August 2, 2023
Branding your business with professional photos doesn’t necessarily require a large investment or expert knowledge of photography.
With the quality of today’s cell phone cameras, a unique and active brand presence is quite obtainable. Many of the photos (and videos!) produced by an iPhone can be used interchangeably with those taken by a professional DSLR camera. It can even be argued that an iPhone is a more reliable source of acquiring photos for your social media, blog and so forth. Practically everyone who owns an iPhone is never without it. However, a professional camera cannot conveniently fit in one’s pocket.
So not only are you able to maintain a high standard for your marketing assets with an iPhone, but you’re also capitalizing on Kodak moments by making photography more accessible.
Here are 3 tips for using an iPhone to significantly elevate a company’s social media and online marketing presence:
Optimizing the settings
With a few quick changes made to your iPhone’s camera settings, professional-looking photos can be easily obtained.
- Turn off “live” photos
- Use of portrait mode for still, up-close subjects
- Tip: Have you ever turned on portrait mode and realized the image is zoomed in a bit too much? There is a button that allows you to adjust this. Look for a circle with “3x” in the middle of it. Tap that, and adjust the zoom to fit your subject.
- Use dark mode in low lighting
- In the iPhone’s settings, swipe down to reveal the settings search bar. Search for and select Camera Formats. In the Camera Capture section, select Most Compatible. This is to ensure that the photo will be captured in the best quality and in the correct format. Without changing this setting, photos may not be compatible with your computer, and their quality will be drastically reduced.
Working with your subject
Although many individuals working in construction are surrounded by technology, it is not often that they find themselves in front of a camera. (Unless they’re installing a CCTV on a building, that is.) The act of photography being done through an iPhone, as opposed to a large professional SLR camera, makes the entire experience more relatable and personal. It puts the individual being photographed in a casual mindset and makes it more convenient to capture moments that can easily be missed with a professional camera. Have fun with your subject, tell them jokes, and be sure to keep an eye out for awkward hands, uncomfortable facial expressions, and wardrobe malfunctions (loose buttons, untucked shirts, messy collars, etc.). Always consider the background as well. If you have the ability to declutter the background, always do so.
Editing
If the photo needs to be edited, this can easily be accomplished with the editing features on the iPhone. With the photo open in your photo album, select the Edit button. The lighting, contrast, shadows, and so forth can all be edited locally on the iPhone. Use these editing tips to transform your photos into approachable, light and airy images that are ready to be shared with the world:
- Brilliance – Nearly 100% of photos will be positively enhanced by increasing the brilliance setting in the iPhone’s editing suite. Don’t overdo it, though – it’s generally best to keep the brilliance between 30 – 60.
- Shadows – Diminishing shadows will give your photos a light and airy look that produces great results. Most of the time, you will want to crank this setting up between 20 – 50
- Contrast – This setting can go either way, depending on the photo. Most of the time, a contrast between -10 – 20 is best. Rarely, is it advisable to boost the contrast between 5 – 15
- Brightness – Increase the brightness between 5 – 20
- Black Point – Sometimes, softening the black point to about -10 improves the quality of your image
- Vibrance – Increase vibrance between 5 – 30
- Warmth and Tint – Adjusting the warmth and tint of your photos is the best way to ensure that their color looks natural. A good rule of thumb is to keep an eye on the paper-white objects in your image while correcting color. Adjust the warmth and tint settings until the paper-white objects are a brilliant white. It’s generally best to bring the warmth setting into the negative numbers and boost the tint setting into the positive numbers.
- Sharpness – A little bit of sharpness adds clarity to photos, but don’t overcompensate on this setting. 30 is usually the maximum level of sharpness that is needed.
Learning a few of the techniques we shared above can increase the quality of your iPhone photos dramatically and help with drawing attention to your company blog.
