iPhones are completely changing the world of photography.

My family’s first digital camera had 1.6 megapixels, our family vacation memories look like Minecraft set in Washington DC. Now, my iPhone takes photos with quality enough for a 8×10 print.

Since it is safe to assume that a majority of your day to day memories will be captured with your phone, it is worth learning some basic photography skills to get the most out of these photos.

1. Open Shade- One of the first things an amateur photog will learn to look for is open shade. It provides forgiving light that once you know what to look for is easy to spot. It’s typically a few feet inward of a large tall shadow. It will cover your subject in even light and since you have the subject face away from the sun, it will help avoid squinting.
2. Natural Reflector- Piggybacking off of open shade is having a natural reflector. Look for the light on the ground between you and your subject. That light will reflect back into the subject’s eyes making them look “alive”. As you get better at finding natural reflectors, start looking at the colors they are. A green reflector such as grass, will throw back green light sometimes making the subject have a green tinge but a neutral reflector like cement will have a natural and warm light.
3. On-screen brighting- If you have never tapped your screen in camera mode and an adjusted the light yourself, give that a try. Phone cameras are getting better every day but they will never replace what the connection from the eyes to brain can do. Your phone looks at the scene in front of it and “evaluates” the light that needs to be let in the picture. It doesn’t know how to compensate for a bright background or subject.
4. Check your background- So simple but the biggest difference. Is there a person or distracting sign? Could you move just a step or two over to clean up the photo?

Here is a handy little diagram because I am positive nothing I said made sense.

Let me know if you try and implement any of these tips!

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