5 Tips For Quick iPhone Photography

Written by: Marguerite Bysshe

The holidays can be filled with a lot of time to hang out with family and friends, which is fun and exciting, but can also be a stressful time to get the perfect picture. The snow and the cold weather (aka sweater weather) makes the perfect backdrop for a photoshoot with your best friend. With your family, there’s also a lot of pressure to get some good pictures, given that this could be the one time of year everyone gets together. No matter what your plans are for the holidays, I guarantee these tips can help you out one way or another.

Lighting: In the world of iPhone photography, one of the most helpful features is the sliding exposure. Most people know that they can tap on someone’s face to get it to brighten up against a tricky background, but did you know you can actually control how bright things are? Tap on a part of your screen, either the background or the focus point and look for a small sun attached to a bar next to the box that will show what is in focus. By dragging the sun up and down, you can change how dark the image is. This is especially useful when you have an overexposed (very bright) background such as snow or a window. By tapping on the background and dragging the sun down, you are bringing the brightness of the background down, making the picture look darker, but putting your focus in a better light.  

Rule of thumb: If your background is too bright, tap on it and drag the sun down, even if it looks too dark. If you’re in a darker setting and need to see the background, tap on your foreground or focus point and drag the sun down.

2. Framing: Nobody likes a photo where they don’t look good. To avoid generally bad angles, take the photo from slightly lower than your chest. If you’re tall, bend down a little and try to angle the phone up slightly. Your focus point should almost always be centered in your frame.

Rule of thumb: I know you’ve probably heard about the rule of thirds or seen some cute pictures of your friends standing all the way to the side of the frame on Instagram. Don’t do this! Centering your focus point makes editing easier and will look better in family scrapbooks and collages. Keep it simple.

3. Position of Light: A backlit photo occurs when there is an excess of light behind your subject, such as a window or the sun. Whenever possible, try to angle the people in your picture so that the sun is shining on them head on or that window is in front of them. If you do run into a situation where your photos are coming out a little backlit, use the trick from Step 1 and tap on the background and slide the sun down.

Rule of thumb: Don’t pose in front of a window.

4.Editing: Instagram has a surprisingly great editing software built into it. Try to pull away from filters! You can use the editing tab to really edit your picture to look the way you want it. In general, you can lighten up your focus point by raising the highlights and you can raise brightness of the background by lowering the shadows. I usually lower the brightness just slightly before anything else and add some fade at the end. Be careful with structure and vignette as they tend to seem out of place and can ruin a photo really fast. If you don’t have Instagram, there are hundreds of photo editing apps that you can get for free. Aviary is basic and a good place to start.

Rule of thumb: Don’t be afraid to experiment and edit multiple copies! However, sometimes it’s better to keep things moderate and light, as much as you want to over saturate everything.

5.Take Multiple Photos: This seems like such a simple thing, but I guarantee it will save you one day. Taking a picture for a nice couple in front of a pretty view? Take five. Your BFF wants a picture with her dog? Better take at least 50. People will always be able to find something wrong with a picture, so having options when posting is crucial.

Rule of thumb: Really try not to compromise on this one. There’s nothing worse than leaving a family party and not having a single good picture on your phone because your grandma only took one of you and your sister. Just take a bunch.

These tips are in no way the rules of photography. Photography is all about being creative and taking chances. Hopefully, however, you can use these tips to make your pictures look the best they can be. Happy shooting!

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