To find the perfect angle, Yüyan said to start by considering how shooting with a lightweight, thin object can open up the realm of possibilities.
“It becomes a habit to use the phone at just eye level, but if you watch someone who is good at selfies, you can see they are always moving the phone around — up, down, and around to try better angles,” he said. “The same applies to making any other kind of photo.”
This was an important point I’d never thought about before, but it left me wondering how to tell which angle makes the strongest shot.
“One good criterion is seeing how much depth an angle will show in a photograph,” Yüyan said.
For example, he said, if your subject is a child, pointing the camera down at the kid will typically result in a flat, boring image. It’s the angle we’re used to seeing, where the background is likely the floor. But shooting from beneath the child’s eye level, looking up, can show the layers of the person and whatever is above them.
“We rarely get down below a child’s height to look up at the world, and that perspective can be magical,” Yüyan said.
Yüyan’s example reminded me of how I photographed a small dog at parks around New York. When I took pictures of her from above or straight on, I couldn’t get a sense of her expression or personality.
But when I got below her and snapped the picture while aiming up, I could see her exploratory nature and how she uses her environment to feel bigger, like perching on a rock at the edge of a creek.