Because Every Vacation Deserves Fantastic Photos!

Clean Your Camera Lens.

This may sound silly, especially those with children. Of course, your photos will come out blurry if your lens is smudged with fingerprints or crumbs.

Quickly access your camera.

Do you miss opportunities to snap a great pic? There is a simple way to access the camera.  When your phone is locked, wake the phone by tapping on the screen, then simply swipe left to open the camera app.

Zooming in.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when taking a photo is to zoom in on your object. By zooming in you lose much of your data, resulting in blurry pictures.  Instead, move closer to your object and don’t zoom in until after the photo is taken.  Then crop to your liking.  The resolution will be much better providing you with a clearer photo.

Adjust the exposure.

Tap the brightest spot you see on your screen, a small yellow box with a sun icon will mark your focus area and exposure level. To make your image brighter or darker, tap and swipe up or down without lifting your finger to increase or decrease exposure. You should see the sun icon move up or down by dragging your finger.

Use the grid and follow the “rule of thirds”.

The photography rule says that a picture should be divided into nine equal parts using horizontal and vertical lines, and objects should be placed along those lines or their intersections. Most cameras come with the option to overlay a grid on the viewfinder.  If using an iPhone, go to settings> open the camera> select grid. Now experiment with placing objects along those lines and intersections instead of placing them in the middle of the screen.

Burst Mode.

This feature is great to take selfies or pictures of children/pets as they are constantly in motion.  This also works for water splashing or any action shot. Take bursts by simply holding down the shutter button to take a several consecutive shots.  When you’re done snapping, open up your camera roll to see all the options. Choose Select and pick your favorites before deleting the rest.

Steady your camera.

Try using the volume button to take a picture instead of pressing your iPhone screen. Instead of tapping the capture button on your iPhone screen, which can shake your camera, hold your phone horizontally with both hands and press either the volume up or volume down button. Even better, try using the volume button on a pair of your headphones. When your iPhone camera app is open, you can press the volume up or down button on your wired apple headphones to snap a photo.

Favorite Editing App.

Lightroom for iphone, hands down my favorite for editing photos.  Lightroom takes some getting used to, but can really maximize the beauty in each photo.  I am still learning and certainly will never know it all, but this app really is my favorite.  In this sample, you can see how I edited the temperature, dynamics and color mix.  If you love the filter you created, you can always save your preset and use it again later.

iPhone Camera Editing.

The example photos below were taken in portrait mode.  I selected edit> enhancement wand (at the top right)>the dial on the very bottom of the screen>from here I played with light, color, etc. to make the image look the best it can be.