Transforming ordinary moments into winning shots

Being my mother’s daughter, and my mom having been a photographer, you could say I am a photography enthusiast. In fact, I’ve just gotten a camera tattoo! I grew up in front of cameras and, during my teenage years, I was a fashion model for about 5 years. Now, I enjoy getting creative with my shots and have a lot of fun editing and combining filters.

I feel comfortable in front of the camera and, for lack of having others around (shoutout to the pandemic), I’ve mostly photographed myself or my cat. My approach to photography is based on visual feeling and attempting to find unusual angles. I enjoy capturing daily moments and I like taking selfies just like the next gal.

My tips and tricks for posing

As a former model, I like to think that I was able to learn a thing or two when it comes to posing. Here are my tips:

Get comfortable with the camera. The more you photograph yourself (and pose for others), the more comfortable you’ll become with the camera. It can be intimidating or just plain weird to look at the camera, but feeling at ease will greatly improve the quality of the photo. I was lucky that my mom photographed me lots when growing up, so I basically just imagined my mom behind the camera when I was in professional photoshoots. It definitely helps if you click with the photographer :)

Don’t get too comfortable with your pose. This may sound contradictory, but if your pose feels too comfortable, it might not look the greatest in the photo. Putting your chin up, slightly bending your arms, subtle movements are some tricks when it comes to posing. Sometimes I’d swear I looked super awkward, but these were often the winning shots.

Experiment, experiment, experiment. Try different poses, even if it feels unnatural (even if people in the street are staring at you). Play with your facial and corporal expressions in front of the mirror. Have fun experimenting!

My tips for shooting

Take lots of shots with minor variations. Thankfully, our digital cameras allow us to take an (almost) endless amount of photos very quickly. I’ll typically photograph the same subject in sequence, with very minor variations. For example: If I am photographing a person, I’ll ask her to look at the side, then to shift her face towards me, then away again, etc. This is a good trick as we often tend to want to change small details in great pictures (and it would be a shame to miss a great shot because there was a minor weird detail on it).

Get inspired. I keep different folders on my Instagram with saved posts from different destinations and poses. This can be a great source of reference until you find what really works for you.

The editing process (the most fun or most annoying part, depending on your personality)

Be patient. Just like minor details greatly influence a picture, minor edits can make or break a photo. Take it slowly, play around with different filters and adjust things like brightness, contrast and saturation. My personal favourite is adding “Fade” to give the picture a bit of a mysterious, softer look.

Edit with Foodie. Originally meant to edit food photos, this app offers a wide range of free filters that work for many different types of pictures. I typically play around with different filters (ME2 and RO3 are some of my favorites), adjust the brightness, and add some fade and grain to give it some depth. Sometimes I’ll also add the “dust” to complement the picture. You can even save your own 'recipe' to use your customized filter again!

Go a step further with Canva. The free version gives you a lot to experiment with. If you are looking to create some content for your Instagram or blog, you can easily leverage their templates and elements to create a compelling photo.

Overall, the most important is to have fun and enjoy the process. You'll improve your skills the more you practice and will eventually find your own style!