Local Guides Photo Tips:
Let me introduce myself, my name is Brian and I am a Level 8 Local Google Guide. I wanted to take some time to share some of what I have found to help me get some good photos published on Google Maps. I do have a Photo Degree from Brooks Institute pf Photography in Santa Barbara, CA, and I figured that a little guide would be a good post for me and might help some others as well…
Focus:
Obviously the first step in taking a good photo is to focus proprely. This rule comes into play in two key areas. With today’s modern phone cameras and DSLR cameras you now have the option of variable focus. Make sure that the subject of your photo is in focus. With a phone camera this typically means touching your main subject on the screen of your phone when framing your shot to select the focus. With a DSLR camera this could be due to your focus matrix being set on the incorrect region of your photo or your focus itself. Also with a DSLR camera your depth of field may not be large
enough. Stop down on the aperture to include more of your photo in focus. With most SLR and DSLR cameras you can’t see this added focus range in real time. A good rule of thumb is that your depth of field expands with smaller apertures and that it expands more the smaller the aperture. Depth of field range is typically one third depth in front of the focal plane and two thirds behind the plane.
Example of selective focus…
Saturate Your Colors:
One of the ways to saturate your colors is to slightly underexpose your photos. Make sure that you can see just a little detail in the shadows and that the photo is bright enough, but not too bright. Making the photo a little darker then lighter will typically saturate your colors better. You can always use a filter in editing software, including Google Photos or Google Snapseed to brighten the photo a little after the fact. This gives you both a good range of color and brightness for the best shot possible. To get this saturation try using a manual or pro setting on your DSLR or phone camera:
Example of underexposure…
Use Software Filters for a Little Mood:
Don’t hesitate to jazz up your photos a little bit with a filter or adjustment with Google Photos or Google Snapseed. Don’t make your photo crazy as you are trying to represent the business or item as true as possible on Google Maps, but it doesn’t hurt to use some creativity either. Using a nice Black & White filter sometimes can look nice:
Example of a Black & White filter application…
Use long exposures if needed:
It might become necessary to carry a small lightweight tripod with you, especially at night. Also available for cell phones are brackets that hold your phone and attach to the tripod head so you can use your phone on a tripod. Added color saturation is always front and center when shooting at night, but you still need a decent exposure for the details. Also, effects like the ones created with this fountain are possible when not ‘freezing’ the water with a fast
shutter speed:
Example of water blur with long exposure…
Example of a moving flag during a long exposure…
Perspective:
This is a huge one when doing building and location photos for inclusion on Google Maps. As you shoot down or shoot up at square items or cross items, how square you keep your camera to the subject can make a large difference as to whether the horizontal or vertical lines diverge or converge in comfortable ways to the eye. Keeping your camera square to the subject can go a long way to composing a pleasing photo. Do the best you can to keep the horizontal and vertical lines in your subject as parallel to the upper, lower or sides of your camera frame edges as possible. Often times this just means keeping your camera at a 90 degree square angle to the ground or center of gravity. To adjust your composition, you may need to raise or lower the camera while still keeping it square to the subject or ground. Notice the vertical edges in the books below in conjunction to other horizontal lines in the shot, specifically the shelving:
Example of square horizontal and vertical lines in the subject in relation to the edges of
the photo framing…
I hope that some people can find some value in this little pointers. Anything that I can share with the community is good and I hope that this topic was a good one to select. Good luck shooting and may you all get the number one shots you’re going for…
- Brian