About Angie

Welcome to the first official post in our photography series, Capturing Your Kids. (We introduced the series last month, you may find that post here.)

Today I’d like to start out with the basics of shooting in manual mode: aperture, ISO, and shutter speed. The trifecta. Keep in mind this subject can be extensive, and for the sake of keeping it simple, I’ll be touching on each briefly.
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Hello! I’m thrilled to be able to share with you over the next few months, a series on something close to my heart: photographing our children. I’ve been shooting professionally since 2008, but my camera has been in hand since the birth of my first son eight years ago.

I am self taught, through many years of trial and error, and am passionate about helping others document their own lives whether it be with their iPhone, point & shoot camera, or DSLR. It is through this passion that this photography series was born.
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Written by contributor Angie Warren

Urban Dictionary describes iPhoneography as: The act or practice of snapping quick digital pictures and performing post-processing and sharing from within the mobile phone itself.

I describe iPhoneography as the perfect documentress, a quick (and easy) way to seamlessly shoot what’s right in front of you. In this day and age, smartphones are everywhere and the cameras within them are getting better and better. Today I want to share some of my own tricks and tips (and favorite apps), in hopes that you find shooting with your phone as much fun as I do!

Apps, Apps, & more Apps

Half the fun of using your smart phone for photography are the wide variety of apps available to enhance and play around with your images.

Instagram

Instagram has taken the world by storm. In a moments time you can snap an image, apply a filter, and share a quick thought. Make your account private (and approve who sees your photos) or public. Network with friends and family near and far (and email your IGs to those who may not have a smart phone, as I do with my grandmother.) You can use hash tags to keep images together of your own or a group you belong to, and they are constantly updating with new and exciting options.

Cost: Free

Phonto

Phonto is an app I am asked about every week and a definite fave of mine. Use an image in your album, take a fresh photo, or use a plain color and add amazing text to your pictures. I absolutely love the font choices and flexibility of this app.

Cost: Free

Photo Frame & FX

It does just that. Photo Frame & FX is an easy to use app that allows you to group together 1-4 photos in collage form. You can choose various ratios and even (gasp) round your corners.

Cost: Free

PS Express

PS Express is a great app by Adobe that has endless possibilities, but what I use it for most is straightening and occasional cropping needs. I am a stickler for my horizon lines but when I’m trying to catch a quick photo of my kids or a fleeting moment I’m not always thinking of my angle, so I find this app rather helpful.

Cost: Free

Squaready

Squaready was designed for use with Instagram. It enables you to share a photo on Instagram while keeping the original ratio of your image. Instagram automatically crops your picture to a 5:5 square – but with Squaready you are able to add a border to your photo, as seen above.

Cost: Free

Tilt Shift Gen

Tilt Shift Gen gives you the look of a Tilt Shift lens, allowing you to control the lens blur – from the shape, opacity, and size. It’s a nifty little tool to use when you want to bring the focus to a certain point in the image (such as my son’s thumb and tomato plant in the images above).

Cost: 99c

VSCO Cam

VSCO Cam is my no questions asked favorite app for filter/enhancement. It’s a simple and easy platform that gives your photos a unique, film-like quality with loads of options from adding grain, to fading, to bumping contrast.

Cost: 99c

 

Then What?

Printing, Displaying, & Enjoying

Just as we’ve become accustomed to keeping the digital images from our cameras in technological storage, the photos we capture with our phones just may see a similar fate. Here are a few creative ideas for getting them printed and out of your phone.

A Book

Kimberly Dunbar had her Instagram images printed into some beautiful 7×7 hardcover Instagram photo books by Blurb. The website has an application that quickly brings your Instagram images into the platform allowing for an easy and fun creation process.

I recently created a small coil-bound book through Paper Coterie of my daughter’s first months, through the lens of my iPhone. I uploaded the images to their site and within minutes had created a simple book my kids love to look through.

Wall Collage

Tracy Larsen recently shared about her 20×20 framed collages on her blog. I love the look of these photos together, they tell such a story – each in their own individual way. Tracy created blank templates in Photoshop and printed through Sam’s Club, trimmed to size, and framed. Gorgeous!

Becky of HB Photography had her poster printed through Printstagram. She ordered a 20×30 poster and says “I chose to display them in poster form so I could pack a
lot of day to day memories of the boys just in to one small space!”. Printstagram has endless options for printing your Instagram photos, including books, boxes, and even stickers.

Just… print!

I love that Tracy also uses her iPhone pictures for their families Project Life albums. Not only is she documenting such fleeting moments but she’s actually focused and intent on printing them so that they can flip through these pages for years to come.

I hope that you’ve been inspired and encouraged to not only enjoy shooting with your phone, but to bring those images to life by printing and displaying them.

I’m always on the lookout for new and creative ways to play with my iPhone images, what’s your favorite app?