Since the advent of smartphones, the world of photography has become no longer an exclusive club in which members shell out thousands of pounds for specialised equipment and throw around terms such as ‘aperture’ and ‘purple fringing’ that befuddled the majority of us who tended to stick to throwaway Kodak’s when on holiday. On the contrary, now that every smartphone user carries cutting edge technology around in their pockets, it seems that everyone and anyone can be a great photographer; but does this mean that everyone does take great photos? Unfortunately not. Even top-notch equipment can be rendered useless in the wrong hands, so this is why I’ve compiled a list of the top 10 tips that will give any budding photographer the edge when it comes to snapping the most impressive shots.
1. Be App-solutely Fantastic
Whether you have a dusty old iPhone or the latest model, one thing is for sure: your photos can be improved with the use of apps. Do you love those retro images that the cooler of your friends upload onto Facebook, positing them all in a washed out fashion? No, you don’t need to decamp to a Brooklyn squat and learn how to play the synthesizer to achieve this look, just download Instagram free of charge and apply one of the many vintage filters to your smartphone’s camera. Want to spread a series of shots out in a grid, à la seaside photo booths? There is no need to treck to the coast, just get GridLens to divide one picture or several different shots over a few seconds and arrange them in a funky frame. The world of apps can do wonders for your smartphone photography skills; walk in and take a look around.
2. Share and share alike
There’s no point in taking a beautiful photograph and leaving it to fester in your Photo Library; get it out there! By joining the 100 million Instagram users, you can use this social media platform to share your snaps with your followers as well as drawing inspiration from other users whose photos show up in your feed. Instagram also has an array of gorgeous filters on which you can apply to your existing photographs in order to give them an innovative makeover. See, anyone can be artsy…
3. Don’t zoom, walk
No matter how attractive it may be to simply pinch your fingers and get closer to your subject, you are bound to lose some of the quality and end up with a pixelated version of what could have been. If the Good Lord gave you use of your legs then be thankful use them to trot over to what you’re snapping and get a proper close-up.
4. Stop and smell the flowers…
This may sound a little wishy-washy, but never forget to take a second to appreciate your surroundings. No, really, just have a quick look at what’s around you. No matter how drab or familiar your surroundings may seem, I guarantee that you can find something that, given the right angle, could make for a decent shot (unless, of course, you are reading this from inside a prison cell, in which case you should be putting your laptop to better use and start drafting a good defence for your trial). When you apply this philosophy to the whole wide world, the possibilities really are endless; a drizzly stroll to the shops could lead to you snapping the most beautiful rain-soaked rose bush or evocative shot of somebody waiting for a bus that never comes…you get the picture. Joss sticks are optional.
5. Tool up
We’ve all seen the James Bond movies where Q arms everybody’s favourite secret agent with a toothbrush that turns into a tank and a wristwatch that can pause time; well, your mission is no different to his (except for all the car chases, karate chopping and laser beams going up your you-know-where…), as you need to save the world from lame photography by snapping exemplary shots and sharing them with the masses. In order to do this, you should equip your smartphone with the latest gadgetry; from tripods and heavy-duty stabilisers to SLR mounts and zoom lens, there are a whole heap of accessories on the market that can turn your smartphone into a photographical force to be reckoned with. (Feel free to end this tip with your very own ‘shaken, not stirred’ pun…)
6. Make something of your work
If you’ve taken the shot of a lifetime and you aren’t satisfied in just letting bounce around the blogosphere, create a hard copy of it. Inkifi offer a range of services that allow customers to get their Instagram shots printed onto canvases, frames and greeting cards, allowing them to turn their digital image into something solid and real. Users can also sell their art via the website, giving them the opportunity to make a little cash to spend on the gadgets mentioned in the previous tip.
7. If at first you don’t succeed…
Yep, you guessed it, try, try, try again! It’s very rare to get the perfect shot on the first attempt, so even if you’re fairly happy with the result, take a few more for luck and decide on which one to keep in the editing process. This may mean that you have a few disgruntled models on your hands, but they’ll be much happier with a great shot as opposed to just a good one.
8. Hold it!
It doesn’t matter what model of smartphone you have, none of them are infallible and consequently there may be some time lags between you pressing the camera button, hearing the click and the phone actually saving the shot. It’s best to just pause for a second after you’ve taken the picture, just to be safe…after all, no one likes a blurred photograph except a defence barrister in court (Still reading in your prison cell? Take note!).
9. It’s next to godliness, you know…
Professional photographers transport their cameras around in felt-lined bags with caps over the lenses and towels on hand to wipe away even the tiniest speck of dust. We carry our smartphones around in our pockets or purses, where we also keep keys, loose change and half-eaten sandwiches (just me?)…ALWAYS REMEMBER TO CLEAN THE LENS!
10. Don’t go towards the light!
This may sound like an instruction that you would normally hear when lying in a hospital bed, but what I mean by this is to keep any light (be it the sun’s, a lamp or floodlights) behind you whilst it illuminates your subject instead of blinding the shot. Of course, if you’re taking pictures of the sea or a vast landscape then you can make the sun a feature, but a good rule of thumb is to turn your back to it. And who said that photographers think that the sun shines out of their backsides?!
This article was originally published on Inkifi, a unique website that allows users to print their Instagram photos onto a variety of canvases, frames and greeting cards; users can also sell their art via the website.
