How to take professional photos with even the cheapest iPhone: useful secrets

Like the proverb about a bad dancer with something in his way, many people think that in order to take really cool pictures, you have to have the most expensive phone. And there is some truth in that... Still, to take really beautiful artistic photos, you need not the most expensive smartphone, but a sense of style, an understanding of frame composition, and a little imagination.

CNET tells you the rules that will allow you to take bright photos with the cheapest iPhone SE 2022, even though it only has one camera. The same simple rules apply to Android smartphones as well.

Composition

Yes, you could say that one camera is a disadvantage, because at the right moment you can't just switch to a wide angle lens to put everything you see in the frame. The lack of a telephoto lens will also impose a limitation on zooming in on objects. But you can still work successfully with what you have, you'll just have to think it through well.

To make framing composition easier, you can turn on a grid in the settings, allowing you to clearly see how the frame is divided into thirds.

Look for key lines for your shot - a trail or wall that will draw the viewer's attention to the scene, or interesting objects in the foreground to enhance the scenery.

Don't forget that sometimes just taking a few steps to the side, or stepping back and widening the angle of view of the lens is enough to improve the shot.

Remember that you can improve bad lighting or colors while editing, but it will be much harder to save a bad composition, so try not to cut off someone's top when you shoot a portrait.

Daylight

Since the iPhone SE doesn't have a special night mode or the Deep Fusion processing used in the iPhone 14 to reduce image noise and improve detail in low-light conditions, you need to plan your shooting time well.

But keep in mind, since more light isn't the best option, either. Particularly in the middle of the day, when the sun is high overhead creating harsh light and deep shadows.

In the evening, as the sun approaches sunset, you're likely to get great scenery with vivid colors and nice contrasts.

Long exposure 

The Live Photos feature doesn't just allow you to bring the photo you took to life with a short video, but has another feature that can add fabulous effects to your photo.

After you've taken the desired live photo, open it in the gallery and change the Live option to long exposure. This will create a motion effect in the photo, which on conventional cameras is achieved by using a slow shutter speed. You'll see the best effect when you're photographing moving lights, such as busy car traffic, or waves on the coast, a fast river, or a waterfall.

Continuous Mode

The iPhone SE can take 10 photos per second in continuous shooting mode, making it ideal for capturing snapshots. But this feature is a bit more hidden than before.

Instead of pressing and holding the shutter button (which now activates video recording), you have to drag the shutter button to the left if you are holding the iPhone in portrait orientation or drag it down if in landscape orientation. This way, the camera will keep taking quick photos the whole time, and you'll just have to pick the best one afterwards.

Active photos of a jumping or running child, a pet, etc. will be best in this mode.

Once you've taken a series of photos, you can view them in the gallery. But don't worry, because the whole series will be saved as one photo - so you just have to click Select and view the photos you've taken and then choose the best one.

Editing

Don't be lazy to add a few personal details to a photo, either by processing it with the built-in photo editor or by downloading one of the many apps.

Even turning a photo into black and white can make a big difference.

Buy Accessories

For those who don't want to put up with the limitations of the iPhone SE camera, there are auxiliary accessories. You can buy an adapter that will turn your lens into a wide-angle or telephoto lens.

But be prepared to pay, as cheap Chinese adapters are unlikely to be of high quality.

There are also overhead filters that can be used to improve photos by reducing glare and reflections in images.

Earlier OBOZREVATEL also told you how to edit or delete an already sent message on your iPhone.

Subscribe to OBOZREVATEL channels in Telegram and Viber to keep up with the latest developments.