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Photography Advice
Composition Tips For Taking Better iPhone Photos
Posted by Kate Wesson | comments5
Composition is the key to getting your iPhone photos noticed.
Anyone can point a camera and take a photo, but it takes a more skilled
photographer to compose a shot that’s visually appealing and holds the viewer’s
attention. In this tutorial you’ll discover 10 of the most important
composition guidelines to help make your iPhone photos stand out.
Composition is simply the way
you arrange the key elements or subjects in a scene. With each photo that
you take, you should ask yourself the following questions:
·
How can I draw attention
to the main subject?
·
How can I lead the viewer’s eye
into and around the image?
·
How can I eliminate distracting
parts of the scene?
·
With these questions in mind,
let’s take a look at some important composition techniques to help
improve your iPhone photos.
1. Include A Focal Point
When taking photos, always ask yourself “What is the main point of interest in this scene?” or “What is my main subject?” Including a focal point is often easy, but sometimes you need to search out an interesting subject to include in your scene.·
Once you’ve identified a main subject or point of
interest, you can then build your composition around that focal point
to draw attention to it. The following composition techniques will
help you with this.
2. Follow The Rule of Thirds
The rule
of thirds is all about where you
position the main elements in a scene. The rule (which is really just a
guideline) suggests that an image will look more balanced and aesthetically
pleasing if you position important parts of the scene off-center.
Switch the gridlines on in your iPhone’s camera app
to display two horizontal and two vertical lines. The rule of thirds
suggests that the most powerful areas of the image are the four points
where the lines intersect, and that our eyes are naturally drawn to these
areas first. Position your main subject on one of these intersections to give
the most emphasis to your subject.
The most important part of the
above photo is the child’s face. Following the rule of thirds, the face
was positioned on the top right intersection. While it’s best to apply the
rule of thirds when you’re taking photos, you can also do it by cropping the
image afterwards.
https://iphonephotographyschool.com/composition-tips/
https://www.instagram.com/iphoneps/
What is HDR and When Should I Use It In My Photos?
HDR stands for High
Dynamic Range imaging, and it's an old
photography practice recently introduced to cameraphones like the iPhone and
some Android devices (or with the use of special apps). You're on the right track:
it's supposed to make your pictures look better, but it depends on when you use
it. Here's a quick primer on how HDR works, and when you should—and
shouldn't—turn it on.
HDR, as its name implies, is a
method that aims to add more "dynamic range" to photographs, where
dynamic range is the ratio of light to dark in a photograph. Instead of just
taking one photo, HDR uses three photos, taken at different exposures. You can
then use image editing software to put those three images together and
highlight the best parts of each photo. In the case of HDR on smartphones, your
phone does all the work for you—just snap your picture and it'll spit out one
regular photo and one HDR photo. The result is something that should look more
like what your eyes see, rather than what your camera sees.
This is why, when you turn HDR
mode on, your phone takes a little longer to take the photo. It's actually
taking three pictures, rather than just one. Check out the image above for an
example. It wasn't taken with a cameraphone, but it's a good demonstration of
what HDR can do. If you want more detailed information on how HDR works, our friends at the How-To Geek have a great explainer. Photo by Mszklanny.
When
You Should Use HDR
As we said, HDR is designed to
help you take better-looking photos, especially in certain situations. Here's
where you should try using HDR:
- Landscapes: Big landscape photos usually have a lot of
contrast between the sky and land, which is difficult for your camera to
deal with in just one photo. With HDR, you can capture the sky's detail
without making the land look too dark, and vice versa.
- Portraits in Sunlight: We all know that lighting is one of the most important aspects of a good photo, but too much lighting on someone's
face—like harsh sunlight—can cause dark shadows, bright glare, and other
unflattering characteristics. HDR can even that all out and make your
subject look better.
- Low-Light and Backlit
Scenes (see above): If your photo is looking a little too dark—which
often happens if your scene has too much backlight—HDR can brighten up the
foreground without washing out the well-lit portions of your photo. Photos
by Jacob Reiff.
When
You Shouldn't Use HDR
- Photos
with Movement (see above): If any of your subjects are
moving (or might move), HDR increases the chance of a blurry photo.
Remember, HDR takes three pictures, so if your subject moves between the
first and second shot, your final picture won't look very good. Photo
by William Hook.
- High-Contrast
Scenes:
Some
photos look better with stark contrast between the dark and light parts of
the photo, like if you have a dark shadow or silhouette you want to
highlight. HDR will make this less intense, resulting in a less
interesting photo.
- Vivid Colors: If your scene is too dark or
too light, HDR can bring some of the color back. However, if you're
dealing with colors that are already very vivid, HDR can wash them out.
Luckily, most HDR cameraphones will give you two images: one with HDR
turned off, and one with it turned on. That means that you can always give HDR
a shot and see what the comparison looks like before turning it off altogether
(as long as you have time to sit through the extra few seconds of
photo-taking). As with all things photography, you can't go wrong
experimenting! These guidelines should help you out, but don't be afraid to
snap a few photos and look at them later. Once you get the hang of it, HDR can
be a great tool for getting better pictures. While you're at it, check out our
general tips for taking better pictures on your phone, too.
Don't
Forget Basic Photography Rules
After doing lots of research and asking around, some of the best tips I
got were the most obvious (yet rarely heeded) rules of photography. When you
use your phone's camera, make sure you aren't forgetting about the basics.
It's important with all cameras to make sure your subject is facing the
light source and you're not, but it's even more important with phone cameras
(Unless, of course, you wantto take a silhouette—like all rules, this can
be bent). As I mentioned above, your phone's biggest weakness is its inability
to take good pictures in low light, which means you generally will want to get
as much light as you possibly can on your subject. This may require a bit more
thought and a bit more moving around than it might with a point-and-shoot
camera, but you'll thank yourself in the end.
Clean
Your Lens
It may seem silly, but give your lens a wipe down
before you start snapping photos with your phone. While most people are pretty
good about keeping their grubby fingers away from camera lenses, it's not as
easily done with
You've probably heard this one a million times, but
we can't overstate how useless this feature is. If you need to get closer to a
subject, you're much better off stepping closer to them. If you can't, you can always crop
the picture later on, which is all digital zoom really does. Remember, you can
always crop down, but you can't crop up.
One more GREAT resource material for taking good photoa
https://lifehacker.com/5662812/how-to-take-better-pictures-with-your-smartphones-camera
BEST CAMERA APPS FOR ANDROIDS
https://lifehacker.com/5821240/the-best-camera-app-for-android
SAMPLE
SCREENSHOT SHOWING FILTERS AVAILABLE ON ANDROID PHONE
 |
| sample of camera screen and filter choices. |
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