Taking Pictures With Cell Phones

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Tips for improving and including in your yearbook Cell Phone Photos Lifetouch©Confidential and Proprietary Information. Property of Lifetouch.

Additionalsituations.

Other ways to stabilize cameras

Avoid ‘zooming’ with fingers

Note your light location

ways to stabilize your camera include leaning against a wall, putting elbows on a ledge, moving feet apart and bending knees. You can also become a “human tripod” by resting on one knee and placing your elbow on one leg. Don’t be a contortionist, but also don’t worry about looking funny in front of your friends when taking photos. Good light is good light, regardless of what camera you use. Position your light source in front of your subject for even lighting or to the side to soften your subject. Placing light behind subjects creates silhouettes. The rule of thumb is to keep the sun behind you so it lights the subject unless you desire a silhouette. In that case, keep the sun behind your subject. are filled with images

Yearbooks

Timers and tripods

Understand your settings

These days, most yearbook photos are taken with smartphones. Cell phone cameras have improved cameras that high-quality images. Both Apple and android phones offer tutorials to help you learn everything you need to know about using your cell phone to take stunning pictures. Become familiar with the different settings on your smartphone. Set your phone to take pictures at the largest size.

Use your legs and move around to be as close to your subject as possible. Newer cell phones have zoom capabilities built into the cameras. Those images will not pixelate.

Email the photos to yourself at the largest size possible. You may need to open your email first and send the photo to yourself within your email program. If your phone has hundreds of images on it, your device may not automatically email the image from your “Photos” app.

For example,some phones allow you to go 1x, 2x or 3x the original size. If your phone isn’t one of the newer ones, don’t use your index and middle finger to expand the screen to enlarge your image, as those pictures will pixelate. Instead, move closer or edit your photo in a program like Lightroom or Photoshop. We all love flipping that camera around and having a mobile photo booth in our pocket, but one method to capture better expression and posing is to use the timer. Moving the camera, even slightly, can ruin your image. The timer is a good way to reduce camera motion. A timer is also vital for night or lowlight photography. Set your camera on a stable surface, engage the timer and let the camera control the shot. You can also steady your smartphone with a tripod which helps you create great images in low-light

download additional image editing apps for free and dip your toes into editing your Forpictures.more information about free photo editing apps, visit this website. Here are some other free or inexpensive smartphone apps to fix photos.

• Before uploading your images to your yearbook website, make sure the exposure and cropping look good. All yearbook photos should be 300 dots or pixels per inch in size.

Framing: Use doorways, trees or window panes to “frame” your subject.

Learn how to lock the focus on your camera and adjust exposure before taking your pictures. You’ll be amazed by the results. On iPhones, you tap and hold where you want to focus. Within the camera, squares will appear on those focus points. They will not show in your photos. Most smartphone camera apps have photo enhancement tools. Experiment with those, then email the photo to yourself to see how it looks on your screen. You may need to make further adjustments in brightness, color, contrast, noise reduction, etc.

Show the grid on your screen Use composition techniques Other points to remember Lock your focus

2. Leading lines: Edges of tables, lines on the sides of school buses or stairway banisters are only a few ideas that will pull readers into a 3.photo.

• After photographing the event, email the photos to yourself and download them to your computer. Select the top 10-20 photos that tell the story.

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Use good composition techniques when taking

4. Repetition: Lockers, desks and sidelined ath letes engaged in the same action are all exam ples of repetition and add a rhythmatic flow to photos.

• Bring a notebook to take names of those photographed and notes about the event.

Additional free resources

1.photos: Rule of Thirds: Place an invisible tic-tac-toe board on your photo or use the built-in grid on your phone to help you “see” where your center of visual interest should be. At one of the points where the lines intersect, you should place your center of visual interest.

Also, Australian Geographic Photographer Chris Bray offers a free online course to improve your photography. Enable the grid view on your camera so you can have a better sense of how to compose your image. The rule of thirds is your friend and is a handy tool for nailing great composition.

An app that allows you to change your camera settings much like we can with DSLR cameras is Camera Plus 2 To better understand DPI or PPI, check out this website for tips on using smartphones.

Both Apple and android phones have extremely robust editing features in their newest phones. Use Alternatively,them!

• Check your camera’s battery several hours before going to the event. Charge batteries, if •needed.Watch your light source. Move to a different spot if it’s not where you want it to be.

6. Take images before, during and after the events with a variety of close-ups, medium-range photos, wide shots, verticals and horizontals. Above all, stay after the event ends to feature your subjects’ reactions to the outcome.

5. A photo is worth a thousand words, right? That’s because good photos tell stories. Make sure to photograph action and reaction, a conversation between friends or an interesting glance across the table. You’ll be amazed at the moments you capture.

Tell stories with photos Control the background Focus on faces Move in close to your subject Show the complete visual storyStrive for variety Tips for capturing images on smartphones

Looking for a convenient way to share images within your local area? Meet Community Upload, a way for parens and interested parties can share photos to be con sidered for publication in the yearbook. Community Upload is a free, private pho to-sharing tool offered exclusively by Lifetouch. Advisers will receive notice when the site is open. Then they can share the site and code with parents and others involved in the school community. Advisers will also have the opportu nity to review photos before uploading them to the Watchwebsite.ourtraining videos on the Lifetouch YouTube channel to learn more.

Now that you know how to take beautiful pictures, here are a few additional tips:

1. People want to see faces, so make sure you photograph subjects from the front. This is important, not only because it makes for better pictures, but also because it implies consent from the subject being photographed. This practice also captures facial reactions. When photographing children, you may need to bend your knees to catch their expressions.

2. A camera is your all-access pass to the action. Move as close to the scene as you can to make your audience feel as if they are part of the excitement of the story.

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Photography provided by Laura Schaub. Lifetouch is not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with Apple or Samsung. Apple® is a registered trademark of Apple Inc. Samsung® is a registered trademark of Samsung Electronics Inc. Use of these terms in this guide does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by Apple or Samsung, or any promotion by Lifetouch of Apple or Samsung. 204-275 US © 2020 Shutterfly Lifetouch LLC Community Upload

3. Photograph individuals as well as small and large groups. Take pictures of people creating artwork, engaging in activities and working in the community. Move in for close-ups. Move out for wide shots. Take some vertical and some horizontal images. Have fun and don’t be afraid to experiment!

4. Take note of what’s showing behind your subjects to eliminate objects “growing” from people’s heads or distracting viewers with clutter. Using “portrait mode” on your smartphone will purposely blur the background. Moving to a higher or lower angle can also help eliminate problems with objects behind the people you’re photographing.

Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
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