Phonetography Intro: How to take great pictures with your phone (Pt1 of 7)

January 23, 2016  •  Leave a Comment

I’m a portrait photographer.  I am obsessed with my Nikon FX and DX bodies and lens collection, but the majority of my memories are captured with my smartphone. In fact, most of what I post on my social media personal  pages are taken with my humble Iphone 5.  Surprised?  Don’t get me wrong, I do take a ton of pictures with my DSLR, but after a few years of toting that monster around, I just got tired of everything it took to actually see my memories, and how much I actually missed in the process (adjust the exposure, take the picture, convert file, sort, adjust, edit, put in a folder, print…hopefully sometime in the next 3 years).

 I told myself in 2014 after my daughter was born,  that I could be not just content, but thrilled with  the pictures that I take with my phone’s  camera, and I would be selective and discerning  in what I kept, posted, and printed. Now, of  course these don’t replace the pictures that I take  and have taken professionally (yearly family and  individuals, 1st birthday, ect) and occasionally I do  still like to pull out the ‘ol DSLR to get some creative  shots that I just can’t get with my phone, but for the  everyday moments I like that I can just pull out my  phone, capture the moment, delete the blurry  pictures, and not miss a moment. Seriously, Life is  too short to miss those little moments  fussing  with some settings and JPEGS.  I  wanted to share  a little bit of the enlightenment I've come  across on the proper use of  a smartphone camera so  that you  can photograph  your kids, your family,  your dog, your Pinterest project, yourself,  your coffee and whatever else needs remembering with confidence!

Quite a few individuals have asked that I teach a class, but with my kid's schedule, I'm afraid this is the best I can do right now.  At first I wanted this to just be just one blog post, but after I started typing, I realized that just wasn’t going to cut it, and I’m pretty sure no one was interested in reading a Smartphone Photography Thesis, so I broke it into 7 mini posts ending with a 52 week challenge (clearly, you are not required to participate in the challenge to benefit from the information, but I hope you do, because it will give you a chance to practice all of this). I hope to post at least once a week on this subject.

 

 

Here is what I plan to talk about:    

 

No More Blurry Pictures:  basic lighting

Prepping your lens (yes, this is a thing you need to do) and finding light that will work with your smartphone's sensor

Creativity: angles and details

Tips on how to photograph what you feel, instead of just what you see

Getting the Shot: anticipation and timing (and timers)

It’s not all about the shot, it’s all about the few seconds leading up to it

Editing: Sorting and perfecting

 How to approach the daunting task of narrowing images  down and some basic editing techniques (and apps that I use along with filters)

Never ‘Upload All’: Posting and printing

Platforms that I like and how I choose what to share, and what to print (I rarely do both!). Also, I'll share a really awesome app that I recently discovered for printing.

52 Week Challenge 

A different challenge each week—let’s hold each other  accountable, and feel free to share your images on my Facebook Page

 

If you really liked this post, subscribe to my blog (below) and leave some love and tips of your own in the comments section. 

 


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