✔️ 2022-04-23 13:29:46 – Paris/France.
Want to learn how to take professional photos with iPhone? Then you've come to the right place. Apple offers some of the best cameras available on smartphones, especially if you have the latest iPhone Pro or Pro Max. Even professional photographers use iPhones for certain photography jobs and there is no denying that amazing photos can be achieved. However, despite the latest models' fantastic camera arrays, it's still possible to get poorly lit, poorly composed or just plain boring photos if you don't know what you're doing.
Luckily, a few tips can help you get professional photos from an iPhone. In the guide below, we'll offer some simple considerations to keep in mind, from suggestions on what settings to use to get the best photos, to general photography tips that can be useful for anyone who wants to take better photos on a smartphone.
Still wondering if you should buy a new iPhone? Check out our full iPhone 13 Pro review and our guide to the best camera phones. If you're going for the iPhone 13 Pro, be sure to check out our iPhone 13 Pro camera tips.
How to take professional photos with the iPhone
01. Use the rule of thirds
(Image credit: future)
One of the biggest tips we can give you for taking professional photos on an iPhone, and indeed any phone, is to use the rule of thirds. Dating back to Renaissance art, the rule of thirds involves dividing your image into a three-by-three grid. Placing the main subjects of your photo along these lines can create much more visually arresting images.
When taking a photo, we are often tempted to place our subject in the center of the shot, but it may actually produce a better image to place it to one side, leaving space for the subject to interact with or move. Our brain likes some symmetry, but not too much, and eye-catching compositions usually have uneven elements on either side of the frame.
Try to keep things simple, especially if you're taking photos for Instagram, where they'll mostly be viewed on small screens. A complex composition can become busy and confusing; reducing compositions to a few key elements makes them easier to understand.
You can practice using the rule of thirds by turning on grid lines in your iPhone's camera settings. Go to the Camera section in the Settings app and turn on the Grid switch.
Check out our guide to learn more about using the rule of thirds.
02. Look for unusual viewpoints
Our reviewer got down to pig level to take this photo during the iPhone 13 review (Image credit: Future)
Another general photography tip that can be used to take more professional photos with the iPhone is to look for different and more original viewpoints rather than photographing everything from where you are standing. Explore high and low angles to see how they change a scene. Different angles can reveal hidden details and symmetries in common everyday scenes. It tends to grab people's attention when they see a photograph of something they know but seen in a different way.
Unusual angles also give more composition options, with different lines and shadows, and they can also allow us to get closer to a subject. If you're taking a picture of your pet dog – or a pig in the case of our review when we reviewed the iPhone – get down on their level, even if that means getting down on the ground.
03. Create a sense of depth
When composing shots, we often think in two dimensions initially, but an image with a sense of depth can be much more eye-catching. An easy way to create this with your iPhone is to shoot a close-up subject against a blurred background (you can also do the opposite, with the main subject behind a slightly blurred object in the foreground).
Your phone will automatically guess the focus on what it thinks is the subject of your photo, but it doesn't always make the best choice. To focus elsewhere, just tap the screen to override the phone selection, then experiment with including different elements at different depths in your image.
The iPhone camera will automatically adjust when you move it around to adjust your composition, but you can lock focus by tapping the screen and holding your finger for a few seconds – AE/AF LOCK will appear in a yellow box at the top of your screen to let you know that focus and exposure have been locked, so you can move the phone around and recompose your shot without the camera trying to refocus on point.
Including lines in your composition can also help create a sense of depth. Long straight lines in a photo provide viewers with a roadmap that helps them make sense of the image. They can divide a photo into separate parts and direct the eye around it, giving the photo a greater sense of depth.
04. Don't use the flash
A night shot taken by our tester on the iPhone 13 without flash and night mode (Image credit: Future)
Photography is all about the use of light, which poses challenges when shooting dark scenes. Fortunately, recent iPhones perform much better in low light, which means you won't often need to use a flash anymore.
The light cast by the phone flash is cold, harsh, and woefully unflattering, whether you're snapping a photo of a person or your dinner party. Diffused light is much better, so if you're shooting at night, try to take advantage of any other light sources you might have on hand before resorting to flash (or check out our guide to the best ring lights). The same goes for night mode. Although it looks much better than before, it may look unnatural or too bright to truly represent the night scene you saw with your eyes.
05. Avoid blurry photos
iPhone camera sensors are getting better and better, but a shaky camera can still lead to blur. The iPhone is so thin that sometimes even pressing the shutter button with your finger or thumb is enough to cause a shake. But there are solutions for this. The iPhone camera timer isn't just for group selfies. It allows you to take any photo without having to physically press the shutter button. Just set the timer, then you can focus on holding the camera down while it takes the shot.
If you take short exposures, you can use the timer and just hold the phone steady with both hands. For longer exposures, such as in low light, you'll need a hand grip or tripod (or some improvised stand) to hold your phone steady. To avoid camera shake in video, check out our guide to the best iPhone gimbals for our favorite options.
Of course, the use of the self-timer is preferable for photographing still subjects. Not everything that moves will necessarily wait for the timer to end. Another option is to use the volume buttons to take photos. It's not as stable as using the timer, but it often offers more stability than using the on-screen shutter, providing an option for moving subjects.
06. Use iPhone Camera Manual Mode
Our tester tests the camera on the iPhone 12 mini (Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
Using your iPhone's automatic settings makes it easy to take pretty decent photos, but it's often not the best way to take professional iPhone photos. Taking the time to enter manual mode and adjust exposure and focus yourself can help you achieve more creative images. Your phone is likely to often overexpose images that contain a shadow area, losing detail in the brightest part of the image, and sometimes it may be better to take a photo that's a bit too dark than too bright because you can bring back some shadow detail when you edit.
It is actually very easy to manually change the exposure without having to switch to manual mode. Simply tap the screen where you want to focus, then swipe up or down to increase or create the exposure.
07. Use portrait mode for portraits
Sometimes the best tips for taking professional photos with the iPhone are the most obvious. If you take portraits, use portrait mode. Some people are wary of dedicated modes because tech brands are used to including fancy features to achieve things that could be done better manually, often a lot of work has gone into creating these features and they really have a goal.
Portrait mode on the iPhone creates a shallower depth of field to make the subject stand out from the background, and it can create some really pop portraits. You'll find it right next to photo mode above the shutter button when you open the camera app.
08. Use HDR when you have scenes with lots of light and shadow
Images with lots of contrast can benefit from HDR (Image credit: Future)
Another built-in feature that is often overlooked or misused is HDR (high dynamic range). HDR photos solve the problem that arises with scenes that have very bright areas and very dark areas. This type of scene would normally result in an overexposed or underexposed image, but HDR combines multiple shots at different exposures to produce a composite image. Professional photographers do this manually by taking separate photos with different exposure settings and then merging them while editing, but your iPhone will have a pretty good chance of doing it for you.
When to use HDR? In any situation where you have a very bright area (like the sky) and a darker area that appears in shadow, like a mountain or any foreground detail that gets lost in the sky. You can manually turn HDR on or off in the Camera app by tapping the HDR icon at the top of the screen, but it's often best to set it to Automatic so the phone only uses it when the sensor of the camera deems it necessary. It's best to avoid using HDR all the time as it can make images look a bit flat if used unnecessarily.
09. Use burst mode for dynamic subjects
Pursue a moving object? Then burst mode is probably what you want to get the best images. Whether you or your subject are moving, taking a burst of several shots in very quick succession offers a greater chance that at least one of the shots will be perfect.
To take a burst photo, just press and hold the shutter button (or volume up button). A counter will appear at the bottom of the screen to tell you how many photos you are taking. To stop, just lift your finger and all images will be saved to your Camera Roll. If you want to use the volume up method, you need to enable it first. Go to Settings > Camera and select Use volume boost for burst.
10. Edit your photos
Subject selection in Lightroom can be used to isolate people without manually masking them (Image credit: Jason Parnell-Brookes)
While social media apps like Instagram have their own filters and editing options, they don't match dedicated editing apps and software. Editing can turn a good image into a fantastic one, and there are no shortage of tools. There are several free or very cheap apps available for iPhone including Big Lens, Snapseed.
If you're getting serious about your photography, we recommend considering photo editing software like Adobe's Lightroom, which now has a mobile version. check out our Lightoom review for more details on the software, or check out our guide to the best photo editing software.
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SOURCE: Reviews News
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