Mobile photography tips for your blog

Soon after starting my blog, I realised the importance of good photography. In fact one of my main requirements was access to a good camera. I used to have a Canon EOS 1200D, and whilst it had everything I needed, it was too bulky to bring around with me. So now I have a Sony A5100 as well as my iPhone for mobile blog photography. Being a compact DSLR, it has all the functions of my old Canon, but now in a smaller body. Similar to other DSLRs, the lenses are also interchangeable.

This post is actually inspired by one of my favourite bloggers, Holly from The Kitty Luxe, who wrote about her own blog photography tips. After reading Holly’s post, I remembered how powerful the iPhone cameras actually were. I have an iPhone 6s and only really used it for pics for social media before then. But, using Holly’s tips, I learnt how to really appreciate the capabilities of mobile photography for my blog.

Composition

Before I go through my favourite editing apps, I wanted to share some basic photography skills I’ve picked up from various photographer friends and colleagues. The first and potentially one of the most important tips is composition. You should try to ensure you have given yourself the best chance of a good photo by firstly setting up the shot.

Think about what you’ll be using it for, will it be a landscape banner or perhaps a square crop for Insta? Because that is a crucial factor. You may need to widen the shot so that you get a bit more of the background in, so that when you come to crop it, you have more to play around with. The tip here is to make sure you frame the photo appropriately.

Full raw image without cropping.

Crop your image to focus on main subject in photo.

Light it up

Lighting is key for photography. This is critical when taking close-up shots, which is especially important for bloggers that take their own photos of make-up and accessories at home.

My tip here is to try and have as much natural light in the room as possible. This will come in extremely handy when it comes to editing your photos later. If your photo is not well-lit, you may need to up the brightness on the photo later, which will often distort other factors and either wash out certain colours or even clarity.

If you have better lighting initially, you will find less of a need to edit your photo later on.

Raw image, problem caused by image being back-lit.

Edited with Pixlr, for contrast and brightness.

Editing

The great thing about having access to photos on your mobile is that you can also edit them straight away. There are a number of great photo editing apps that can really help to up your photography game.

1. Snapseed – This app is great for editing details such as brightness, white balance and even has pre-built filters to enhance facial features. You can also copy edits from one photo to another, so you don’t have to keep making the same edits.
2. VSCO – Not only is this a photo editor app, VSCO is also a platform where users can publish their photos as part of the community. It comes with a range of free filter packs, but you can also purchase additional ones. My favourite ones are A5 and HB1.
3. Color Effects – You may have seen a lot of instagram photos that are monochromatic with small pops of colour. I often wondered how many bloggers found these perfect grey backdrops for their photos. Then I realised it was all down to the editing! Color Effects is my favourite app for turning all photos into shades of grey, before highlighting the main subject or person in the photo.

Another tip when editing photos on your mobile is; sometimes less is more. Don’t overdo the filters or editing as it can distort the photo too much.

Do you use your mobile phone to take your blog photos? Have your own tips to share?