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One-Minute MarketerA New Angle of Phone Photography

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A New Angle of Phone Photography

I had the pleasure of addressing the Iowa County Conservation Commission’s annual conference. My topic was on how to improve smartphone photographs.73564cccb4af21fad396777039df77de

We all have a camera by our side at every moment, but few of us know the basic fundamentals of taking a well-composed and interesting shot. Even with the rule-of-thirds grid on most cameras, it’s hard to capture a new look or perspective on our lives.

One simple way to get that new perspective is what my first college photography professor called the “Worm’s Eye/Bird’s-Eye” approach.  Photos taken at our normal or standard height are just not interesting. We’ve already seen it.  As you can see from the demonstration photo in this blog, literally getting low, the level of a worm, can make for a dramatic, memorable photo that tells a story or is easy to illustrate a point you might be trying to make.  We already know how incredible drone shots look for the bird’s-eye version.

Now here is a simple trick: Turn your phone upside down so that the lens is toward the floor.  Just that small reset of the focal angle will dramatically change your shot and your perspective on the subject you’re shooting.  So the next time you hold your photo up to your face to get a shot, think worm’s-eye and bird’s-eye. It will give everyone a new perspective on photography.

Written by:

Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.