5 ways to improve your iPhone photos

Smartphones, especially the iPhone, has been a game changer for consumers. People are starting to find that it is useless to buy small compact cameras when their iPhone can do what these compact camera do, albeit with some limitations. What the iPhone lacks, it makes up for in easy to use features and thousand of apps to edit your photos with your imagination the only limit.  In this post I want to talk about five tips to make the most use out of your iPhone.

1) The first issue is the bad image stabilization that the iPhone has.  Fixing this is simple. All you have to do is really focus on using two hands as much as possible when taking the photos.  Though an easy way fix this problem is to get a tripod for your iPhone, kind of like the gorilla pod. You can buy one on Amazon (click here to see what they look like).  I have one of these for my DSLR and I love it!

2) Find an app that does a good job with editing.  Even with the photos I take with my DSLR I always edit them by correcting color, adding contrast, or fixing the brightness or darkness of the photo. I do the same thing with the photos I take with my iPhone.  The edit that I feel is the most important is adding sharpness to the photo.  Since the iPhone tends to produce soft photos, adding some sharpness to the image is extremely important.  One of my favorite apps to edit photo's is Snapseed (click here to see the app for yourself)

3) For better focusing or to select a focus on a certain area click on the area you want focused.  For example, if you want to focus on just a person's face you click on the screen where the person's face is and you will see a orange box go to that area. 

4) Sometimes by manually controlling your flash you will get a better result.Have you ever seen a photo you've taken where it is way too bright?Turning your flash on and off rather than keeping it in auto could help you avoid this problem. 

5) Using the HDR mode can help you get a better exposed image.  On your iPhone you might have seen a mode called "HDR" which is by default turned off.  If you click that button it will say in orange lettering "HDR On."  Although for photographers like myself HDR photos are a whole other ball game, this mode on the iPhone does serve a purpose.  The purpose in this case really is to help you get a better exposed image.  For example, let's say you're taking a photo in the middle of the afternoon and yoursubject has lots of harsh shadows.  Well give the HDR mode a try and you might find that you are able to get more details in those once dark shadows.  My only caution is that if you have this mode on you are no longer able to use the flash.

One Year of Blogging

"Time flies when you're having fun" is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about how this month marks one full year of blogging.  I have really enjoyed sharing with the world not only my photography but my thoughts behind it as well.  I started this blog with the hope of sharing with people why I do what I do and what drives me to be a photographer.  For instance, in the post "In The Zone" , I shared some of my feelings about how when I photograph I just kind of zone out and it's only me and my camera. 

In my very first post here I talked about how I wanted to share with you all the collections of my work, whether it was a landscape shoot or a wedding.  As I started to blog more and more I found myself adding a few tips.  This started with this post here and I will probably be doing more from time to time.  I enjoy writing these tips because it not only can help my readers but it also gets me thinking about the technical side of approaching what I do.

So all in all it has been a great year and I have gotten such good feedback from my readers.  I am sometimes in awe of how many people read my blog, and I love to see which posts get the most interaction.  I find it interesting to see which ones my readers like the best versus the ones that are my own favorites.  I noticed that the most read post is the one called "The Editing Process", where I let the readers choose which photo they like best, that can be seen here.  My favorite post from this year, however, is the one about my son being born called "Dropping The Camera To Live In the Moment".  You can view that post here.  When it's all said and done, I am just really enjoying writing these blogs and I hope that you are enjoying reading them.  Please feel free to leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts about my blog and which post was your favorite from my first year of blogging.  

Saying Goodbye

As I look back at 2013 and go through the photographs I have taken I think back on how great of a year I had in photography.  I had the pleasure of photographing some really great people from senior portraits to head shots.  I also got to witness a few wedding and capture some amazing moments.  Along with this I went out and photographed the world as I see it, taking photo's of some really amazing landscapes and producing some great images.  As the year past I thought about what it is that truly inspires me to do what I do, I thought of the best way to sum it up was by this quote "I combine fine art and photography to make amazing images".  When I thought of that I realized that is exactly what I am trying to do not just take photographs but be the artist that I am.  Through the years I think I have fought that though in 2013 and I learn to expect it and I couldn't be happier with the direction its taking me.   So all in all it was a great year of photography and I got some great images to go along with it, below is a slideshow of those images.  Leave a comment below and tell me what of one of your favorite parts of 2013.

Please keep in mind that it doesn't work on smartphones though if you click this link http://www.k-ophotography.com/Photography/Best-of-2013 can go directly to the gallery to view the images. 

Dropping The Camera To Live In Moment

On Thursday, November 21st 2013 my wife and I welcomed our new addition into the family.  This day was very special for us. I felt so many emotions from nervousness to frustration to fear and finally joy.  For a photographer, a day like this can be very interesting.  First I had to consider whether to bring my camera, and then whether, if I did, could I just enjoy the moment and not take too many photos. As the time got closer for my son to be born I did something that as a photographer is very hard to do: I dropped the camera and enjoyed the moment with my wife. I also did something else I personally thought I never would do--I got up and watched my son's birth. Seeing my son for the first time with his wide eyes saying hello to the world was by far one of the most amazing experiences in my life. As I look back I get a little frustrated that I couldn't capture this moment in my family's life, but if I had to choose again there is no question I would choose being in the moment. I did get a chance to capture some moments of this special time for my family and below you will see them. I am looking forward to this new chapter in my life personally and hey as a photographer too!  I also look forward to documenting the life of my son and right now I can't stop doing that. I hope you enjoyed this post where I shared a little bit of my personal experience and the struggle I had as a photographer.  Please feel free to share a quick story about an experience where you had to set everything down and just enjoy every moment of the day in the comment field below. 

On a side note if you are familiar with my blog you know I usually only post one or two images.  I felt this was a story and to leave out images would make gaps in the story.  So below is a slideshow click play to view the images.

     

Please keep in mind that it doesn't work on smartphones though if you click this link http://www.k-ophotography.com/Photography/Connors-Birth-Photos/i-732N3Nz can go directly to the gallery to view the images. 

Night Photography Tip

In this post I decided to switch things up and give my viewers a few tips about night photography.  I often see people taking pictures of tourist spots like the Golden Gate Bridge at night and doing things like using their on camera flash.  In this situation the flash is not effective because of the distance of the bridge. Here are five simple tips that will help you the next time you find yourself taking pictures at night:

  1. Use a tripod.

  2. Try using the night mode.

  3. Turn off that flash.

  4. Use manual mode if you have it.

  5.  Don't take your photos at the lowest picture resolution. Instead, raise the picture's resolution size to get better images.

Here are some examples of night photography I have done using some of these hints.  Leave a comment and let me know if you found these tips helpful!

In this photo I used all the above mentioned tips.

By using the manual mode on my camera and a longer shutter speed I was able to capture the movement of a car passing by. When shooting the Golden Gate Bridge you can see why using a flash wouldn't matter the object is so far away no flash could reach that far.

49er Faithful

Growing up in the Bay Area, I remember watching the 49ers with legends like Steve Young and Jerry Rice, which made for some magical football moments.  Fast forward a few years later, fans like me and the ones that stick by this team are now called "49er Faithful".  Although I am now more of a baseball fan than a football fan, I still loved what I saw when I started taking pictures for a recent wedding. As I walked into the room I noticed the 49er's red and gold colors, but it wasn't until I started taking pictures that I realized the entire wedding had a 49er theme.  Even the groom's wedding ring had a red stripe in the middle. Now that's a die hard fan!  As a sports fan, I had a really great time photographing this wedding and loved the end results.  Thank you Chris and Veronica for letting me spend this day with you and to capture some great memories!  Any 49er fans out there leave a comment bellow and tell me your thoughts on this 49er themed wedding.

In The Zone

Being "in the zone" is referred to a lot in sports like baseball, football, and basketball, although it is maybe not as common a reference when it comes to photography.  Nevertheless, this is often how I feel about photography.  Below you will see some photos I took one night when I wanted to clear my head and just think about nothing but photography.  It was a very nice night, so I decided to head to Petaluma, California in search of a barn I had been told about by another photographer.  As the "Golden Hour" (the term photographers use for the light 30 minutes after a sunset) was approaching I found myself in a rush to find this barn but wasn't as successful as I wanted.  I finally arrived at the barn, but as I looked at it I had this feeling in my gut that it just wasn't going to turn out how I had planned.  I turned around and saw this old broken down boat and thought maybe that would make for an interesting photograph, especially with the industrial building in the back.  Rushing to set up and start taking some photos, my mind immediately went into photography mode, thinking about nothing but the subject. I was "in the zone".  Photographing from every angle I thought interesting, my mind cleared of every worry I might have had that day.  I think everyone has something that does this for them, whether it is painting a piece of art, knitting a hat, or just going for a hike.  For me photography has always been that thing. No matter what else is on my mind, when I am photographing nothing else matters.  So what is it that puts you "in the zone"?  Leave me a comment below and let me know.