<p> Practical Photography Tips 1. CROP YOUR PHOTOS</p><p>It’s important to draw the viewer’s eye in on the subject of the photo. Cropping can help you do that. For example, here’s a photo that has too much clutter in the foreground which causes your eye to be pulled away from the beauty of the picture.</p><p>Much improvement after the crop:</p><p>Here’s another example: Practical Photography Tips</p><p>2.USE THE “BEAUTY SHOT”</p><p>Here is the set-up: Practical Photography Tips</p><p>Tape a sheet of white tissue paper on a window which sets up a white background and blocks direct sun. Then, push your table up right next to the tissue paper. Lay out a sheet or two of tin foil on the table – I put the shiny side up. Now you’re all ready to shoot. If you’re not able to get the perfect look right out of the camera, try editing your photos with a program like Adobe Lightroom or on PicMonkey. 3. USE LONG PHOTOS INSTEAD OF WIDE PHOTOS</p><p>See how the longer picture shows up larger on the boards?</p><p>4. DECLUTTER THE BACKGROUND TO DRAW ATTENTION TO THE SUBJECT</p><p>When you’re taking a picture, take a second to check out the background to make sure it won’t pull your attention away from what’s important. Practical Photography Tips For example, the background in this photo is way too cluttered.</p><p>Pull your subject away from the clutter and the picture will look cleaner and more professional.</p><p>Another way to declutter the background is to use a large piece of poster board to pull the focus more on the subject. Practical Photography Tips</p><p>Put the poster board behind your subject thus helping the picture appear to be cleaner and more focused on the subject (for more ideas using the foam board and easy backgrounds read this or this post).</p><p>And here is the resulting picture:</p><p>5. TAKE PICTURES IN GOOD LIGHTING Practical Photography Tips Many people work on projects at night when they have a few minutes free. But when it comes to taking pictures, wait until daytime when you have good lighting. That may be tough but it will make a huge difference in your photos. Here are some examples of photos taken at night using a flash vs. photos taken during the day without a flash:</p>