Taking Better Photos With Your Phone || Blogging Tips

Although I’m not exactly a photography expert, I do enjoy taking photos and learning how I might improve. This applies to both my actual camera and my phone. Looking back at Instagram photos from a year or so back thanks Timehop.. I almost cringe, then feel kind proud at how much better my photos have gotten. So here are some tips that I use to improve the quality of photos taken on my phone;

  1. Hold your iPhone like you would a camera. I mean, this sounds a little silly but think about it, you wouldn’t have your finger over the lens on an actual camera. That, and you wouldn’t shoot a photo one handed. For stability reasons it’s always better to hold it with both if you can,  especially in landscape, it’ll mean less blurry photos.
  2. Know your apps. To be honest, photo editing apps take up more space on my phone than I’d like to admit. As I mentioned on my essential apps post, Afterlight, VSCO Cam and Priime are great for getting editing images on the go as you can adjust everything from the brightness, to shadows and highlights. Not only this, you can add various different filters if you fancy adding it to Instagram.
  3. Experiment with angles. With an actual camera in hand, standing on something or crouching down to get a good photo seems somewhat more normal. However, just because you don’t have with you an actual camera, don’t be afraid to miss out an a good photo. Odds are on, no one will look twice at you for doing so.
  4. Flash isn’t always your friend.  I can’t believe how long it took me to release that it was using flash that caused my photos to look like they were in a white haze or make my selfies look like they featured a ghost. I’ve got into the habit of taking photos both with and without flash just in case, as you can always adjust brightness in an app as mentioned above.
  5. Get snap happy. Whenever I take a photo on my iPhone it’s never just one. The standard procedure is that I take it about 10 times and then look through them and delete any that are blurry and pick my favourite to edit and filter. There’s always one of two with better composition than the rest.
  6. Crop, don’t zoom. This sounds like a silly statement, it’s using the same camera, surely it’ll be the same quality if you crop it to if you zoom in while taking.. WRONG. For some bizarre reason, zooming while taking leaves everything in a pixely mess. It takes two seconds to crop a photo, and most apps including the iPhones own editor has the ability to do it.

What are your favourite tips for taking better photos with your phone?

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19 Comments

  1. December 5, 2014 / 12:30 am

    Hellooo!! This post was really useful, am going to follow you on Instagram as soon as I can be bothered to get up off the sofa and reach for my phone! You have a lovely blog, have just followed 🙂 x

    Lola and Behold

  2. December 5, 2014 / 12:31 am

    Thank you so much!
    This comment made my day 🙂
    Followed! xx

  3. December 14, 2014 / 7:18 am

    Great and very useful tips! I use my phone A LOT to take pictures and most of the times i just frustrate the crap out of me. I have to admit that I am not aware of combining the filters, I've only used Instagram filters so have zero ideas. Would you mind writing a post about what apps are great for combining filters? I seriously would appreciate it.
    You have a seriously lovely blog and all your posts are so well written, just followed you on GFC so I can keep up with all your future posts. xx

    Reflection of Sanity | Smashbox Giveaway

  4. December 14, 2014 / 7:20 am

    Hi there!
    I know afterlight has a function to combine filters but generally I just run them through a few apps.
    I wouldn't mind at all, thank you for the idea!
    Followed back on GFC 🙂
    Sorry for the late reply!
    <3 Fran xx

  5. April 16, 2015 / 4:04 am

    very very useful post honey!!! cool 😉
    big kissesss
    Check it out my new post

  6. April 17, 2015 / 2:18 am

    i waited to start a blog until i got my iPhone 6. Now i think I want a new camera too!! UGH the struggle

    Batty4Beauty.com

  7. June 7, 2015 / 4:56 am

    great tips! i agree with so many of them, especially cropping instead of zooming in!

    from helen at thelovecatsinc.com

    ps. there's a USA beauty giveaway inc lorac, tarte etc on my blog! click here.

  8. June 9, 2015 / 12:08 am

    What great tips, haha, I think i'm guilty of being ashamed of holding my phone with two hands, but I'll definitely do better next tip! Love this post!

    May x • THE MAYDENbloglovin'

  9. June 9, 2015 / 12:08 am

    Hey Fran thanks for leaving your link on my Twitter (lnohara95)
    Your layout of everything is nice! As soon as I clicked on your link all i thought was "omg so bright and pretty! "
    I see you're a nuffnang blogger too 😉 *hi5*
    Also, can i ask you a coding question? I have the same navigation type bar but I can't seem yo put the 'pages' onto it. Can you please email me [email protected].

    Much love,

    Lauren O'Hara
    Sweetened Sour
    https://www.lauren-ohara-x.blogspot.com

  10. December 29, 2015 / 10:45 am

    I love this post! I don't have the money to buy a fancy camera for amazing photos so I use my phone for all the photos I take for my blog. Sometimes they turn out great but other times they are awful. I'll definitely be using these tips. <3

    xo, Kimberly
    http://www.blogsfordays.com