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Before we dig into this, I want to say that I actually already think your iPhone Photos are awesome.
To me, its not about how fancy a photo we take, or how technically perfect it is. Its that we pull out our camera and seek out things that inspire us.
This post isn’t actually about telling you what you are doing wrong.
It is about letting you know a few more tools you can do to make your photos shine.
Use the Camera included in the Phone (as opposed to an App)!
Apps are awesome. I wholeheartedly agree.
The challenge with Apps is that often they shrink down the quality of a photo. My preference for taking photos with my iPhone is to use the camera included in the phone as it will save the biggest file size. Not just that, but it actually has some great features that aren’t a part of Apps (and yes, I’ll spill all those tricks in this post)!
I usually tend to shoot in the in-phone Camera and then import it to whichever App I’d like to process it in! This gives us the greatest creative control over our photo.
Not just that, but often the photo is taking much quicker using this camera. Have you tried an app that feels like an old school point and shoot, taking forever to take the photo? Especially if you’re trying to take a photo of motion, using this camera allows us to capture the photo much quicker (which might be exactly what you need to capture that one photo you love.
Explore Focus & Exposure in your iPhone!
You might already know this one, but when you touch the screen when in Camera Mode, you control both focus & exposure! Yes, we can totally just hold our camera up and take the photo without choosing to play around with the focus & exposure, but it can be oh so fun and make our photo even stronger to do so! To play around with this, just touch the screen at different spots and see what happens.
A big part of the exposure of a photo on our iPhone is how it interprets light and dark in our photo. To get to know this aspect of our iPhone camera even more, play around with touching really exposed parts (like the sky in a photo) or really dark parts (like a shadow) and see how it alters the photo as a whole! If I’m looking to find something in a photo to define the exposure for it, I’ll often choose something in between light & dark, between black & white…often touching something on your screen that is green allows for a great exposure.
Again, there is absolutely no need to do this in order to take a great photo, but it allows us just a bit more control which can help take a photo from something that we ‘like’ to a photo we ‘love’!
Use the AutoFocus feature
Now, there is an awesome feature to your iPhone camera that is really subtle (oh how I wish they boldly told you it was there). It is the AutoFocus feature.
Here’s how it works. If you put you put your finger on the screen of your in-phone camera you will see a yellow box appear where you are touching it and telling it to focus. That itself is awesome and is the way to get a ‘DSLR-like’ photo with great aperture and blur in the background!
You can take it a step further and keep holding your finger there and what will likely appear is a little yellow rectangle saying ‘AF Lock’. When that appears you have now locked in your focus. This is SO fun as it allows you to move the camera around without having the focus change. This can be great for getting Macro Photos and also for experimenting with doing intentional blur!
Explore both the Front & Back Facing Cameras.
You might already know this too, but those cameras on the front and back of your phone…they aren’t made equally!
The one that faces you as you are looking at the camera (and makes it easier to take arms length self-portraits) well, unfortunately, that one isn’t nearly as good quality as the one that faces outwards!
Normally, I still use the lesser quality camera but if you are finding that you’d like an even better quality photo (less noise or a less grainy look to it) try using that other camera! If you had (or still have) an old school 3G iPhone, you’re probably well skilled at taking photos (and self-portraits) using that camera anyways.
Just something to remember if you’d like the up the quality of the photo!
Get that Phone Outside (and learn about light)!
This might be the most important one. Photography is all about light and when we are shooting our photos indoors, we simply don’t have as much light to work with.
When we get outside with our iPhone, our photos will just naturally be a better quality…and that might make all the difference in how we feel about the photo!
Not only that, but when we take photos & self-portraits outside, we get to learn more about the ever-changing, incredible world of natural light (if you’d like to learn more, the Light Hunters class is all about just that..exploring & falling in LOVE with Light)!
Look into the Lens!
I think often when taking self-portraits this can make such a big difference in how we see ourselves in a photo. Yes, the lens on an iPhone is little and hard to notice sometimes, but when we look into it…we engage in our photo.
That little detail often makes SUCH a big difference!
Explore HDR
I thought HDR was kind of cheesy (and still think it is sometimes) but that HDR feature on your iPhone…its actually really cool. It takes 2 photos at a time and then layers them to make your photo even crisper, even richer.
This can be so fabulous for landscape & outdoor photos but it can also be amazing for self-portraits and portraits too. It also saves 2 photos to you camera (so you can always pick the non-HDR photo if you’d like) so you have lots of options. Using it regularly does make our storage fill up quicker (as there are double the photos) but often it is SO worth it! It does a way better job than the ‘HDR-ish’ feature on Instagram so if you have preconceived notions of HDR being cheesy (like I did) I recommend putting them aside for a bit and getting playful with this feature as it has helped me take even stronger photos!
Find What ‘Grip’ Works for You!
Another reason we might not love a photo is if it is a bit out of focus. Often that can simply be that our hands shake as we are holding it. So taking a bit to ponder what kind of camera grip works best for us can really help that.
Do you want to hold it with one hand and click the shutter with the other?
Do you want to hold it so you can press the shutter with the volume button (and did you know that was an option)?
There are lots of different ways to grip your camera to make it more stable for you (and you can also get a small tripod for it if that helps too).
Put Your Camera Down and Step into the Frame!
With any camera, including an iPhone, being behind the photo is oh so fun…but when we step in front of the screen something powerful happens. We can be both the photographer and the subject.
Taking arms length photos is fun & fabulous but when we set a timer (like using the Gorillacam App for iPhone) we get to let go of the camera and let our whole selves into the photo. For me this was pivotal in terms of using self-portraiture as tool for healing body image. Letting go of the camera allowed me to really be in my body and take a moment to ground, or move. This made ALL the difference in the way I saw my photo.
Oh, and I know this an iPhone-focused post, but for those of you with Android Phones, you actually don’t need an Android version of Gorillacam as there is actually a built in timer! I don’t know all the features of Androids (as I don’t have one) but from helping people learn about their Androids in workshops this fall, I discovered that there are a lot more amazing features to your phones too than you might know…be sure to check the settings button to see what awesome features your phone has!
Use it to its Capacity (and Take LOTS of photos)
Yes, you might be thinking…if I just get the newest iPhone, that will have me able to take better photos! While it is true that the camera in the iPhone improves with every version of it, if we focus on the quality of the camera as being the only thing that takes a good photo, we are wrong…you take a great photo.
So with all camera gear including iPhones, I think there is great value in using it to its capacity. Get to know all these features, take lots and lots and lots of photos, keep shooting, keep experimenting, keep learning about light, keep getting outside, keep seeking new things to capture, keep turing the camera on YOU to tell your story.
The more photos we take, the more we will get that one we love. If we discount our skill or our value on just one photo (espeically when in comes to self-portraiture), we miss out on the opportunity to keep developing our photographic eye!
Yay! I hope that makes you want to run outside right now & experiment with your iPhone! If you do, be sure to tag #beyourownbeloved on Instagram if it is a self-portrait or tag me @viviennemcm to see a photo inspired by this post (as I’d love to cheer you on)!
Happy iPhone Adventuring!
Oh…and if you are interested in learning more about taking better photos with your DSLR too, come check out the Beloved Camera E-Book!
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