Ask A Boston Expert: How To Take Better Pictures With Your Phone

With modern technology, phones can take photos which are almost as good as a standard point and shoot camera. So lighten your load by dumping your camera and becoming a pro at your phone's camera instead. Anna Burns, photographer and blogger extraordinaire, shares her tips for making phone camera shots look high quality and professional.

Anna Burns
Dear Friend Blog
dearfriendblog.com

Anna Burns is the blogger and photographer behind Dear Friend Blog, a Boston-based lifestyle blog that features local day-trips, happy vacations, and a deeper look at the simple joys in life. When she is not wandering around the city taking pictures, she is teaching second grade in Weston, planning her next weekend adventure, or getting excited about her upcoming wedding in June. Anna's photography can be found on her blog, in her Etsy shop, and on Instagram. Her handle is @nannerburns for those of you that like a bright and happy feed. Burns shares her top five tips for taking better smartphone photos.

Light is everything when taking good photos. Burns said look for the natural light. If you're shooting outside, the best light is usually in the morning or late afternoon. If you're inside try to find a spot by a window. Natural light helps the colors in your photo feel true to life. Sometimes sunny days are really hard that cause too many harsh shadows. If that's the case, find a spot in the shade to take photos. Rainy days produce some of the best light for photos.

iPhone tip: If your photo looks too dark on the screen, tap the dark area with your finger and the lighting should adjust. Tapping a photo also helps bring the photo into better focus.

If you're not using the grid in your camera app, turn it on right now. Go to settings, then Photos & Camera, then select on for the "Grid." Burns said she always take photos of her subjects looking straight at them. If you see a building you like in Boston or house on the Cape, stand directly in front of it square on. Having a delicious lunch that you just have to snap a memory of? Take the picture from up above. Your photos will have a cleaner look this way. Always look for lines in the scene to align the grid up with. Sometimes the grid helps create symmetry in a photo, and other times it is a good measure for the rule of thirds.

Always be on the Lookout

Always look for the opportunity to take a good photo. Photography is a great creative outlet so Burns said she is constantly looking at my surroundings to see if there's a possible shot somewhere around her. A lot of the time the shot is not obvious. Sometimes you need to look closer, and sometimes you need to step farther back. There's this quote from Mary Oliver that Burns said she thinks perfectly captures how she feels about telling the story of your life through photos. "Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it," Mary Oliver said.

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Don't be afraid to take three or 10 photos of the same scene. When you do this, you're bound to have one that you like better than the others. Burns said she usually plays with the lighting and the focus and also sometimes plays with the placement of the subject. It's also good to do this when you're photographing people. If you hold your finger on the camera button your phone goes into rapid fire mode. It's a great way to capture a candid scene, but just remember to delete any of the photos you don't use or you'll be scrambling for space later.

There are many awesome photo editing apps available and sometimes it can be hard to know which is best. Burns uses the VSCO cam app. The app is free and it comes with a handful of filters. You can add additional filters for an additional cost. "VSCO Cam is my favorite because it enhances my photos while still giving them a very natural feel," Burns said. Inside the app you can play with many different features like contrast, highlights, shadows, and brightness to make your photo better and more refined. It's kind of like having Lightroom in your pocket. These tools are powerful and amazing. Other camera apps Burns recommends are Snapseed, Camera+, and Afterlight. It's fun to experiment and see which is your favorite. Then don't forget to upload to Instagram or Facebook.

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