You can take awesome pictures with your phone!
The kids in this blog are my two monkeys and all the photos in this blog post are ones I have taken using my phone, I have an iPhone at the moment, aren't they amazing!! I wish I could take my pro camera everywhere and have it available to capture every special moment, but its just not practical, but I am always pretty pleased how photos turn out on my phone.
These days its not so much about what you are capturing the images on but more the composition of the image, some of my favourite photos I have are taken on my phone. So I thought I would share my tips for how to take those family snaps from just capturing the moment to capturing the moment beautifully.
Honestly I find it so different capturing images of my own children to when I am doing it for work, when I have my own children in my studio, will they smile on command...nope!! But I still use the same techniques when I try to capture a moment out and about with my phone, here are some simple things you can try to elevate those images to ones you want to print and put on the wall for everyone to enjoy and not just keep them in the ever-growing back up of photos on your computer!
- Get Down Low! Taking a photo of a child from an elevated position is not as good as getting down to their level. A good tip for doing this without spending time on your knees is flip your phone upside down.
- Get to know your phone camera settings. Make sure you know how to zoom in or out quickly, put the flash on or off not just keeping it on auto.
- Use Live photo/Motion photo/Moving picture. This function allows the camera to take a second and a half of video which you can select the best still image from his is great to review the moment, kids are so fast moving and often I have thought that I missed the moment, if you haven't used this yet it is a game changer for taking photos of kids.
- Beware of the sun! Having sun behind the kids is a great way to avoid squinty smiles and with the great in phone editing now available you can always lighten their little faces up afterwards for some awesome shots.
- Don't worry! I think the most important thing to do is keep it fun and light hearted, getting a child to stand still and smile does not usually create a beautiful natural smile. Enjoy the moment yourself and get involved with their fun. Being silly especially if they aren't used to it from you is one of the best ways to bring out a smile, so let your inner child out too!
- Turn the camera to them! this is a great tip for really little ones, putting your phone in selfie mode and letting them see the picture you are capturing and the great things that phones front cameras are mostly good quality too for small print pics.
- Don't zoom if you don't have to. Your photo can be cropped after, digital zoom has come along way but I still prefer to take the photo without zooming if I can as you can lose a lot of quality, so get closer.
- Edit after. This is the part where you get to add you own style. There are so many presets that can enhance your images and make them look less flat than just your standard camera photo. You can download some amazing editing apps now which make it super quick and easy, my recommendation is Photoshop and Photoshop fix, but there are 100s out there to choose from. These apps allow you to select the subject and blur that background for a more dramatic look, enhance colours and draw focus to where you want it.
- No skin filters. This is my personal choice that I never apply filters that changes my kids skin or features, I want to remember them exactly how they were, they are perfect just the way they are...so are you by the way!
- Don't forget to be in the photos! Its amazing capturing all these lovely photos of our kids, but please don't forget to be in the photos so that when your kids look back at them they get to see you having an awesome time with them and not just being behind the camera. For every 10 you take of them make sure you are in one, no matter how you are looking that day, I promise you won't look back and regret taking it but you may regret not.
I hope these tips help you, I would love to hear if they have.
Have a lovely weekend and keep snapping those awesome moments.
