These three things make you look like an amateur photographer

Your camera, even your phone camera, does a great job of taking pictures. In fact everyone can take great pictures now. Or can they? There are a few dead giveaways that you’re not as good as you imagine. Sure the camera can set the exposure, even give nice color and contrast. But it can’t compose the shot and it doesn’t know what you’re trying to take a photo of. That’s on you.

Mistake 1

The first giveaway in any landscape shot-no matter how amazing that sunset was- is the horizon. Nothing gets me seasick quite like looking at wonky horizons. Water in the shot? Looks like it wants to spill out. You don’t even have an excuse for this. Your camera probably has a horizon level you can turn on. Even your phone has one that will vibrate when you’re level.

Mistake 2

The next giveaway? Putting your subject in the middle. Stop. It’s so bad. Even without discussing a single thing about composition, why would you chop a person in half and leave an empty sky above them? Or put the horizon in the middle. Usually the sky is great or the sky is bad, so include more or less of it to make for a better photo. Learn basic composition principles like the Rule of Thirds, using leading lines and the strength of curves and diagonals.

Mistake 3

The final giveaway is added saturation. Yes, some scenes do need a hint of contrast and saturation to make them pop, but not that much. It’s like having chips with your sauce. Sauce is great. But it’s not the meal. Go easy on it. In fact, some photographers do the exact opposite and remove a little saturation. Often they’ll increase contrast (which also increases saturation), and then remove saturation for a more muted effect.

Stop doing these three things and your photos will look much better.