We have reached peak time of year for vacations! And we all want to make sure we capture all the fun family time. But how will you get the best photos ever when all you have is a cell phone?
Don’t worry, I got you.
No matter if you have an iphone or android you can use these tips. It’s not about the camera, it’s about how you use it. What makes a good photo? A lot of things.
For a technically good photo you will want:
- You want to make sure your subject is in focus. If your family is the subject they will need to be in focus. If you are capturing the dramatic landscape, you will want it all in focus.
- Your brightness to be right, not too dark, not too bright.
- Watch out for distracting junk. If there’s a stick in the front that keeps drawing your eye, move it. If something is too big (or you don’t want to move nature) try a different angle. Take a step to the side. Go higher or lower.
- Make sure your horizon is straight. No one wants to look out into the ocean and have to tilt their head.
And a few tips to create some eye-popping images:
- Look for the best light. I know it’s not everyone’s favorite time of day but sunrise has some of the best light for photos! If you can’t drag yourself out of bed, you can always create amazing photos at sunset too! High noon is the worst time for photos so avoid if you can. And cloudy days? The best for shooting all day long!
- Make sure your photo, or photos, tell a story. Why are you taking this photo? What do you want it to say or represent? Personally, I like candid shots of my friends and family as I think you get more story than with a posed shot. You can always take those too but make sure to get some of your kids exploring the lake!
- Keep it simple. Have you heard the saying from Coco Chanel about putting on whatever accessories you want and then removing one? Think about that when comprising your shot.
- And keeping with that simple, find an interesting composition. Don’t place your human subject in the center of the photo. Put them to one side. If you have a big blue sky with no clouds, out it in the top third and let your mountain or flower dominate the frame.
And lastly, we are going to edit our photos! Don’t worry, I promise you don’t need to learn Photoshop! As with accessories and things in your image, less is more with editing. One of my favorite mobile editing apps is Adobe’s Lightroom. It’s free in the app store and super easy to use for basic edits. I’ve also used Google Snapseed in the past and it also works well!
Where to start? Once you’ve opened the app and loaded your photos, tap the photo you want to edit.
- Click the auto. It is a great starting point, especially if you have never edited photos before.
- Click color next. It will say white balance as shot. If you want you can click the drop-down and try auto. Don’t like that? Go back to as shot (these phones do a pretty great job with white balance).
- Click effects and scroll down to vignette. I like to do between -10 and -15. You don’t want too much but darkening the corners a tad really highlights your subject.
- Click detail and slide the sharpening over. For people stick to around 35. For landscapes, you can do 45-65.
- Optional: Click optics and turn on remove chromatic aberration and enable lens corrections. Usually, Lightroom will do a good job of selecting your correct phone and lens but if it looks wonky, you can change the phone & lens. Or turn it off.
And done! Now you have an edited photo you can save to your phone or share to email, social media, and other places! That’s not so bad huh?
Would you like me to do a video walking through a simple Lightroom mobile edit? Let me know in the comments!
Where are you traveling this summer? Will you try to get some great photos and edit them? Join The Desert Adventurer Group and ask any questions you may have for me and/or share your best travel photos! I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
