Guess what? I’ve been blogging for over 3 years and I still shoot
blog photography with my trusty iPhone 6. I know that my photos aren’t the best
and yes, I constantly find myself drooling over others blog photos wishing I
had perfect pictures just like that but unfortunately I’m not that talented.
Funny thing is, I actually have a perfectly fine Nikon L310 sitting around in
my room but I refuse to use it as I find iPhone’s easier and quicker to use.
I believe a lot of people really underestimate the power of an
iPhone/Android and I admit, sometimes at first glance the photos can look a little
poor however with a ton of editing apps and bit of playing around with, you can
end up achieving some awesome images.
THE
GRID OPTION
If I’m being completely honest here, I had no idea about this
feature until I saw someone talking about it on social media. Cleaaaarly I’m not great with technology
these days. This has completely changed my photography game for the better,
the grid helps to make sure all your photos are level making sure the rules of
third is applied with ease. This took a bit of practicing and bit of getting
used to but in the end you can achieve visually pleasing photos. To enable this
feature head to Settings > Photos & Camera > Grid and select it
green.
TAP TO FOCUS
Probably my most used and useful feature when it comes to taking
my photos. Simply tap the screen where you want the image to focus creating a
clean and sharp image. Don’t worry about having shaky hands (I have the most
unsteady hands ever) it will automatically focus to wherever you end up tapping
without a problem.
ALL ABOUT THAT LIGHTING
If you can, try and take photos in natural lighting which is for me personally the best. I find that
with artificial lighting, my photos can look more on the yellow toned side and
it becomes a lot harder to edit. I try to shoot my photos at around 10am-11am
where the lighting is usually at its best and I also like to make sure the
window is in front of me when taking them to get the best results as I possibly
can.
EDIT, EDIT, EDIT
I can never post a photo without editing it a bit beforehand, I
always feel like my photos look somewhat ‘unfinished’ if it’s not edited. I
understand that editing all comes down to personal preference however, here are
some of the apps that I use to edit my photos with PLUS THEY’RE ALL FREE!
SNAPSEED: I mainly use this app for when I want to brighten the
background of my pictures especially when I feel like I’ve taken some shots in
awful lighting. This app contains a selective feature which allows you to
select in detail where you want to either brighten, change the contrast or
change the saturation. That’s not all though! It comes with a bunch of other
features like tuning your image and changing the structure.
COLOURSTORY: This is pretty much similar to SnapSeed in terms of
allowing to play around with the brightness, contrast and saturation.
Completely changing the brightness of my whole photo is what I use this for.
The app also contains a selection of effects such as flare and light leaks
whilst giving you a variety of choices in the filter sections.
VSCO CAM: I feel like everyone and their mother has heard about
this editing app as it’s so popular within the blogging community. I use this
whenever I want to add a universal filter to my photos (A5, HB1 and HB2 all being my personal favourites). Like any other
photo editing app, it also allows you to change the basics like sharpness and
clarity to make your photos look more like they were taken off a DSLR camera,
what a bonus!
What do you
use to take blog photos?
I love this, I use my iPhone 6s camera for most of my blog photos too. I totally agree, it's so much easier to use my phone than a camera. I'm slowly starting to ease into using a camera a little more now because the quality is better from my perspective! Love your blog xx
ReplyDeleteI have had ColorStory and VSCO cam at one time but never really caught on! May have to try them about again. I loved Pixfx, but the most recent update was just ehh, and took away some of my fave features! I only use iPhone too its so much more handy. Another one I have been using and hate to say I do use is Facetune 2. Its great for whitening backgrounds. Its totally changed my photos! In a good way! :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about the grid - thanks that's gonna really help me! I have a canon camera but I find my iPhone so much easier to use and for me the photo quality isn't that different. I think there's a big stigma about bloggers using iPhones whereas I think the photos still turn out amazing! (and I wish people would realise that there's more to blogging than just photos, it's more about the writing) :)
ReplyDeleteSarah xo
www.shesawriter.co.uk