right pictures to share on Instagram and Facebook. Not only does their content have to be relevant to their audience, it needs to be engaging and look good.

Do you struggle to find the right pictures for your posts?

Do you spend tons of time looking for the “right” picture to go along with whatever you’re wanting to share that day?

Do you try over and over again to take a photo to use, but it never turns out quite right?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then keep reading! I hope these tips – that pretty much anyone can do – will help you create more beautiful images for your business social media posts and make it a little easier on you.

3 photography tips to create better photos:

use GREAT LIGHTING.

Lighting can make or break a photo. Photographers know these tricks, and I’m excited to share them with you.

Place your subject by a window with indirect light. Make sure it’s soft light – not hard direct sunlight. Even the best photographer struggles with direct sunlight. You’re not alone.

Whether it’s food or a person or a product, this soft light will light your subject well, in turn creating a better image. Make sure you are standing between the window and the subject. If you don’t have someone to take the photo for you … prop your phone on the window seal and use your timer.

MAKE IT ABOUT YOU.

I see so many companies use stock photos to talk about their business when it’s so easy to create custom content. You just have to make the time. If you’re a restaurant and sharing about your specials for the week, snap a pic of a featured dish or of the crowd there enjoying a meal.

For this photo, I used natural light and staged Freedom Soaps products with some seasonal items to make it more personal and highlight their use of natural ingredients.

remove clutter from the background

Do you have a busy background in your photo? A good clean background draws the viewer’s attention to whatever you’re wanting them to focus on. Maybe it’s a picture of you working. If you’re in your office and there are papers all over the desk, they will see that, not your pretty smiling face.

Making this simple change, can really alter the way a person sees a picture.

For this photo, I placed the flowers in front of Peak Season’s neutral outdoor sofa and removed all pillows to create a clean background. This photo ended up being the cover of their catalog since it portrayed the look and feel their audience really likes.

Does your business need professional photography?

Sometimes it’s hard to justify having professional photography for all of your social media posts, and it totally depends on the message you want to portray to your audience. Professional photography will elevate the look of your business and set you apart from the crowd. Plus, it’s one more thing you can take off of your plate.

Here at Focus Creative, we create a library of custom images for your business and plan + design your Instagram grid for you each month. All you have to do is pop in the content …. but that’s the easy part. No one knows your business better than you!