I used to take my bulky digital SLR camera with me on every trip, along with its assortment of lenses, tripods and attachments. I had a separate piece of luggage to carry it all. Now I just take my iPhone because the camera on it has gotten so good that it basically replaces everything else I used to carry. Is it just as good as the 25 pounds of gear it replaced? No, not 100%. But it’s pretty close if you know how to use it. And it comes with a host of advantages, not the least of which is that it allows me to travel light. Below are 7 tips for taking fantastic travel photos with just your iPhone (Note: I use an iPhone, so my advice is specific to that, but most other phone brands have similar features.)
Adjust focus and exposure. The iPhone automatically focuses on what it thinks you’re trying to take a picture of, but sometimes it gets it wrong. To sharpen the focus on your subject, just frame your shot and then tap the screen where you want to focus. A yellow box will appear to indicate the new focus point. Next to the yellow box will be a yellow vertical line with a little sun icon on it. This will allow you to adjust the exposure of the photo. Swipe up to make it brighter or down to make it darker. This feature can help you take silhouette photos, like the one of me in Alaska below (Note: If this article was emailed to you, the sample photos may not display correctly. To view them properly, just visit our website.).
Use Night mode. Night mode should come on automatically when you’re shooting in low light. Look for the little moon icon at the top of your camera screen. If it’s white, it’s available to use, but not automatically on. To turn it on just click it and adjust the slider that appears at the bottom of the frame. If it’s yellow, it’s already turned on and you’ll see a number next to it. The number represents the exposure time. For example, “2s” means that the exposure is set for two seconds. In normal light, the shutter would only stay open for a fraction of a second. But in the example above, the shutter would stay open for two seconds to allow more light to hit the camera sensor. You need to hold your camera steady while the shutter is open, otherwise the picture will turn out blurry. For longer exposures, it’s best to use a tripod. I shot the photo below using Night mode during a camping trip to the Mojave Desert.
Use Portrait mode. Next time you’re taking a photo of someone, switch to Portrait mode to create professional looking portrait photos. It keeps the subject in focus and blurs the background of the photo. It also blurs out imperfections around the outline of our subject. Portrait mode works best when your subject is a certain distance away, so the iPhone will tell you to move closer or further away if necessary. Newer iPhones also have different portrait lighting effects that you can choose. These can brighten your subject’s face (Studio Light), remove the actual background and add a black one (Stage Light), or turn the subject into grayscale and change the actual background to white (High Key Mono). Below is a Portrait mode photo of my wife and I on a recent trip to France.
Use Burst mode. Burst mode allows you to take better action photos. Rather than trying to capture a fast-moving subject by simply pressing the shutter button, you can enable Burst mode and your camera will shoot 10 photos per second. That increases the likelihood that at least one of those photos will be the perfect shot. You can enable Burst mode in two ways. The first is by simply framing your shot and then sliding the shutter button to the left and holding it there. Your camera will shoot 10 photos per second for as long as you hold it. Another way is to open your settings, click Camera and then click the slider next to Use volume up for Burst. That will allow you to use your up-volume button to shoot Burst. After shooting a burst, you can review the photos, select the ones you want and delete the rest. To do this, open the Photos app, find your burst, tap to open it, tap Select at the bottom of the screen, select the ones you want to keep, tap done and tap Keep Only Favorites. Below is a Burst photo of a bird taking off as I approached it on a hike in Washington.
Switch between lenses. The number of lenses varies by model, but the current iPhone pro model comes with three lenses: ultra-wide, wide and telephoto. You can easily switch between lenses by opening your camera and then, at the bottom of the screen, clicking on either .5 (ultrawide), 1x (wide) or 3 (telephoto). Ultrawide is great if you’re trying to take a picture of something that is too big to fit in your normal frame (see the photo of Reims Cathedral below). Wide is good for normal shooting and that is the default setting. Telephoto is great when you need to zoom in to capture the shot you want.
Shoot macro. Macro photography is when you shoot small objects (e.g. insects, flowers) extremely close up so they appear larger than life. It’s usually challenging because if you don’t have the right lens, your camera won’t focus properly on the subject. You can shoot macro on your iPhone, but first you need to enable it in your settings. Click Settings, then Camera, then scroll down and click the slider next to Macro Control. Then open your camera app and get extremely close to your subject and you’ll notice a little yellow flower pop up on the bottom of your screen. That means Macro mode is enabled and you can take your shot. If you move away, the flower icon will disappear and the camera will revert to its normal settings.
Turn on your grid lines. One of the most basic rules of photography is the rule of thirds. It is a compositional technique used to create more interesting pictures. Imagine that the picture you want to take is divided into thirds both horizontally and vertically. Important elements of your photo should fall somewhere on those lines. For example, in the photo below, I’m near the left third and the plane starts near the bottom third. To help with composition, you can turn on gridlines that will appear on your screen while you’re taking a photo. To turn on the grid, open Settings, select Camera and click the toggle next to Grid.
Most of the tips above relate to camera functions and settings. To take great photos, you also need to think about things like light, composition and subject choice. Here’s an old article from the IR archives discussing those things. Some of the equipment suggestions are out of date, but the other tips still apply. Now the only thing left to do is hit the road and try things out for yourself. Good luck!
Be Intentional,
Joe