Overhead photography is an easy way to explore the qualities of shape and color in cell phone photography. Taking overhead pictures is an easy way to tell a story or to create a simple view. Using these tips, you will be able to expand your view as you try new angles of photography.
1- Scout Out a Background for Overhead Photography
The best way to begin overhead photography is to walk around the area you are going to shoot and see where to shoot. Do you have a wood floor that would be a great place to take the shot? Is the old wood table in your garage just rugged enough to make your picture look rustic? What does your counter look like? Take time to scout out a great background that could be the best place to take the picture. Originally, I thought that I needed to create my own backgrounds, but I looked outside on my porch and found an old bench that had peeling paint that worked perfectly.
2- Gather Props
Look around your house for little props that will make your images look better. If you are doing food photography, bright or decorative plates work great as props. Also salt and pepper shakers or kitchen utensils are great to add color and shape to the image. After you gather the props, place them on the shooting surface and see how they would look in overhead photography by placing the phone above you.
3-Tell a Story
The next step in overhead photography is to think about the story you are trying to tell. Are you trying to show where and what did on your summer vacation? Gather the all objects from your trip. If you went to the beach it may be shells, maps, or a travel journal you used from the vacation. Take the most important object and place it so that it is the main feature of the story.
You may want to tell a story of fun events you went on by showing different items of color that you enjoyed over the summer. You could make a color specific theme showing popsicles, sunglasses, toys, and other meaningful objects.
4- Leave White Space
When taking pictures using overhead photography things can get cluttered and confusing easily. You can take many beautiful objects and suddenly it is distracting and hard to understand. Take time to play your layout so that there is enough white space to see and breathe in the image. Arrange the objects in a few different ways to create more white space. Do the objects need to be grouped together to look the best or more evenly spaced?
5- Use a Tripod for Better Overhead Photography
Trying to get an image flat with overhead shooting can be very challenging without a tripod. There are many options of tripods that will work to improve your image. If you don’t have much space and can place your phone above on a shelf or a bookshelf, small tight grip one tripod will work well. If you have a tripod you can get an attachable mobile phone mount that will help you take amazing pictures.
Try these tips to take great pictures and to share your stories on social media. Take your Instagram images to the next level with overhead photography. We would love to see what types of pictures you take. Please share your images by tagging us on #mobilepicx on Instagram or social media.
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