As Christmas attracts nearer and lights, timber, shows and all kinds of festive actions (together with snow within the UK!) start to seem, you is likely to be tempted to seize the second in your cellphone. However whereas iPhones (and most Android telephones) are first rate point-and-shoot cameras, there’s extra to capturing the proper winter pictures than merely pointing and capturing.
From framing to digital camera modes, there are lots of methods to show a really common snap into one thing that appears prefer it was shot by a professional. Whether or not you’re taking images of your Christmas tree, a snowy scene on the park or your loved ones carrying matching Christmas jumpers as they tuck into Turkey on the massive day, these dozen ideas ought to assist enormously.
So, with out additional ado, right here’s how one can get essentially the most out of your iPhone’s digital camera this Christmas, together with some ideas and methods from Tech Advisor’s resident professional photographer, Dominik Tomaszewski.
In abstract
- Clear your digital camera lenses
- Body your shot properly
- Inform a narrative together with your pictures
- Take away any distractions
- Use a telephoto lens the place potential
- Disable the built-in flash
- Use Evening Mode at evening
- Strive Burst Mode
- Use the Professional capturing mode or a third-party app
- Shoot in RAW
- Edit your images
1. Clear your cellphone’s lenses
Though a soft-focus impact is likely to be what you’re after, it’s a good suggestion to test and clear your digital camera lenses earlier than you're taking any images – not simply these at Christmas. Make certain they’re away from any smudges, mud or different particles out of your pocket or bag.
They will have a large impact on the standard of the pictures taken – particularly if there’s an enormous fingerprint on the lens.
2. Body your shot
Framing is likely one of the most essential components, and it’s tougher than you would possibly assume. Contemplate the topic of the picture, be it a Christmas tree, lights and even folks in festive jumpers.
When taking group household images, get far sufficient again (or use an ultra-wide lens) so that you don’t reduce folks’s ft out of the picture. Alternatively, transfer nearer for a waist-up shot.
If capturing just one or two folks, put them off-centre for a extra pleasing look.
Additionally, think about the background. Is it too busy or distracting? Transfer round till the background appears good. You too can do that to eradicate undesirable objects from the picture. Though some telephones can cleverly take away objects or folks, it’s greatest to take the shot you need the primary time.
The identical goes for cropping. Don’t take all of your images utilizing wide-angle with the intention to crop them later. Get the framing proper once you take the picture.
Professional tip: take pictures out of your chest or hip. Taking images from head top together with your cellphone’s important wide-angle lens usually ends in barely distorted objects, particularly when taking them of different folks. We’re all used to seeing this so chances are you'll probably not discover it, however by altering to hip / waist top, you may make an enormous distinction to the look of your Christmas pictures.
3. Inform a narrative together with your pictures
Whereas images can exist in isolation, you’ll in all probability take multiple at Christmas. There’s the work Christmas celebration, the household get-together, Christmas decorations (indoor and out of doors) and – if you happen to’re lucky – snowy scenes to seize.
The thought is to search for fascinating particulars, akin to taking an image of somebody serving to arrange the celebration or choosing up meals on the buffet. These assist inform a narrative, fairly than merely having posed images of individuals.
Ideally, mute your cellphone to silence the shutter sound and take images with out telling folks. That eliminates the difficulty of awkward poses when folks know they’re being photographed. The candid look is far more pure, and likelihood is, your family and friends will actually respect the outcomes.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
4. Take away any distractions
If you wish to get the proper shot of your LED-emblazoned Christmas tree to share with your pals on social media, take away issues within the background that may distract from the principle focus of the shot.
That could possibly be the nook of a settee, folks or pets standing within the background, or perhaps a rogue plate of leftovers on a close-by countertop. A cleaner picture freed from distractions will present extra of an influence and look extra skilled.
5. Use a telephoto lens the place potential
The primary digital camera of any latest cellphone – together with all iPhones – is designed for capturing in each shiny daytime situations and low-light situations. But when there’s one potential draw back, it’s their wide-angle area of view, which isn’t splendid for each shot.
For portrait images and different close-ups, use your cellphone’s telephoto lens – if it has one. As a substitute of capturing a whole lot of stuff that you just don’t wish to concentrate on, zoom in utilizing a devoted 2x or 3x lens if potential to crop the shot. Simply keep in mind that this may scale back total picture high quality as many telephoto cameras have a decrease decision than the principle digital camera, or don’t carry out properly in low gentle, resulting in noisy, presumably blurry images.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
6. Disable the built-in flash
No matter whether or not you’re taking a photograph of your family members or attempting to take a snap of the snow exterior, it’s greatest to disable the flash. Whereas it may be helpful in some situations, the sunshine from the flash is all the time apparent in images and infrequently ends in a true-to-life picture.
In the event you do want some sort of fill gentle in your shot so as to add further gentle to the scene, think about using one other cellphone’s torch, an actual torch, or turning extra lights on.
7. Use Evening Mode the place potential
If utilizing a torch isn’t going to work, then swap to the iPhone’s built-in Evening Mode, accessible on the iPhone 11 and later. This actually shines on the newest iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Professional vary, however you’ll additionally discover it on many Android telephones.
The Evening Mode, because the title suggests, is for low-light pictures. This makes it splendid for taking pictures of the snow or different out of doors options at evening, with lengthy shutter speeds capturing as a lot gentle as potential.
Jim Martin / Foundry
Professional tip: use a tripod or relaxation your cellphone on a stable floor. This not solely reduces the shake out of your fingers when taking a protracted publicity shot, nevertheless it additionally lets you seize extra gentle, with the iPhone specifically providing as much as 30-second publicity on a secure floor in comparison with three seconds when handheld.
You too can allow a brief self-timer to set off the seize, as tapping on the display can introduce a slight wobble to pictures.
8. Strive Burst mode
The issue with flashing LED lights on Christmas timber and out of doors decorations is that they will change too shortly, making it more durable to nail that excellent shot. The identical may also be mentioned of group pictures, with it seemingly close to unattainable to get everybody to take a look at the digital camera and smile on the identical time.
In situations like this, it’s greatest to experiment with the burst mode, which takes a number of photographs per second and mechanically chooses the most effective – although you even have the choice of manually looking and deciding on your favorite.
Activating Burst Mode on an iPhone differs relying on the mannequin you've got; if you happen to’ve obtained an iPhone X or older, merely faucet and maintain the shutter button, whereas these with an iPhone XS or newer have to swipe the shutter button to the left and maintain.
To evaluation the burst photographs, faucet the burst picture within the Photographs app and faucet Choose within the bottom-right to browse and choose the principle picture. You too can discard all the opposite burst photographs when you’ve chosen, serving to maintain file sizes down.
On some Android telephones you would possibly discover a comparable mode, and it might even mechanically choose the ‘greatest’ picture.
Jim Martin / Foundry
9. Use the Professional capturing mode or a third-party app
In the event you’re capturing in low gentle or different difficult gentle situations, it’s in all probability a good suggestion to ditch the cellphone’s built-in ‘AI’ and manually modify your digital camera’s settings utilizing the Professional mode.
You possibly can entry professional instruments in any iPhone built-in Digital camera app by tapping the arrow on the high of the digital camera UI, mentioning a number of icons that allow you to modify components like publicity, although we’d suggest utilizing a third-party app like Halide if you happen to’re critical about your pictures.
Third-party apps present far more granular management over components like ISO, permitting you to seize the absolute best picture out of your iPhone. It’ll take a little bit of experimentation if you happen to’re new to the world of pictures, however the outcomes are normally price it.
10. Shoot in RAW
If you wish to seize the most effective Christmas photographs potential, we’d suggest capturing within the RAW picture format.
The RAW picture format, accessible on choose Professional fashions of iPhone, permits them to seize extra knowledge, making it significantly better for post-processing, notably in darkish areas. With customary pictures, particulars in shadows and highlights might be misplaced, however these might be introduced again with RAW pictures and a little bit of post-processing by way of the Photographs app.
Lewis Painter / Foundry
You would possibly discover the identical on some Android telephones, however not all can shoot in RAW.
Don’t go too wild with RAW photographs although – they take up far more area than customary JPG or HEIC recordsdata. Put it aside for these particular pictures that basically have to look their greatest.
11. Edit your images
All telephones do their greatest to mechanically course of photographs to make them look interesting, however you may normally enhance upon this with a little bit modifying to actually make them pop.
That may be something from including a filter (the iPhone’s Vivid filter makes colors brighter and lights actually stand out) to adjusting the publicity, brightness and different components to provide your picture a selected look. You might additionally add a black-and-white filter to snowy scenes for a powerful impact.
Lewis Painter / Foundry
Whether or not you've got an iPhone or Android, you might additionally use the Google Photographs app which gives the same set of modifying instruments. You possibly can go even additional and modify particular components of a photograph in others apps, such because the free Snapseed, or you might go the entire hog and switch them to your Mac or PC and edit them in Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop.
12. Take an influence financial institution
In the event you’re headed out within the chilly to take images of native Christmas lights, we’d advise wrapping up (after all!) and taking an influence financial institution with you.
The chilly temperatures most of us expertise over Christmas can have a detrimental impact on smartphone battery life, and also you would possibly discover it operating out quicker than regular – particularly if you happen to’re utilizing the Digital camera app usually.
An influence financial institution can present further juice when wanted, and relying on the capability you go for, they’re not that cumbersome or heavy. Check out our hand-picked number of the most effective energy banks if you happen to’re uncertain which to go for.