phone photography
Taking Selfies
Taking selfies is incredibly popular these days.
I am often asked “when taking slefies how can I take better pictures”, this of course includes The Selfie !
Lets start with the basics, no phone can ever shoot a better portrait than a proper camer.
That said it is often not pertinent to shoot pictures with your camera.
So here are a few tips to get better phone pictures.
First of all go to your phone settings and make sure (if you have it) that the function to record images is set to the highest / best quality file or resolution.
The next step in taking slefies is to make sure you have a good background for your picture.
It’s great to see yourself, family and friends in the shot but you really want to show the location as well.
You are probably on holiday or at an event and want to record this for posterity.
The art in the selfie is to not just fill the frame with people and faces.
So get that phone out at arms length and frame the subject, get your self across into a corner and show the background. Before shooting make sure the camera is set to the widest zoom point givnig you more space to play with.
Make sure there are no objects in the background coming out of peoples heads, a tree or a flag pole for example.
Importantly make sure you are focused on the foreground, namely you!
You can do this on an iPhone by pressing on the screen at the point you want to focus.
This should be your eyes, after a second or two a yellow square will be highlighted over the area.
NOTE: This may now have altered the exposure so use the sliding exposure control to lighten or darken your image as required.
You are now ready to shoot so snap away.
Once you have got your shot you may find you need to make some adjustments in post production to your image.
One of the best apps’ i have found for this is Snapseed.
With this photo processing app’ installed on your phone you can make standard image adjustments to brightness, contrast and colour as well as being able to apply specislised filters and effects, frames etc.
Remember though, in post production less is more so always aim for a more subtle creative look rather than huge changes, this way you will have some great photographs to remember from your travels, party or special moment.
