So you got yourself an iPhone 7 Plus. Great camera. And you’re thinking – Christmas is coming, I’ll get some great new snaps of the kids and family. Here’s some great tips and advice on getting the most from that great camera.
Did you know that eight of the top ten camera types used on popular photo uploading and sharing site Flickr are iPhones?
Yep, the iPhone 6, 5s and 6s are the top three most used cameras – not smartphone cameras – just cameras, on Flickr.
Amazing really.
Shot on iPhone 7 Plus in Portrait Mode
And the new King is the iPhone 7 Plus. It’s dual lens camera allowed software engineers at Apple to build a stunning feature called “Portrait mode” which gives the effect of an expensive and bulky DSLR camera from within the iPhone camera app!
Here’s some tips to get the most from your iPhone 7 Plus:
- To use the new Portrait mode, make sure you have installed the very latest version of iOS (iPhone 7 Plus didn’t ship with Portrait mode, it’s been added since then!) – Then launch the Camera and select “Portrait.”
- Portrait mode guides you in real-time with a live preview of the depth effect, including how to best distance the camera from the subject – you can’t be too close, or too far away.
- The further your subject is from your background, the more pronounced the blur effect will be.
- Shoot against a non-solid background to get the most out of the depth effect – Kids against a white wall for example won’t look much different in Portrait mode. Put them outside in the garden area.
- Pay attention to the guide in Portrait mode that tells you if you need more light in the shot. Dark rooms or even low light will just result in a blurry effect.
- If shooting more than one person, make sure to keep in the same distance from the camera – otherwise one person will be in focus and the others maybe not so much!
- This is a tough one, but the more still the kids (old and young) stand, the better the outcome.
- If you’re hoping to be in the photo yourself – Set a timer for 3s or 10s so you can get into the shot, or ask a friend to help out
- Even smartphones can be used on a tripod. If you’re planning a lot of photos – invest in a small tripod with a smartphone attachment.
And finally, some apps to help you get the most from the photo and even print them out as cards.
Apps for Giving Your Photo the Holiday Treatment
Snapseed: I use this all-the-time. Outstanding app for making colours pop and adding life to a photo. Free and easy to use.
VSCO: Shoot and edit your images with preset filters (much better than Instagram etc) and also advanced camera controls.
Enlight, $5.99: Enhance and even decorate your photos with a bunch powerful array of tools.
Camera +, $4.49: Create professional-looking photos with minimal effort, with manual controls for shooting, plus loads of filters, frames and other tweaks to make every shot right.
ProCamera $8.99: For professional iOS photography it’s hard to go past this one, provides a highly intuitive interface for beginners as well as an impressive array of DSLR-like controls for experts
Shot on iPhone 7 Plus with Portrait Mode – See how important a busy background is?
Printing photos and cards:
Picture Postie Australian developed app focussed on delivering a fast and efficient photo printing service for busy families. The app lets you select your favourite photos from your camera roll and social pages, make edits and apply filters before hitting print. The photos are then delivered to your door in a few days. You can also easily order quality Photo Books, Photo Magnets, Canvas, Photo Blocks, Calendars, and Wall Decals.
Snapfish: Order prints, cards and more from Snapfish for iPhone
Touchnote: Use your iPhone photos to create and send personalised postcards