The latest pocket super computers from Apple feature improved cameras that can beat the pants off pretty much any dedicated point-and-shoot camera, and the iPhone, for the last couple years, has been the most popular camera in the world.
But these capable new cameras do not necessarily mean most people will instantaneously take better photos. Even the most sophisticated professional cameras will take crappy photos if you aren’t aware of photography basics. Using the front facing camera to snap a selfie in your unlit room to send to your ‘bae’ is fine, but to create an Instagram classic, or even a photo you want to print and frame, there are a few things you will want to keep in mind when using your iPhone for photography.
Here are five of the best tips I can share that will help bring your photography to a new level.
Frame Your Shot
It might seem like common sense, but it should be said nonetheless: the most important part of a photo is what’s in it. What might not be as obvious is that what’s not in the photo is just as important. To emphasize the subject of your photo (whether that’s a person, object, or scene), make sure it’s separate from, or enhanced by, its environment. Another aspect to give consideration is the amount of space your subject takes within the frame. Different amounts of space the subject takes in the frame can affect the perceived scale of both the scene and the subject, as well as the amount of emphasis put on it.
Keep in mind the rule of thirds. The iPhone makes this a snap, as you can turn on a rule of thirds grid in the Camera app by going to the Settings app, then Photos & Camera, and enabling the Grid switch. Photos that are taken with the focal point at one of the intersecting thirds lines tend to be more interesting than ones with the subject squarely in the middle.
iPhone cameras do not have an optical zoom, and pinching to zoom decreases the quality of the photo. A common phrase in photography is “zoom with your feet”, which means get physically closer to your subject in order to emphasize it, or to make sure you can even see it at all.
Better Exposure
The human eye is significantly better at seeing in low light than your iPhone’s camera, so you want to provide as much light as possible to keep your photos properly exposed and low on the image noise. A properly exposed photo is one that does not have any sections of the photo “blown out” (a blotchy white area), or underexposed (Dark areas where you can’t discern any detail). Image noise is the discoloration of pixels because the camera can’t tell what color it should be, so it tries to guess. This is what causes pictures to be pixellated and grainy.
Sunlight is plenty of light for an iPhone and is the most abundant source of light we have (you know, during the day). Make sure your subject isn’t facing away from the sun, as this will make the darker areas lose detail. HDR mode can compensate for this somewhat, but it’s best if you can get a proper exposure the old fashion way by having enough light in the first place.
You should also use whatever lights you have when daylight isn’t available. We talk about a budget-friendly way to get a more professional lighting setup below.
Accessorize
While you can often get a perfectly good photograph using just your camera and your hands, there are tools to help you get high quality images more consistently.
Since nothing is more stable than solid ground, let’s use that to our advantage by using a tripod. In order to use a tripod with your iPhone, you’ll need two things: the tripod itself, and a way to attach your device to it. While we here at DailyAppShow like to use Manfrotto tripod legs (Like the Manfrotto 055XPROB Pro), you can get started with Amazon’s AmazonBasics 60-Inch Lightweight Tripod.
Next, to attach your phone, you’ll need a tripod-compatible adapter. We like RetiCAM’s adapter for it’s solid aluminum build and easy to use mechanism. They also have an XL version* that’s compatible with the iPhone 6 Plus.
To give us more flexibility, the latest Olloclip has four lenses that help us achieve photos we otherwise couldn’t.Check out our video review of the Olloclip. With the Olloclip, you get a fisheye lens for ultra wide-angle views, a traditional wide-angle lens, and both a 10x and 15x macro lenses for the super tight-in shots.
To get more professional with your lighting, you can invest in a softbox. Softboxes create bright, even lighting that will go far to help properly expose your scene without any harsh highlights. LimoStudio has a basic softbox kit for only $32 (as of this writing) that has everything you need to get going.
Ditch The Camera App
While the built-in camera app is easy to use and probably the fastest with the lock screen shortcut, it’s fairly barebones. App developers are able to squeeze a whole lot more functionality out of the camera than the built-in app gives you. One of our favorite apps is ProCam 2, which gives you almost complete manual control over your camera, including focus and ISO, aspect ratio, resolution, and useful modes like anti-shake, face detector, and burst photo.
Edit Like a Pro
Now that we use an app that can take photos, we should then get our hands on an app that can make photos. You can’t rely on Instagram filters to make your photos great, and while iOS 8 brought with it a lot of improvements for editing photos directly in the photos app, we can still do so much more for a photo editing workflow.
Aviary is a free app with a ton of photo editing tools, and could very well be your one stop shop for getting your photos ready to share to the world. You can either let the app do the heavy lifting for you with one of the auto enhancing tools, or scroll through the tools list and edit specific aspects yourself. You can adjust things like lighting, color, sharpness, and vignettes; you can fix errors with tools for blemishes, redeye, and teeth whitening; or add things to your photos like text, drawings, effects, and frames. Aviary also has history support, so you can undo any changes.
We’re not averse to filters, but we find that a good rule of thumb is “less is more” when it comes to changing your photos. That’s why we like VSCOcam’s selection of photo filters, which adds a professional touch that doesn’t look heavy-handed.
