I have always loved taking photos. It’s a fun way for me to stretch my creative side all while collecting memories along the way. When I was little my mom would go spend a weekend with her girlfriends scrapbooking. She made my sister and me our own books filled with special moments throughout our childhood. I would spend hours curating the most perfect pages of pictures in my many scrapbooks growing up. To this day, my favorite school project was having to make a scrapbook of my senior year of high school for my English class. My most favorite scrapbook I ever made was the one I gave Chas for our one year dating anniversary.

All of that to say, for me, blogging has become like a scrapbook and I love getting to share this space with you. I wanted to do something a little different and share 5 tips for better iPhone photography, including my go to apps when I’m editing photos!

1. Lighting 

The lighting can make or break a photo. Tip: it’s best to have your photos under-exposed than over-exposed. You can always go in and brighten up a photo, but if it’s been over-exposed you lose a lot of the detail. If you tap on the subject on your camera of your phone a sunshine will pop up and you can slide the bar up or down to adjust the exposure.

2. Use Your Grid

A simple step that will help improve your photos is enabling the grid on your camera. To turn it on you go to settings, camera, and then you will see “grid.” This helps as a reference for keeping your photos straight which means less tweaking when you go to edit!

The grid also allows you to implement the Rule of Thirds. When composing a photo, place the subject where the lines intersect to create a more engaging photo. Your eyes are naturally drawn to the intersecting points on the grid. Play around with it and see!

3. Autofocus 

Did you know your phone can autofocus? If you press down on the area where you want to focus a box will pop up at the top “AE/AF Lock.” This is really helpful if you want to keep a particular subject in focus but want to try different angles!

4. Snap! Snap! Snap!

Very rarely do I end up loving the first photo I take of something with my phone. I like to have options, and options means getting multiple shots at different angles. If you were to scroll through my camera roll (which is nearing 10,000 photos… i’m not sure if I should be proud or embarrassed…) you might see fifteen images of the same subject all slightly different in some way. I get especially snap happy whenever we’re traveling somewhere new and I want to remember everything. My only problem is learning to delete.

5. VSCO 

The editing process is one of my favorite parts about photography once I’ve captured a moment that means something special to me. There are a few apps I use to edit my photos. I’ve been using the VSCO app ever since I started blogging. It’s simple, and I love the filters that allow me to bring my photos to life. There are so many packages you can buy within the app that offer different aesthetics to suit your style, but I keep going back to these favorites: The Aesthetic Series (A5 + A6), The Legacy Collection (05 + 06), and Vibrant Classic (C2 + C3) presets. Snapseed is another good app you can use to brighten up areas of your photos that are a little dull. I personally like my photos light and bright with a subtle increase in pink and blue tints.

Do you have any tips or tricks for getting better iPhone photos? Let me know in the comments below! Xx

bloom & grow forever,

Madeline Rose