21st August 2023

How to Take Great Photos with your Phone

There are 4 rules we always follow when producing great photography and we think you should stick to them when taking photos with your phone too.

Plan – Even a small amount of planning goes a long way.
Prep – Get everything you need together before you start.
Execute – Get snappy, use your plan as inspiration but you don’t have to stick to it. Good ideas can be spontaneous.
Edit – Even a small amount of editing can completely change the look and feel of a photo.

Planning your photos

Planning is important for any creative task, it helps give you, inspiration, confidence, and vision.

Plan out each photo you want to take, create a moodboard, add all the information you need to it. This could be:

A description of the photo
What dimensions/aspect ratio it needs to be in
Where it is going to be used e.g. Instagram
The location it will be shot in e.g. a studio
What angle you want to use e.g. straight on, top down etc.

Check out the planning sheet we use.

Preparing your photos

This one is easy but often overlooked. Ask yourself, what do you need to make the photo a success?

Props – Make a list of what props you need to buy, what props you already have that you need to organise and who is buying them/bringing them to the shoot
Location – Are you shooting lifestyle in situ, in a studio or outside. Make sure you source this ready for the shoot day
Models – Do you need a person in the photo? Or even their hands or a foot? No budget who do you know that can help?
Lighting – Light makes a photos, can you shoot by a window or outside? Do you have a ring light or reflectors you can use?
Equipment – Get all your tripods, lights and anything else you might need ready before you start

Execute (aka take your photos!)

Now you have everything ready you can just crack on shooting with confidence!

Just remember:

The plan is for guidance you can change it up on the day
Take lots of photos and cull the bad after
Get options, angles, locations, different setups, you might as well get it all while you are shooting
Just get stuck in

Edit your photos

Don’t forget to edit your photos. A good photo can always be better. Changing it to a warm tone can give it an all-new feel. Upping the contrast can make the subject of the image really stand out!

You can edit:

In-app for example on Instagram
Directly in the photo app on your phone
Or with more professional apps like Lightroom for mobile

Mobile phones are so powerful now you don’t even need a computer.

Tips and Tricks

Finally, I wanted to leave you with a few thoughts on how to make you photos even better.

Rule of thirds – Turn the grid on your phone on so you can compose your images more easily
Try changing the F stop/Aperture to add those arty blurred backgrounds
Use portrait mode
Look for leading lines and symmetry in your images
Hold you phone upside down to change the angle and give a different view
Don’t forget to look up if you are out and about and also behind you there is always something good to be photographed that you haven’t seen
Try switching up the lens you use on the camera if you have them, wide angle can capture more of the scene and telephoto can make distant object look closer behind your subject

All the photos were taken by our team after following this guide.