What I have learnt as a photographer is that there’s a lot of subject matter. As a beginner, it’s easier to take photos of just about everything until you find a subject matter you truly find enjoyable.

Photography is an extension of who you are as an individual. So, essentially what you photograph should evoke some form of emotion within you first. Others should be secondary as they will interpret it differently and essentially it will move them in their own way. Photography is also an art and the more you listen and follow industry leaders the better you will become.

I know this has been said a million times but, the more photographs you take, the better you will become. There really is truth to this. No one ever became a world sensation by taking a few pictures. All good iPhoneographers worked on their craft and clocked thousands of pictures on their iPhones before they could earn their stripes. So, the more pictures you take the more you learn and this allows you to experiment with new techniques like using light, editing techniques and introducing textures to your images. Finding an editing software that works for you is essential and don’t be afraid to purchase Apps or even more filters within the different Apps because that one filter could be the key to your personal photography style or mark. Editing Apps that I find really work for me and my personal photography style are VSCO and Snapseed. Most times I use the two apps in unison to achieve the desired effect.

Lastly, the most important thing I’ve learnt is that composition can elevate your iPhoneography skills by at least 10 times. Composition is really getting your image balanced and making it easy for the eye to view and getting relative images placed in your frame to achieve a desired outcome. This is also a mechanism to assist the viewer to glide through the image and perhaps highlight the most important subject on your image. In some cases, where you stand can determine if you compose a strong image or not. In a nutshell, composition really is the arrangement of elements in such a way that it suits the desired goal for your shot.

Tips to use for good image composition:

1. Use the grid that’s built into your iPhone camera. It will help you in terms of where objects in your frame should more or less be.
2. Allow yourself to shoot your subject matter from a number of different angles. This will allow you to see which angle is better suited for that subject at that particular point in time. Doing this can determine if your image is just ok or great.
3. Make use of the onboard cropping tool. This can help save an image as it allows you to recompose the image. For portraits it can help intensify the mood of the image.
4. Aperture and focus control. On your iPhone camera mode you just touch your screen on the object you want to focus on. While touching you move your finger up or down to get the right light for your picture.
5. Using the editing tools built into your iPhone will help enhance any image that you take. Contrast and/or sharpening your image can help add more detail to it. But remember, less is more.