Hellobee

Before I had my little guy, I loved taking photos and I took a lot of them. Now, with a little guy around, I still love taking photos but I take even more photos (if that’s even possible). Hardly a day passes without at least one photo.

In the past, I used my DSLR camera frequently, but now it’s hard to always have on-hand to capture all the wonderful, daily moments. A big camera is just not a device that’s easy to carry around and grab at a second’s notice. Instead, I use my iPhone all the time – it’s permanently in my back pocket. Luckily, mobile devices have excellent cameras these days and they are always getting better. It’s pretty amazing what our phones can capture. Of course, you want to get the ultimate potential from your phone’s camera since you want to capture your cute little baby just as you see him or her with your own eyes. Here are a few tips for an iPhone you might find helpful!

Tip #1 – Burst Mode

It makes sense that the more photos you take, the more likely you’ll get a good one, right? Well, you can take a ton of photos at once with the burst mode. When you take a photo, hold down the shutter button to get a burst of photos. It’ll capture multiple photos as you continue to hold down. On your photo stream, the phone automatically selects what it thinks is the best photo of the sequence. However, I always go and look at the others since it doesn’t always get it right. When you have the photo open, go to the “select” function. You can select one or many photos to keep. Hint: This is a great function if your kid is on the move!

Tip #2 – The Timer

This is an easy one to forget about, but comes in very useful especially with selfies. I always struggle trying to hold the phone steady and hit the shutter button at the same time. You end up with blurry photos! Instead, use the timer to give yourself time to hold out the phone, get steady, and smile. Or, find a place to set the camera down (safely!) to get the whole family.

Tip #3 – Swipe Left

The best photos tend to be random and happen quickly. By the time you pull out your photo, unlock it, go to the photo app, the moment is lost. There is a quicker way to get to that camera – just swim left! This skips all those other steps so you get get to the camera quickly and capture the moment.

Tip #4 – Clean Lens

I don’t know about you, but my toddler is obsessed with my phone. He’s constantly reaching for it, but his little boy hands can get the phone dirty. Be sure to clean off your phone’s photo lens to avoid blotches in your photos. Just use a microfiber cloth to wipe it off. This one seems obvious, but I forget about it all the time.

Tip #5 – Tap for Focus

You might notice the square that pops up when you take a photo. It usually tries to help identify faces. Help it out and tap on the square. This helps the camera focus on the face (or other object) to make a clearer photo.

Great, now you have a few tips in your back pocket. But, wait! Be sure to share the photos, too.

Idea #1 – Edit Photos

The phones have some great tools for editing photos. You can use the Photos app itself to edit; just click on the photo and you’ll see the edit tool on the bottom as three bars. In a hurry, use the automatic enhance wand. Otherwise, I love Retouch and Afterlight apps for retouching my photos. The former is great at removing unwanted objects from your photos (seriously, cool).

Idea #2 – Photo Share

We use the photo share a bunch in our house. When Petit Macaron was born, we started a share with both sets of grandparents and share photos everyday. They love it!

Idea #3 – Print them Out

Don’t let your photos just sit there on your phone or computer…turn them into prints or books. Here’s another post I wrote about photo books.

Now, say cheese!