App Review | The Girl With The Smile

How To Take A Better Picture With Your iPhone

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Rena Anne

I own a very nice dslr, but I find that I end up using my iPhone to take 99% of our daily living shots. It’s super convenient because I always have it, but also I am incredibly impressed with the technology behind the iPhone’s camera. It is a very “smart” device and I’ve been really happy with how all of my pictures come out.

Now, I am no expert, but I thought I’d share some tips that I have learned over the years using my iPhone.

#1. Hold your phone as still as possible.

I know this is not always a possibility, especially if you have a child jumping on you, but if you can, keep your hand steady. If you need to, go ahead and prop it on a table or ledge to give you added stability. This will decrease the blurriness that might occur.

#2. Let your phone focus on the subject or touch the screen to where you want it to focus.

Iphones have built-in technology that will auto-focus. If you give it a few seconds, a flashing square will appear where the iPhone thinks it should focus. If you don’t have time for this, go ahead and touch the screen where your desired focus point is. This can also change the amount of light that your phone lets in. Play around with it and you’ll be amazed at how you can learn to “trick” your phone into letting more light “in” or keeping light “out”. This works especially well for sun flares or silhouettes.

#3. Get in as well-lit a space as possible.

I know that there is an ideal amount of light and sometimes you are indoors and there is nothing you can do about it, but if you are able to change locations, go outside or go closer to a window where there is more light and face your subject towards the window. You will have a much clearer picture and cut down on blurriness, especially if your subject is a busy toddler.

#4. Take as many pictures as you can.

I think that my brain is sometimes stuck in the “film era” and forget that I can take as many shots as I want. This guarantees that you’re more likely to get the shot you want. Just don’t forget to go back and delete the ones that were sub-par, especially before you sync your phone to the computer or your husband might get mad. *gulp*

#5. Edit with apps.

Do as much as you can with your shot and then feel free to edit your picture. There are so many great editing apps available, that it’d be a shame not to use them. My favorites are Snapseed, Instagram, Camera + and PicTapGo. These allow you to add light to darker spots, crop and add cool filters.

And don’t forget to share them with the world on Facebook or Instagram.

You can find me on Instagram at @_thegirlwiththesmile

This is not a promotion or a sponsored blog post, I just REALLY love the iPhone and all it’s awesomeness!

App Review: Pose

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Rena Anne

I have had the app “Pose” for a couple months now, but didn’t even look at it until my dear sweet friend Courtney remarked to me that she was newly obsessed with it.

She then said that it was “like Pinterest but just fashion and kinda like Instagram”.

Well, as soon as she said that, I HAD to check it out.

First off, if she hadn’t said it was like Pinterest, I don’t think I would have understood the point of it (although they do send you an email with directions, but who really reads those anyways). 😉

When you first use the app, it has you take a quiz to nail down your style likes and dislikes and it automatically has you follow people with similar style.

Just like Pinterest and Instagram (if you haven’t started a Pinterest or Instagram account yet, you need to get on board immediately), you scroll through square pictures of outfits that other Pose users have posted. Then if you find something you like, you easily “drag” it to the right where your “boards” are waiting.

This is perfect for saving pictures and using them as inspiration. You could have an “accessories” board, a “shoe” board, an “outfit” board or make a board for every season for year round inspiration. The names of the boards and how many you have are up to you.

There’s also the option of buying parts of the outfit straight from the picture. If you see a picture with a blue shopping bag logo in the bottom right then it contains a link to an item in that picture. How cool is that?!

(I’m in LOVE with that gold J.Crew bracelet!)

You can also post pictures of your own outfits, accessories or hairdos for others to use as their inspiration, just like Pinterest, but it seems like more people “like” other’s pictures more than they actually post. You can find me under “girlwiththesmile”.

For a completely free app, I highly suggest that you give Pose a try.

But careful, it’s highly addictive. 😉