Whether your goal is to make your Instagrams pop or to gain a bit more photography knowledge, knowing little tips and tricks for each kind of camera is very important. Popular choices for photo-lovers right now are the iPhone cameras, instant cameras like Polaroids and FujiFilm (flashback anyone?) and DSLR cameras for those who have a passion for a professional touch.
iPhone Camera
As iPhone cameras have evolved in the past few years, they now have a fairly decent camera. Built in features such as filters, grids and lenses help even the most amateur user get a fairly decent photo. To help your own photos, try experimenting with some of these!
Definitely give the grid setting a whirl. It will help you compose photos better than just free-handing it.
If you are capturing an action shot, hold down the button to create a shutter/burst shot. This way, you get many frames of the action and are bound to get the perfect shot. The newer iPhone has another setting that allows you to take a moving photo, which can similarly ensure that you capture the entire moment instead of a blurry shot here and there.
Avoid zooming in and out when at all possible. You have definitely noticed how blurry images get when you’ve over zoomed. Sometimes this is unavoidable, but the closer you get to your subject, the better your photo will turn out!
When editing photos on your phone, adjust the saturation and brightness of the photo before you apply a filter. You can do this right in the camera app or on another app like Instagram, Snapseed or VSCO.
Instant Cameras
Instant cameras are having a comeback to popularity with the hipster generation, but this is nothing to complain about since the photos are always cute and have a nice vintage tinge to them.
Natural light is always the best for these kinds of cameras (for any camera actually) because they will produce the most vibrant colors.
Unfortunately with the price of the film (nearly $10 for only 20 photos), you can’t take a thousand photos in order to get the best one. So for these photos, practice a bit of staging before you go in for the shot. Set your scene the way you want it and make sure your friends are ready for the picture. The worst is when one person in the group is sneezing or looking the other way.
Think of a fun or descriptive caption to write in the white boarder before your post the photo on Instagram or hang it up on your wall. The benefit of these photos is to help you remember a specific moment in time, so be sure to label it! (Think Taylor Swift 1989)
DSLR Cameras
DSLR cameras have definitely come down in price over the last few years, but these professional-grade cameras are still in the hundreds of dollar range. If you do get the chance to experiment with one of these cameras however, you will take some of the best photos of your life.
First of all, take the setting off of auto or any of the automatic settings, like nature or portrait. Give manual a try and find a balance with the f-stop and exposure settings that works best for the environment that you are in. To figure out these settings, look at the camera’s manual since they vary from model to model.
With DSLRs, zooming is not nearly as much of an issue as it is with the iPhone, but still play with angels and up close shots in order to capture the most detail. Cameras like these can get great detail, especially with micro lenses, so take advantage of these shots.
Since it is digital, you can take as many photos as your memory card can hold, which can be well into the thousands if you get a good one. In this case, feel free to experiment with angels, poses, staging, candid and movement shots. Don’t feel constrained to point-and-shoot shots. Cameras like this are built for professionals so step into the shoes of one!
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