Beginner’s Guide To Instagram Worthy Photography with a Smartphone
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Ahh, mobile photography. A term that if you said to a photographer, just 5 years ago they'd scoff at you. But, times have changed. Now smartphone cameras are being taken seriously. So it's time that you learned how to make the most out of the one that you have. Today we're going to teach you 8 ways to maximize your mobile photography.
1. Get Perspectives That People Don't See Everyday
This may sound very simple, or even cliche but as you & I look through different photos on Instagram we see a lot of the same. So, to make your work stand out there has to be something that's unique. When you go to shoot think about all the ways you never shot before. Look around & play around with your camera & subject. Try to take a vantage point on your subject in which the human eye doesn't typically interact. For example, don't take a straight on shot of a cool looking building, maybe go up to the corner & bend the phone upward can get a new angle. Getting those new perspectives gets us into tip #2.
2. Get Low & Get Close
The reason I say to get in close is due to the way smartphone cameras are built. Over these last few years smartphone cameras have gotten better & better at detecting small details. Get in really close & play with the focus until it focuses as close as it possible can, and then snap your shot. Also, the reason we say to get low is because, nobody ever in their daily commute just gets down and looks around. It's really a vantage point that no one sees, so start getting low & close!
3. The Rule Of Thirds
This is that grid that you see on your phone that has those lines that intersect. What this grid was designed for is to help you frame a shot. For instance, you can make sure your subject is dead center in the frame, or the closeup you're getting is exactly 1/3 of the screen. When someone says, use the rule of thirds people immediately think the person is saying to use the first, second or third slot on the screen, which is not the case. The rule of thirds is actually saying use the intersections not the spaces. So line up your subject with one of the 3 lines where they intersect. This can give a very interesting structure to photos.
4. Spend Time Scouting Locations
Take some time to walk around wherever you're going to shoot. You might come across something you weren't planning on shooting! Usually these are great photos just waiting to be uncovered but we just walk right by them.
5. Get Up High
This one is harder if you're in a rural area, but if you're in the city you can probably find plenty of places to get up high. High vantage points mean, beautiful backdrops with lots of lights & big buildings. So try using one of the previous tips in getting in close on a subject while on top of something to get an entire city out of focus all for the focused subject.
6. Test Multiple Angles
It's important when having limited time in taking photos to make sure you take advantage of all the angles that are presented to you. Good practice to have is to take your camera and just move around your subject & look at all the angles without pressing the shutter button. All of these different viewpoints give you outcomes for the same subject.
7. Don't Forget To Turn Your Phone Around
This does not apply to all phones out there, because some phones have a camera at the top center, which means that it's going to be the same wether it's one way or the other. But, with phones like the Google Pixel the camera is on one side so if it's on the left side of the phone you can get it closer to the ground. So if you want to take a close up & it's not focusing, make sure you flip the phone back over. You flip the phone back over to get those good close up shots.
8. Editing
When you get that sweet shot, sometimes there's just 1 thing off or maybe you just want to make it better and that takes an editing software to bring that to reality. There are some really good options out there for this & we recommend you give a few of them a try. One that we use is Snap Seed + it's FREE. So, check it out!