5 Tips for Better iPhone Photography

Naturally, I’ve been using my phone WAY more to take pictures since Duke has arrived. I think all mama’s do that, right? Everyone wants great pictures of their everyday life; whether that be the kids, a selfie when the two of your are on date night, the hikes we go on, etc. Although the iPhone X hasn’t arrived in our household yet (and maybe not yours, either!)  there are still ways to get great photos with your iPhone or other phone. Here are a few tips for you to take better pictures, along with some of my iPhone pictures.

1. Wipe the Lens. This is SO important! Oftentimes we place our phone on dirty surfaces, or we touch our camera lens with dirty fingers. It can get foggy without us even realizing it. Wipe the lens with a clean finger or your shirt and you’re well on your way to a better picture!
   

   I added brightness, contrast, and saturation to this image of Duke’s Beach House in Maui

2. Find Good Light. Soft, diffused light is best. If your indoors, find a place that is well lit with natural light. If it’s dark inside, step into the shadows but have the subject face the light. Outdoors, try to find shade first; if that doesn’t exist, face the sunlight. You don’t want to be half in the shadows half in the sun, and you don’t want the sun to hit the lens directly or you’ll deal with flare. 
3. Set the focus. The camera exposes for the focus point. If you’re outdoors, click on the faces so the focus is there (or whatever the subject is). If you’re taking a picture of the sunset, you’ll want to click on the sky or else it will expose for something else and the sky will be washed out. 
   

   I had to focus on the sunset, then brought up the shadows in an editing app.

4. Keep the camera steady. You don’t want blurry pictures! I try to hold it with two hands when possible.
5. Edit them. You’ll probably want to adjust the brightness, contrast, shadows, and saturation. the iphone editor is fine for this, but there are lots of apps that offer filters (although I think more natural always looks better!)  Blurry or grainy photos look good when they’re converted to black and white. My favorite editing app is Filmborn; it’s only available on iPhones. 
   

   It was dark and this picture was grainy, so it looks much better in black and white!

There you go! Hopefully these will help you take better pictures of the everyday moments you treasure so much 🙂