How to Take Stunning Pictures with an iphone

Blue Skies
Jun 16, 2020
3 min read

Updated: Sep 16, 2020

1. Check Lighting

One of the most important things when taking a photo is making sure you have the right lighting. You don’t want too much direct light on your subject or the photo will be too bright, and you don’t want too little light on your subject, because it can create a lot of noise and grain.

Light directly over your subject will create too much light. Thus, a noon photoshoot is not recommended. You can make sure you have enough lighting by taking your pictures after sunrise, or before the sunset, and make sure your subject is not in the shadow of anything. Overall, I would opt-for either a mid- morning or late afternoon photoshoot.

If you find yourself in a moment in which you cannot control the lighting around you, I recommend using your iPhone’s autofocus feature. To use: tap on the subject in which you are photographing on your iPhone screen. A little yellow box should appear, with a sun icon on the right. Slide the sun upwards to increase the lighting, slide the sun downwards to decrease the lighting. ( Step-by Step instructions below)

How to change lighting using autofocus

1. Tap on subject.

2. Yellow box with sun icon appears.

3. Slide the sun icon up to increase brightness.

4. Slide the sun icon down to decrease lighting.

5. Keep adjusting the brightness until you find the perfect brightness.

2. Figure Out Your Angle

The angle in which your photo is taken is what makes the statement for you.

A close up of the subject, makes a strong statement, as it encourages the viewer to pay attention to that subject. (But don’t get too close to the subject, as it may appear blurry in the shot).

A close up photo of a leaf.

An aerial photo provides a relaxing tone, especially if the subject is symmetrical.

An aerial photo of a flower bud from above

A shot from under the subject, can provide silhouettes if the subject is between the lighting source and the camera.

A photo from under a tree.

An angled shot draws enough attention to the subject without it being too flashy, or too dull.

An angled photo of a flower.

3. Focus, Focus, Focus

Are you planning to take photos of one object or multiple objects? Is the object(s) moving or remaining still?

If you plan to take a photo of a single stationary object, I recommend you use the autofocus feature on your iPhone.

To use the autofocus feature to focus on single object, press and hold the object you are photographing on your iPhone screen. Eventually a yellow box will appear around the object, on your screen. Make sure to press and hold the yellow block until the words AE/AF LOCK appear on the top of your screen. This means the autofocus in locked on the subject. (See step-to-step guide below) I recommend playing around with the focus until it is just right.

If you are taking a photo of multiple objects, I recommend setting the autofocus between the two objects. (see the instructions for autofocus below) As the lighting and focus will balance out between the two objects.

For a moving object(s) a recommend using the autofocus feature. For one object set the focus on directly on the object, while for multiple objects set the focus between the multiple objects.

REMINDER: Moving photos are extremely hard to capture and may take several attempts.