MOBILE PHONE PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS.

TAKING MOBILE PHOTOGRAPHY TO THE NEXT LEVEL

BASIC PHOTOGRAPHY-COMPOSITION

Photography follows many art and design rules

Think about the arrangement of objects and/or people
Generally, the closes item to the camera (viewer) will appear bigger
Models known how to position their bodies to change how they appear- you can learn these trick, too
Color often hides bad photography

BASIC PHOTOGRAPHY- LIGHTING

“Soft” lighting (but not flat light) is the typically best for photographing people – this can mean using a fill flash to even out differences between people and the background, shooting in shade or on a semi-cloudy day
Natural light shifts in color over the seasons and at the time of the day
Flat lighting is when there is little distinguishing contrast between objects and background – often characterized by a lack of shadows and highlights

BASIC PHOTOGRAPHY- PLANNING

Scop out/plan the photograph – review lighting and backgrounds prior to adding the subject
Take practice shots without subjects
If you are photographing people, plan wardrobes accordingly (are you photographing on green grass? Do you really want everyone wearing green?)

BASIC PHOTOGRAPHY-PLANNING

Develop a rapport before shooting
Make sure the person being photographed is physically comfortable HOWEVER…. Be aware of adjustments that may need to happen – avoid “wardrobe malfunctions”
The more people in a group photo, the more shots you should take
Tell them when you are going to shoot the photo
Do not have them look directly into the camera – unless that is the affect you want

How to Take Good Photos With Your Phone

One of the easiest and best ways to improve your mobile photos is to turn on the camera's gridlines. That superimposes a series of lines on the screen of your smartphone's camera that are based on the "rule of thirds" -- a photographic composition principle that says an image should be broken down into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, so you have nine parts in total.

Many of the best photos include just one, interesting subject. So when taking a picture of one, spend some extra time setting up the shot. Some professional photographers say that the subject shouldn't fill the entire frame, and that two-thirds of the photo should be negative space -- that helps the subject stand out even more.

Leading lines are great for creating a sense of depth in an image, and can make your photo look purposefully designed -- even if you just happened to come upon a really cool shape by accident.

When you take a photo from a distance, it's tempting to zoom in on something specific you're trying to capture. But it's actually better not to zoom in -- doing so can make the photo appear grainy, blurry, or pixelated. Instead, try to get closer to your subject -- unless it's a wild animal, in which case we would advise keeping your distance -- or take the photo from a default distance, and crop it later on.

It's hard to find a great smartphone photo that was taken with a flash. Most of the time, they make a photo look overexposed, negatively altering colors and making human subjects look washed out. In fact, even the iPhone 7's flash is rumored to have some flaws. Take advantage of the sources of natural light you can find, even after dark. This gives you a chance to play with shadows, like in the second image below, or create a silhouette with other ambient sources of light, like traffic and surrounding buildings.