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How to shoot like a professional photographer on an iPhone
iPhone photographers possess a unique skill: the ability to take near-perfect images on their phone, without anybody knowing that’s how the photo was taken.
You see, when done right, a photograph taken on an iPhone looks just about as good as on a high-quality camera. Even in some cases, it looks special due to the aesthetic the iPhone’s camera presents.
Furthermore, with technology progressing at rapid speed, shooting professional-quality photographs is easier than ever before. iPhone photographers are ahead of the game in this regard, and you can be too.
Here are some tips and tricks to help lift your iPhone photography game to greater heights.
Composition for iPhone photographers is everything
Composition is everything. Making sure that there are no awkward empty spaces, or an imbalance in the frame, is crucial for a visually engaging shot. However, especially for beginner photographers, figuring out the right composition can be tricky.
That’s where the iPhone’s grid comes in handy. This feature divides the screen into nine squares, allowing you to play with photography’s “rule-of-thirds.”
This is the idea that for the best shots, you need to place the subject of your photo along the lines of the grid or at intersections of the lines. According to research, our eyes naturally travel to the intersections instead of the center of a photo.
Using the grid, you can be sure that the point of interest of your photo is clear. This will make your photo’s more balanced and interesting.
You can turn on the grid feature by going into setting > photos & camera > grid. This will overlay the grid on your viewfinder, so you can easily find the best composition.
Other tips to improve composition is to keep your photos relatively simple. iPhone photographers don’t overcomplicate the frame and make sure that the subject of the shot is clear. Too many details will unfocus a shot and make it unnecessarily busy.
Additional elements to consider when composing a shot
To help edit your image down it’s important to know what you’re shooting.
If you’re taking a picture of a busy street ask yourself: what about this busy street do I want to capture? What is the most important element here? Is the large crowd? The different colored clothes the crowd is wearing?
Figuring that out will help you find the right frame. If the focus of your shot is the large crowd, having a fire extinguisher in the forefront of the shot will take attention away from the subject and make the image less specific.
So, before shooting, check the framing of your shot. Are there any distracting elements? If so, adjust! Move your camera, move your subject, get closer or further away.
In general, when taking photos with an iPhone, it’s good to keep compositions simple. This will also be better if you’re intending to share the shot on Instagram.
On the small phone screen, a minimalist, simple composition is easier and more pleasing to the eye than a very busy, and chaotic shot.
Another simple composition tip is to divide the frame into three parts: foreground, middleground, background. This is especially useful when shooting landscapes. If you place something in every one of the three parts you will be able to better convey the depth and size of the landscape.
The burst can be a vital tool for iPhone photography
When shooting a moving. subject, it can sometimes be tricky to get the right shot. This can be solved by entering an iPhone’s burst mode.
By holding down the button to take a photo, you enter burst mode which means that your phone will take rapid-speed pictures for as long as you hold the button.
Utilizing the burst feature at the right moments can be a vital tool for iPhone photographers and beginners getting into photography.
Play with angles for the perfect shot
Besides grid and burst, there are also somethings you can do to take a great shot. Playing with angles is one of them.
Don’t be afraid to get a bit athletic. Try squatting down, getting up on a bench, jumping up, or tilting your phone up. This way, you’ll see things from a new perspective.
By playing with angles you’re able to discover new and often more engaging shots than if you were to shoot from chest height. As a beginner photographer, you must try everything for that one perfect shot.
Practice makes “perfect” for iPhone photographers
Keeping these tips in mind, you’ll be well on your way to spicing up your photography game. iPhone photographers all figured out how to best utilize Apple’s features to get their best shots, or even make a living, and you can get there too.
Besides these tips, getting better at photography is mostly practice. Go out (masked, of course), experiment, keep shooting, and you’ll quickly be capturing shots that will wow even the toughest critics. Check out #shotoniphone on Instagram for shots to get you inspired.