Every day technology is advancing. Phones are getting smarter and their cameras are getting better.
To take advantage of the cameras that we have on our mobile devices, we need to know how to best use the camera. I’d like to tell you about some very simple (some might say obvious) tips that will nonetheless improve the results from your iPhone camera hugely!
Exposure/Focus Lock
With the camera open, press and hold on your screen to lock focus and exposure. When this is done, you can even slide you finger up and down on the screen to adjust brightness.
This can come in handy for taking control of your camera’s auto-exposure or pre-setting your focus distance ahead of time for quick shots where you might not have time to focus.
For this image my phone wasn’t able to focus on the single blade of grass, so I put my hand next to the blade of grass, locked focus on my hand, and then took the shot.
Get A Lower Angle
When people try to take a photo from a low angle with their iPhone, it usually looks like this:
That looks okay, but maybe even a lower angle would look better?
To get this this low, all you have to do is flip your phone upside down. This gets your camera several inches lower to the ground.
Your photo is upside down Rotate it later.
Off Camera Lighting
Sometimes your photos need some extra light. When they do, most people usually use the built in flash on their phone, but that doesn’t look all that great. Light that directly hits the front of your subject isn’t always the most flattering light.
You want the light to hit your subject from a different angle. When this is needed, all you have to do is grab a friend, have them turn their phone’s flashlight on, and use that at your source of light!
This photo is shot with just natural light:
I actually like that photo a lot, but some people might want something different.
This photo is shot using light from another phone:
See the difference?
I think people really under estimate the power of the iPhone as a tool for photography. I’m not saying it’s an amazing camera or that I’m going to sell all my expensive photography gear and just shoot with my iPhone, but it does get the job done.
