Here's 3 simple tips for any one to follow in order to really boost your photographs and give them a professional edge.
1. Lighting!
Golden hour is well known amongst photographers - before the sun sets and just after it rises, it creates beautiful soft lighting. As you can see below in the photograph I took yesterday late afternoon of little Tuppence. The lighting is warm and creates a vibrance of colours.
2. Get too close for comfort!
Getting up a bit closer really helps to define details in a picture and stops any distracting backgrounds. Another option is using an editor (you can do this on instagram - using the tilt shift option when you click edit) to blur out the background to draw more attention to your subject. Always focus on the eyes when photographing an animal or person.
3. Set up, Look & Angles!
Don't just snap away with out a thought, look at what is on your screen before you take the image. It's fantastic that we have the opportunity to take hundreds of photos - but this does influence laziness. Don't be lazy! Really play with angles, I always like to get to the same height as the animals I photograph and film instead of looking down on them.
Most importantly just have fun with it and look at how those photos that make you go 'Woah!' are put together - what's the lighting like? what's the angle like? What's going on in the frame and is the background blurry (shallow depth of field)? I hope these tips help and happy picture taking!