5 Smartphone Photography Tips
Perfect for Flower Show Entries, and More
For the first time in GCA history, entrants in every division of the annual meeting flower show had to photograph their designs in order to share them with you here, on the internet. Many did so on their smartphones!
When asked for the secret to great smartphone photography, the GCA Photography Committee chairman shared these lesser-known tricks:
1. Turn off “Live Photo.” This feature is really only helpful for creating motion (club members: see Focus magazine, January 2021 issue, p. 45). For landscape and floral photographs, it should be kept off. To do so:
Open the camera on your iPhone and tap on the “Live Photo” icon - it looks like a small bullseye. On an iPhone 11 Pro Max it’s on the upper right. Tap on it so that it turns white and there’s a line through it.
Go to Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings - tap the “Live Photo” slider so it is ON/GREEN. This saves your settings so Live Photo stays off when you use your camera, until you tap the bullseye to turn it on again.
2. Avoid using your fingers to zoom in on a subject. This causes the image to lose a lot of pixels, which means it may look great on your phone, but when you go to print it looks pixelated and awful. On the newer phones, use the 2x feature to zoom in if you need to. Otherwise, use your feet if you can to get closer. And avoid cropping in for the same reason. Great photographers and flower show judges can always spot a smart phone image that was over-zoomed or over-cropped.
3. You are in control of the light—control it. Tap the screen and a yellow square pops up with a slider next to it. Watch how the exposure changes as you tap different parts of the screen. Note how the sun icon next to the box is on a vertical slider. Slide the sun up and down to see how it changes the light and shadows. This is very helpful for situations with bright sun or deep shadow, to help keep from over- or under-exposing your image.
4. Explore portrait mode on the newer iPhones, and the different light modes it offers. Though designed for people portraits, you can get some great results with plant portraits, too.
5. Keep your lenses clean. Always have a lens cleaning cloth with you, and make sure to give your lens(es) an occasional wipe. That odd foggy look could just be a fingerprint on the lens!
Division III of this year’s show features four classes of stunning photography entries you won’t want to miss.