To find the perfect angle, Yüyan said to start by considering the ways 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."
I thought this was an important point that 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 when photographing a child, an angle looking down at the kid will typically come out flat and boring. 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's example reminded me of how I photograph my small dog when we're outside. When I take pictures of her from above or straight on, I find that I can't get a sense of her expression or personality, which makes the picture look boring to me.
But when I've gotten below her and snapped the picture while aiming up, I can see her exploratory nature and the way she uses her environment to feel bigger, like perching on top of a rock on the edge of a creek.