I didn’t mean to have to take family photos with my iPhone, I swear. I bought a new battery charger (this one, DO NOT BUY IT) and when I pulled the battery off this afternoon, the screen read “100%.”

The problem is, when I turned on my camera at Crystal Bridges to take my first photo, the low battery alert was going off. What?! Because I was only photographing Scout and Tyler, I didn’t have my full camera bag with multiple batteries, car chargers, etc. So I was sh*t outta luck. I took a few photos before the battery officially died, but I didn’t want to waste the time Tyler spent getting herself and Scout ready. So what did I do? I pivoted. I decided to take family photos with my iPhone.

It’s not an easy task, mind you. Though the lens is decent, when I put the iPhone into portrait mode to capture professional-style images, it’s SLOW. Instead of the high-speed burst of 10+ frames per second that my professional camera gets, I was getting 1 image every second or 2. So, it’s almost impossible to capture the perfect moment.

However, Tyler was a saint and oh, so patient with me as I cursed my phone while frantically pressing the shutter. And Scout, well, she was adorable as ever. So, below you’ll find some images taken from my professional camera, and some family photos with my iPhone. Take a peek!

Here are a few tips on how I take family photos with my iPhone:

1. shoot in portrait mode. Yes, even if it’s sluggishly slow. You can alter the amount of blur after the fact, so don’t worry if the blur looks funny.
2. find soft lighting for smooth skin tones. Shoot in the shade if it’s in the middle of the day.
3. remember the rule of 3rds when you shoot. I turn my grid on in my iPhone’s camera settings to help me remember to compose my shot with the rule of 3rds.
4. turn your camera sideways. Shoot a variety of shots and remember to shoot horizontal as well as vertical images.
5. just because you shot it on your phone doesn’t mean you have to edit it on your phone. I airdropped the images to my MacBook Pro to run my typical portrait presets and editing workflow on the images. Can you tell which of the shots above I shot on my camera or on my iPhone?

Hungry for more tips? Here’s a post on how to take great food photos. (see what I did there with the “hungry”? Classic dad jokes.)

Talk to you soon,
Dale

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