Thursday Thoughts – iPhone Photography

Hi! Happy Thursday!

I don’t know about you, but I am more then ready for some spring weather.  I’ve just been spending my days helping to educate, photographing and snuggling my babies.  Today is so cold outside, so grab a blanket, a hot drink and enjoy this post.

I know there are so many of you out there shooting with your iPhone and that is completely ok.

Sometimes it is the easiest thing to use, and you can make amazing images with your phone when using the right tools. When photographing your family it doesn’t matter what type of equipment you are using. The most important thing is that your capturing those moments. It doesn’t matter how. Just capture them!  There are so many great perks to shooting on your phone.  You can edit on your phone, upload to social media and even print photographs and photo books from your phone.

Last week I wrote a few detailed tips on how to photograph at home.  Most of those still apply when shooting with your iPhone. So head over to that post here and take a look.

Here are some very basic tips on shooting with your iPhone…

• Do not use the selfie camera. It is a low quality lens.
• Slide the exposure meter to lighten your image by tapping the area you want to expose.
• Turn the flash off and shoot with natural light.
• Turn on HDR, but keep the original too.
• Use burst mode if you are capturing someone moving.

It is very easy to turn an average iPhone image into something amazing by using a few apps.  Below are a few apps that I use to edit my images. I suggest use and become familiar with a few of them.

• Snapseed – This has tools that any photographer at any level would need and makes everything very simple.  You can control exposure, color temperature, saturation, shadows and highlights. My favorite tools to use is curves, healing tool, and if you want to get even more creative you can use the many other features that it offers.
• Lightroom – I use Lightroom for editing on my computer, now you can use the app on your phone. Lightroom is great especially if you are already an Adobe user.  However, if you are new to Lightroom I would suggest using Snapseed.
• VSCO – The popular choice with many photographers.  Gives a hint of film like finish to your images and it has a variety of filters, which some place over every photograph they edit. I usually do not use any filters and rarely use this app, but I know so many who use it daily.
• Colorstory – Allows you to make your colors pop, whites bright, colorful filters, and 40 moveable features such as bokeh and lens flare.
• Instagram – I typically edit my iPhone images in Instagram. I use Instagram for just about everything. Next week I will discuss all about Instagram and my editing process step by step.

There are so many apps out there when it comes to photography. You just need to find the ones that fit your style or life best.  If you are struggling with your image just remember sometimes simple is best.  “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” — Leonardo da Vinci

Three other apps that you may find worth checking out are Chatbooks, Flic and Lifecake.

• Flic – Let’s face it not every photo you take is going to be a keeper. Flic makes it super easy to delete photos and clear up valuable storage on your phone. This is something I just started using and is making life so much easier.
• Lifecake – This app is basically a timeline of your images and your child’s growth. You can choose to zoom in on any specific age. It’s really wonderful when looking for a specific photo on a certain date.
• Chatbooks – I love Chatbooks.  It is an app that links to your Instagram and automatically prints books from your instagram or social media. I use it for my personal email as a printed scrapbook of our children.

Have a wonderful weekend! Til next week 🙂