When you are an amateur photographer it can be a daunting new hobby, and when your Instagram feed is flooded with the best of the best it's easy to get down on yourself. The truth though is that everyone started somewhere and photography is a continuous growth process. Through practice, practice and more practice you'll get there!  

SHOOT IN NATURAL LIGHT. Unless you are a master at flash photography or only interested in studio photography this obviously won't apply to you, but shooting in the right natural light is the easiest step to taking professional looking photographs. Avoiding overhead, fluorescent and incandescent lighting (basically any lamps, indoor lights, etc) will help you banish ugly shadows and coloring. By shooting in soft natural light you will get bright, evenly lit photos without any nasty shadows. Overcast or morning and evening light works best! If you are indoors moving close to windows for as much natural light as possible and NEVER mix lighting temperatures, so turn off all of the other lightings in your home.

DECLUTTER YOUR BACKGROUND. The easiest way to look like an amateur is to neglect your background. It's important that you not only focus on the subject but what is around them as well. Make sure there is no clutter, distracting items or background elements that are interfering with your subject. No one wants to see a tree growing out the back of someone's head or a rubbish bin in the distance. Having a busy background causes people's eyes to jump around a photo instead of focusing on what is important. 

FOLLOW THE RULE OF THIRDS. Having a strong understanding of the basic compositional elements is a huge must. The most obvious one is understanding the rule of thirds. Now some people may do this naturally without even realizing, but the rule of thirds is all about your framing and the balance of an image. 

EARN BASIC EDITING. It's also important that you also have a basic understanding of editing. Honestly, rarely these days is it that you get a perfect image straight out of the camera, especially as a beginner. Most of the popular or viral images you see have been extensively edited. People may see this as "cheating" or "unnatural" but the truth is photography has always been altered, even in the film days our images were manipulated in the darkroom through dodging and burning. Don't think of it as cheating but more of a useful tool to help elevate your work. Start by learning how to change your exposure, fix coloring, and adjust your contrast. A great way to teach yourself is through Youtube tutorials.

SHOOT IN RAW. The biggest mistake you can make as a beginner is to think that you don't need to be shooting in RAW. RAW is a large file format you can program your camera to shoot in through the menu settings. Yes, JPEGs save space because they are smaller, but they are just that. Having a smaller file format gives you less information to work with and shortens your leeway for mistakes. As a beginner, you are bound to over or underexpose your images and by shooting in RAW you are better able to save these images.