Tips For Better Smartphone Photography For Your Business

This week I spent an evening at the British Library after work.

I had spotted a workshop on the Design Trusts newsletter about a smartphone photography workshop coming soon, and as I've been struggling to take photos of tiny beads I thought I would see if they could help.

The workshop was run by Sam Lane, who is the official photographer for St Pancras station.  In 2 hours she didn't have much time, but she managed to cover a lot!

She started off by talking through the settings on our phones.  While most people had an iPhone the settings on my Samsung were similar.  There were so many things I'd never even thought to try.  I wish I'd know I could take panorama photos when I was running the South Downs Way!

She then talked about what makes a good photo.  Light is key!  I already kinda knew this, but she reinforced the message plus talked about how to make the best use of it. Natural light is best, but sunlight can be too harsh, so make use of shade and don't face people into the sun!

And she talked round things like the rule of thirds and how you can bend them to work for you.

She also talked about how important planning your shot is.  I'd never really thought about it, although it makes sense.  She asked us to think about what story we're trying to tell and plan how the photo can do this.

Lastly she talked about editing and storing our photos.

Of course I took some beads with me to take photos of

 

It was a great class with lots of discussion and questions.  She had loads of example photos to show us which I loved.  They really got her points across.

It's given me loads to think about and ideas on what I can change to maybe create better photos of my beads.  I might not have a business just yet, but I'd love to create glass items that people might want to buy...

The thing that amused me most about this workshop was out of all the classes and workshops I've taken in the last couple of years, this was the one I took the least photos on!  But while I might not have photos, I do have lots of notes.  I hope you can see the improvement as I try things out.