How to take amazing pictures with your mobile phone.
We are all gear heads when it comes to photography as we often get lost in the fantasy that better equipment means amazing images. Hold up! i’m not saying better photography gears do not have reasons behind them been better or expensive.I can as well tell you, someone picking up a Canon 1Dx mark ii camera as a new bee or an amateur photographer cant produce images made from a entry level camera like a canon rebel, shot by a professional photographer.
What does this mean?
This simply means photography is more about the person behind the camera and not about the camera or gear u own. A camera and other Photography gears are machines that needs be told what to do by a human, before they can take action. A camera cant shoot nobody itself.
So you can own an Iphone and still make amazing pictures if you know how to use it correctly, u can own an entry grade camera and still produce amazing images people will resonate with and book clients or make big sale from.
And knowing how to use your camera all boils down to your knowledge of photography. Photography as the word implies is Photo - meaning light And Graphy according to Wikipedia means field of study. Therefore photography is the study of light.
So there’s no way you want to produce an image without the use of light and not just the use of light, but the study of the way light works.
In other words for you to be able to get the best from the gear you own in producing a picture you should understand how light works.
WHAT, WHEN AND WHERE.
What light to use
Assume u just starting out, the only and best light you got is the God given light which is the natural light(Sunlight).you can make epic images from this as people have grown business worth millions from using natural light only, example of such people is Sue Bryce.
Shooting with natural light is easy as you can pick up your phone and get images from this with a click of a button on your phone but wait!! Click the button when the light is right, and when composition is right too.
Firstly, I could shoot a fashion image of someone by bringing my friend out in the sun by positioning him in a way that
He stands diagonal to the direction of the sun i.e a little sun on his face and then a shoot from short side (shadow part) facing the camera.
Reason i would do this is never ever make your background look blown out. i.e you should always see details at the back of your subject.
So that means i exposed for the sun/background therefore making the background pefectly exposed and since the same sun is hitting my subjects face, he gets exposed correctly.
Secondly, i can turn my friend facing the sun directly although would prefer this in the evening or early in the morning as the sun wont make he/she squint and light would look soft at that time making the image turn out looking amazing. Therefore the background looks well lit at the same time.
And lastly i would ask my subject to turns his back against the sun therefore making his shadow fall towards me. Now wait!, this is where your mobile phone would act up by making your friend underexposed ie less light as u cant see any details or make ur friend look perfectly exposed while making your background look blown out. So while in this situation, heres how you can fix your mobile phone from deciding for you and ruining your picture.
if i can get a white material (clothes, reflector disc, or a white board, any white material etc) you can hold it up and reflect the sun from behind your subjects to his/her face then get a good picture this way.
When to shoot
I would prefer taking pictures early in the morning or late in the evening (golden hour sun light) because the sun is often at an angle at this times and likewise the light at this times are often soft and looks great on your subjects skin.
I don’t like high noon as the sun is directly 90 degree on your subject very hard to shoot with this type of lighting and it turns out to be an hard light or harsh light in which your subject would be squinting all through the photoshoot .. as it’s preferably the sun is at an angle
Remember the Sun rises at the east and sets at the west, therefore shifting the angles of the sunlight at different time of the day.
Where to shoot
When you just have to shoot at high noon, you can always try looking for shade to move your subject into for the images, Things that can cast shadows like a tall tree, sides of buildings etc. Therefore creating a soft natural light for your phone photography or outdoor photography.
Here’s some images shot on an iphone and likewise video attached below to give more insight toward the long talk i had above.
Cheers.
Tim Mcbaj.