Discover the system I used to gain access to New York Fashion Week, build two successful beauty brands, and cultivate a blogger audience of fashionpreneurs! Sign up below:
Instagram is all about capturing photos, but have you wondered how some people get really good photos all the time? Though taking professional photos are great and totally worth it, there are times when you are going to be out and about and need to use your handy phone camera to capture the moment. This doesn’t mean that your photos have to look bad nor does it mean that you have to be a camera expert to get the winning shot. In today’s blog post, I’m going to show you 5 ways to get great shots that are worthy of a post. Once you begin to use these tools by practicing often, you’ll be an expert phone photographer in no time! Let’s get started….
- Find Your Light
Lighting is important to capturing the best pictures with your camera phone. Daylight should be your best friend because that’s when you can capture crisp and clear photos without having a grainy look that comes with shooting after the sun goes down. Though using your flash is an option, the quality may not come out as good.I know whenever we host blogger events or holiday parties, my mom and I always do it during the day because we know that our picture will turn out great even without a professional camera.
So what happens if you are shooting pictures during the day, but you’re inside? That’s okay! If you have an iPhone, you can double tap on your screen until you see a yellow box come up. Then slide your finger up or down to make the photo lighter or darker. This helps tremendously!
For iPhone Users: Take a look at the middle of the picture. You’ll see a yellow box with something that looks like the sun next to it. When you tap on your iPhone screen, this will pop up. You are able to then slide the sun icon up or down to brighten or darken the photo. This comes in handy especially when you take photos inside.
- Let the light shine in behind you
If a photo is coming out too dark, it’s probably because the sun is NOT behind you. If you are the one behind the camera, try positioning yourself with the sun behind you to brighten up the picture.
Below, the camera man wasn’t letting the sun shine in behind him so my photo came out super dark (you can see the sun coming through the windows behind me). Though these pictures can be creative and used, that’s not the purpose for this particular shot. When you look at the photo to the right, you’ll see me in the same area, but this time with the CAMERA MAN letting the sun shine in behind him. So he moved and is now standing in the area that was beaming with lights. It caused the entire look of the photo to change, just from letting the light shine in behind him.
*So all this basically means is if your picture is coming out too dark, find the sun, and try letting it shine behind you as you take your pictures.
- Use the sharpen tool on Instagram
If you have taken a really good picture, but for some reason it came out a tad bit blurry, you can use the sharpen tool in Instagram to make your photos more crisp. I pretty much do this with every photo, even if it’s not blurry because I want it to be the best quality possible. Just be sure not use the sharpen tool too much, otherwise your photos will begin to look a bit too grainy.
Below you see that I took an image that was okay, but it could be a tad bit sharper. So I used the sharpen tool in Instagram to make the photo crisp. Though there isn’t a drastic difference here, it definitely helps to bring out the details. There will be times when you can see a drastic difference in your photos after using the sharpen tool. That’s fine too!
- Check your background
What makes a photo grand is the scenery in which it was taken! Unless you are purposefully making a point, be sure that the background is pretty and clean. Look at your photo before you post it. Review it, be sure that things are picked up from the floor or that you don’t have a stain on your clothes. Whatever it is, be sure to examine the entire photo before you post to Instagram.
One time, I saw a photo of a woman who was talking about being organized, yet she had toys, food and shoes everywhere in the background. Crazy, right? I know! It only takes a few minutes to clean up the area around you. Remember, your pictures speak volumes about who you are and what you really represent.
Below is a photo I took from my friend’s housewarming party! I made sure that her office was clean and didn’t have cords sticking out because it was captured in this photo. Though the decor is beautiful and the focus is on the dining room table, you can’t help but look into her opened office. The photo came out perfect because the background was absolutely spotless and clean.
- Find creative angles
Angles can change the entire look and feel of a picture. Whenever I attend an event or travel, I try to capture the moment in a creative way. Instead of getting a picture straight on, try capturing it from the side, or from below. I’ll show an example below of a photo taken two different ways. Though it is capturing the same things, the beauty differs. There is really not a right or wrong way to finding the right angle, it’s about experimenting with the object at hand. It also means taking your time and getting more than on photo. That way you can have options.
You can see here that I first took the picture from below, but from that angle you can see coffee marks, and the drinks don’t look that appetizing. To the right, we decided to hold our cups up in the air. This gave the photo more depth, you see no coffee marks, and the background is beautiful! Same cups, different angle.
