iPhone Photography Tips | 30 Day Photo Challenge | Guest Post

I’m excited to welcome Jeffri Moore to the blog today to give us some iPhone photography tips! What Jeffri can do with an iPhone and a few editing apps is nothing short of magical. She’s been a joy to have in our 30 Day Photo Challenges, and I was thrilled when she agreed to impart some of her wisdom on us! Make sure you follow her on Instagram!

Instagram started in 2010. Around July 2011, a friend showed me an image he had taken on his phone. He also showed me how he shared the image on Instagram. That was my introduction to Instagram and camera phone photography.

My first images were very basic and simple – a photo of my husband sitting on the couch, a picture of a garden ornament, etc. I used the filters provided by Instagram to edit the images before sharing them. I also shared a few of the images taken with my DSLR, even though the premise of Instagram was for sharing camera phone pictures.

As I looked at the images made by other Instagrammers, I saw some really cool stuff. Besides commenting on the images and telling the photographer how awesome their image was, I asked people what apps they were using to make their edits, as well as how they were making borders or frames, and adding text. Everyone was so helpful and eager to share what they were doing. So, I started playing with Marblecam, and apps to add borders and text; and more. I learned to make out-of-bounds images just using my iPhone or iPad to do the edits. I purchased a set of lenses for my iPhone playing with fisheye and macro images. I was bitten by the camera phone “bug!”

I love the simplicity and easily accessible nature of camera phone photography. I always have my phone with me; so, if I see something that catches my eye, I take a few pictures of it – from a friend’s beautiful cat to awesome clouds on the way to work to really cool high heels on the feet of a co-worker. Check out my Instagram images sometime and you’ll see what I do with my phone camera. I can then edit an image when I’m at the doctor’s office or at home since my phone is always with me. Some edits take minutes and some edits take longer. The longest I spent editing an image was a few hours.

I am an artist and have a creative mind, so, I find I have a passion for taking my images one step beyond what I originally captured. I love playing with apps that have different filters or effects; and when I’m done editing, I add a frame and my signature, before sharing the image with others.

A few iPhone photography tips I would offer to new camera phone photographers:

(1) Take time to learn how to use your phone’s camera and/or a third-party camera app when needing/wanting a slow shutter speed or if you just want to have more control over the exposure.

(2) Become familiar with basic photography techniques to understand how important light is to making a good photograph, as well as knowing some of the basic rules of composition.

(3) Open your eyes to the world around you. There are so many cool things to see and capture with your camera.

(4) Ensure your images have a straight horizon – for example, an image of a beach scene; unless you want to make it obviously crooked for a creative reason. In Snapseed, it takes one minute (or less) to use the Rotate tool to straighten an image. Please consider taking the time to do so. Look at your before and after images, and you’ll see how much better the “after” image looks!

Here are some of my favorite apps for iPhone – some are not available for android phones:

Snapseed – The best camera phone editing app there is. (Also available for androids.) There is so much you can do with Snapseed. I encourage you to check out the many great tutorials available online for learning how to use all the different tools in Snapseed – especially the Tune Image, Selective, Rotate, Brush, and Healing tools.

Photo Transfer – I used this to easily & quickly transfer image files from my phone to my iPad or computer.

Manual – Custom Exposure Camera – A great third-party camera app that gives the user full control over your camera’s settings. (Try Manual Camera for androids.)

Slow Shutter (not Slower…) (Try Camera FV-5 Lite for androids.)

True HDR – For taking HDR images and/or for using existing bracketed images and combining them. Then, I still take the finished image and work with it in Snapseed. (Pro HDR Camera for androids.)

TouchRetouch – Really cool app for removing distracting elements in your images. (TouchRetouch for androids.)

Juxtaposer – Image editing app that used layers for combining images. (Try Layerer for androids.)

OutColor2 – For creating out-of-bounds images. (No android equivalent.)

TangledFX – Adds strokes and swirls to your image. (Try Painteresque for androids.)

Brushstroke – Transforms photos into paintings with different settings you can adjust. (Try Infinite Painter for androids.)

Impression – Great for one-line text; I use this for placing my signature on images. (Try Add Watermark for androids.)

Phonto or Textmatic – For adding text with lots of styles and fonts available. (There is a Phonto for androids.)

Here’s my typical workflow:

The order in which you use the apps and edit an image is important. Think it through – for example, you will want to fix the overall exposure of an image (or parts of an image) before applying a texture; or, you would use a blur effect before applying a texture or adding text.

(1) Choose an image.

(2) Snapseed is usually the first place I go to edit the image. I can crop, make any necessary adjustments for exposure, contrast, etc. I might experiment with one of the filters. If there is no more work (or fun) to be done with the image, I’ll add a frame, save the image, close Snapseed; then, open Impression and add my watermark. Then, the image is ready to share.

Or:

-I might edit an app using TrueHDR if combining two differently exposed images into one; TouchRetouch to remove unwanted objects; or any of the many apps available to add filters, textures, make a collage, etc.

-I’ll get creative with apps such as OutColor2, Color Splash, ToonPaint, Brushstrokes, etc.

-I can get really creative with apps like Juxtaposer or PhotoLab.

-Add text using Phonto or Textmatic, etc.

-Then, I go back to Snapseed to add a frame; save; close out; and,

-Add watermark/copyright with Impression.

-Share my image via text, Facebook, Instagram, or save to make a photo book.