The iPhone continues to be one of the most popular smartphones on the market and with its simple powerful interface that popularity is much deserved. But, even with a simple design, the iPhone packs a powerful camera that delivers quality images in an easy to use interface. Here are a few tips to help you get the best looking photos out of the camera you always have with you.
1. The Rule of Thirds – Don’t put your subject smack dab in the middle of your shot. It’s boring. If you’re shooting your son playing soccer, for example, don’t have him running right on the far right side of the picture leaving dead space behind him. Instead, place him on the left side of the image and have him run through the frame.
2. HDR – High Dynamic Range is essentially allowing your camera to shoot and combine two images which helps lighten shadows and reduce overexposure. Usually this works out nicely giving you a natural looking image but occasionally especially with fast moving subjects it can produce less than desirable results.
3.Post Processing – Fixing images after shooting is normal for modern digital photographers and even traditional film photographers will fix problems in their photos. iPhone photos are no different. The app store is saturated with photo editing apps but the most useful one I have found is Snapseed. In Snapseed you can adjust exposure, white balance, crop, spot adjust, and add filters. It’s basically what the Photoshop iOS app should be. Just be careful, don’t overdo it.
4. Digital Zoom – The best zoom is your feet. Digital zoom is the same as cropping the image after you have already taken the picture so avoid it at all costs. It is better to take the full resolution image and then crop than to have a low quality photo that you can’t do anything with.
5. Clean the lens! Protect it. If your iPhone is like mine it’s in my pocket, in my workout armband, in the kitchen, and basically everywhere. Having a case that protects the lens can make a world of difference in how your photos turn out. Those small scratches, dirt particles, and smudges all degrade image quality so it’s best to clean the lens occasionally to get the most out of your camera. If you can, use a microfiber cloth, if you don’t have one use something lint free that will not smudge your lens. A soft shirt or works nicely.
Bonus Tip: Challenge yourself to take photos everyday. Even if you have no desire to be a professional photographer you can improve your photo taking abilities by actively looking for shots. Your Instagram followers will thank you. 🙂
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