Tips for taking better phone pictures

Hello there!How was your week? Mine was pretty good! This past weekend I took an amazing Photography class in Ft Collins with some teacher from Rocky Mountain School of Photography and boy did I learn A TON! I am so inspired and excited to take my new-found knowledge and apply it to photography. With that said, I wanted to share with you some small ways to apply what I learned to taking photos with my phone. Today I wanted to share with you some tips about taking better photos on your smart with our phones. Before I start showing you some examples, I want to share some do’s and don’ts:

1. Don't: Over process your photos meaning, don’t add A TON of contrast and be tasteful with your filter. You’ll want the colors to be bright and pretty true, especially when there are people in the photo. True skin color is important. *Do: use some good editing apps. I find the best editing apps are VSCO and Afterlight. You can find those in the App Store 
2. Don't :take a photo in direct sunlight (this is usually when the sun is high in the sky). This may cause washed out colors or if you’re taking photos of people you’ll get squinty eyes or dark shadows in their eye sockets and under their noses. *Do: The best way to take the best picture at this time of day is to find some shade under a tree or by a building. 
3. Don't: Take photos in Tungsten light and fluorescent light. If you encounter it, make sure to white balance your photo by adding some blue or yellow to them in Instagram or another editing app. Tungsten needs blue white balancing and Fluorescent needs yellow white balancing. *Do: Ultimately the best light is natural sunlight so if you’re inside, find a window to take a picture next to.
4. Don't: To get a different or creative photo, pay attention to your angles. When taking a photo of a person, usually one of the worst angles is from below because they have to look down at you causing you to look up their nose and see a double chin. If you're taking a picture of an object make sure the lines of the object or the lines behind the object (could be a fence or a wall or the sidewalk) are all straight. *Do: Taking a picture of a person needs to be at eye level or slightly higher. If you move your phone up then it causes them to open their eyes a little more. When it comes to an object, try different angles. The most common right now is placing the object on a table and taking the photo from above.
5. Dont: Taking a picture at night can cause a lot of grain and noise and we tend to want to use our camera flash. If the moment is fleeting and really important then, by all means, use your flash but it does make your subject look very washed out and really white. If possible use the light in the room because it's going to be the most natural. (Note: Pictures in the dark are never going to look super awesome so don't worry too much about it.)*Do: If it is dark when you're trying to take a picture, try to get by a lamp or have your subject face the closest light source. Also, after taking the photo make sure to pump up the exposure in your editing app and that should really help! Also, adding a black and white filter usually looks way better on night photos then a color filter!

Here are some examples of photos that I have taken:

At the time, I thought the photo on the left was cool because I got the Sun rising and then a Silhouette of the road sign. Along with a brown Instagram filter there is also a Vignette (darkening of the edges) on this photo , which can be cool at times but with this photo, it looks way over processed and hazy. The photo on the right is a better version because it's not as processed, it's clear,  and has more natural color plus, I still have the silhouettes of the windmills that I like as well.*Tip: Sometimes it helps if you wipe your phone camera with a clean piece of clothing and that’ll help remove any haze that’ll show up in photos.

These two are both good because of the lighting. The one on the left was out of direct sunlight and David was also standing above me. That usually will slim the subjects face and notice how my eyes are wide and open. The house on the right was taken in the shadow of the mountain so I go some nice even light across the whole field and I love it!

These are all pictures that I have taken inside. I would say the two tops ones are worse than the bottoms. Top left was in an airport that was kind of dark and it looks over processed. I really like the angle of the top right and the colors are not too bad and, if I remember correctly, I was going to put it in black and white but loved the colors anyway. This was one of those moments when the moment was cooler than the lighting. I love the one on the bottom left because it looks clear. If I didn't put it in black and white you might see a lot of grain and orange coloring but putting it in a black and white filter really enhanced the photo and the mood. Lastly, the bottom right I made as a silhouette because I knew if I exposed (adjusted the light to see David's face) correctly then the light in the window would be washed out/ completely white. I really like silhouettes anyway so it worked out.

 

With these photos, I would say the top left photo is terrible. I usually like door photos but I don't like this one. First of all, it's shot in direct sun making the image look flat. Also, it looks like I didn't pay attention to the angles because the door looks crooked. If I tilted my phone to the right, I probably would have gotten a straighter shot. Top right photo is one of my faves. I was going for a walk at lunch and wanted to see if I could find something to take a photo of and find a way to take it differently so I stuck my phone in the bush of flowers and stepped out of the way so I got the sun shining through the petals. I felt very creative and loved looking at the flowers from a different angle. What I would say about the bottom two are that lines and angles are important. The lines in the reflection of my tea are pretty straight and align with the rim of the cup so that turned out well. Then the steps on the stairs in the next picture as well as the railings and the corners of the wall are all even and aligned as well so when you take a picture, you've gotta make sure all of your lines are heading in the direction they're suppose to.

Last thing I'm gonna say is have fun! Practice makes perfect and ultimately you've just gotta try some things. In these photos above, I just played with lighting, filters, and angles. Open your eyes and look for interesting things around you and also, pay attention to the details. I would also say, look for some Instagramers who are posting things that you like and follow them. Look at their photos and ask questions about them. What do I like about this? What is the subject? Where is the light coming from? What colors catch my eye? Then soon enough you'll be able to see those things in the world around you and take photos that'll inspire others.

Hope that helps! Please feel free to ask me any question! I'm serious. There are no dumb questions!