You ever notice how beginners in photography act like there’s this magical rulebook you have to follow? Like if you don’t obey every single rule, the photo is going to explode or something. And then there’s the other side—people who just throw the rules out the window entirely. “Who needs focus? ISO? Aperture? Pfft!” Yeah, that works great… until your family reunion photo looks like a Jackson Pollock painting. There’s a balance, people. A middle ground between “I am the king of photography rules” and “I have no idea what I’m doing, but I like it.”
And here’s the thing—Conrad Hall, a big deal in photography, once said, “Contrast is what makes photography interesting.” I think what he really meant was, “Stop taking boring pictures of your cat sitting on the couch at 2 PM with no light.” When we stop treating photography like some math equation, we actually start having fun—and maybe even making photos people want to look at.
So how do we make photos interesting? Let’s start with composition. Move your subject off-center. Put them over there… over there… not dead center. Give the eye something to do! Or focus on something unexpected. Why is there a random banana in the corner of this shot? Who knows, but your brain’s going to linger a little longer. Try arranging objects in a circle or a triangle—it’s like geometry class but actually fun. Lay down on the ground, stick the camera in the grass, pretend you’re a lawn gnome—it makes everything look cooler. Slow down your shutter speed a little—suddenly that guy running looks like he’s flying through the air. And lenses… oh, the lenses. Ultra-wide, tilt-shift, super-zoom—each one feels like a magic wand that turns a “meh” scene into something kind of wild.
Lighting! Don’t get me started on lighting. Shoot during golden hour—sunrise or sunset. Boom. Instantly cinematic. Shoot at night and let city lights do the work—you’re suddenly mysterious and edgy. Put a lamp in your living room and just move it around—watch your shadows dance like they’re in some avant-garde play. Shadows! They’re like the mystery element of photography. Nobody knows where they’re going, but suddenly it’s interesting.
Here’s the kicker—rules are there, but guess what? You can bend them. Break them. Stretch them like silly putty. Take a lot of photos. You can edit them later, sure, but if the photo’s bad to begin with, no filter is going to save it. The best shots are the ones that barely need editing. It’s like cooking—you can put spices on it, but if the chicken is raw, it’s still a problem.
So go out there, take risks, try weird angles, let shadows be dramatic, blur stuff, focus on strange things… basically just do anything that makes you say, “Huh. That’s kinda cool.” That’s photography. That’s fun. And that’s how you stop taking pictures that make people go, “Oh… neat.” and start taking pictures that make them say, “Whoa. What the heck is that? I like it.”