Probably the 100000001th post about it, but this time something different. How to make your photos review pop.
1 Tell a story
Tell a small story in pictures about the place. This can be done in 3-5 pictures. Choose several of the following sort of picture;
A A picture of the entrance/exterior, with or without a terrace. This photo must be recognisable when you walk past.
B An overview of the inside, wether the location is empty or completely full. Both give a good impression of the location. Try to catch the ambience of the location. Sometimes an overview of all the tables works, other times only a small cosy couch and chairs will do the job.
C Make a picture of the food they serve, or how they serve drinks
D Photos of unique details throughout the location will also add ambiance to your photo sorts. For example, the bar, unique gimmicks
E Written menu’s on chalkboards
2 Choose the style of your photo
Choose the style of your photo wisely. Sometimes you cannot fit the ambiance in one picture, because you need a wide angle lens. Not a problem with the Google Camera app, or some camera apps from other brands. With panoramic photos you get wide angle shots. In this way the room will fit in your picture. But don’t add too much. The less you tell in your picture, the cleaner it looks, the stronger your photo story gets. Also photospheres van help. But don’t overdo it. One photosphere, or one or two panoramas are mostly enough in a review.
3 The best zoom is…
Most smartphones only have digital zoom. Mostly this is useless. But there is a way to get a close up! Just get closer to your subject ;). I agree, this is not always possible. At least try to get as close as possible. But keep it legal.
You can crop the picture afterwards. It’s mostly better than zoom in. Because when editing your picture afterwards, you also have the room to rotate it if necessary.
4 Edit your picture
Edit your picture before uploading. You can use the editor inside Google Maps. Brighten up your picture make it often more pop out. This is the easiest edit. Change shadows and contrast, but don’t overdo it.
5 Add a small description.
People want to read the description.
6 Add your photos inside your written review.
When reading reviews, it’s easy to click on the added photos. Adding pictures later on, won’t add them to your review.
7 Think before you take the picture
What do you want to tell? It helps you making the picture. Do you want to tell a clean story because the location looks tidy. Or is it a mess and you want to show the mess? Is the location big and you want to show all the tables in one picture, or is it a very cosy place and you only want to show a cosy corner?
8 Make a strong selection
Make the selection of your photos wisely. Don’t overlap, but use different photos. The less and more unique photos you have, the more they pop and the higher the views.