Most people use their cameras from standing and end up with the same photos as everyone else. Do you want your photos to stand out? Make your images more dynamic by using unique angles. Get down low or climb high to give your pictures some distinctive flair.
Looking Up
Taking photos from a low vantage point helps isolate your subject, and you can maneuver background distractions out of sight. When traveling, if you kneel so that your subject is above the lens, the statues and landmarks will be framed against the sky, and you’ll avoid seeing all the tourists in your photos. Impressive clouds can make an exciting addition to the image, but a cloudless, blue sky will also make for an effective background.
Looking Down
Subjects filled with detail, such as a crowded beach of holiday-makers, or a city square with all its traffic, are best taken from above if you want to impress upon the viewer how busy the scene was. In this case, the observer’s eye wanders from one item to another, covering the whole area progressively. It deliberately and effectively swamps the viewer with endless detail.
Familiar landmarks can take on a new twist when shot from above, so look around and try to gain access to buildings that overlook scenes most people are already familiar with. For smaller subjects, even climbing up some stairs or standing on top of a park bench can add an extra dimension of variety to a standard photo. Photos of groups of people can benefit from this treatment too. The strongest images are often photographed from a different point of view.