September 29, 2021

Quick Tips for Taking Better Photos with Your Phone

Today’s post is an extra special treat! We’ve asked the talented Chari Pack, founder & CEO of Persnickety Prints, to share with you some tips for taking better photos on our phones. Whether we’re promoting our businesses, taking photos for our scrapbooks, or just posting to social media, these tips are sure to take our phone photography to the next level!

Whether you’re digitizing photos with your phone or snapping pictures of your latest project, these tips will make a big difference for taking lay-flat photos.

1. Find Natural Light (no flash)

Lighting is everything! Find natural light next to a window. Avoid direct light, and use curtains to soften the photo when necessary.

2. Avoid Distracting Backgrounds

Avoid wood tables with grain, do not use the carpet or a distracting counter top. Use a clean background to focus on the subject and make it pop! Use a plain white poster board or colorful paper as the background.

3. Take Advantage of Grid Mode

Use the grid tool on your smart phone to level a lay-flat photo! Align the cross hairs to level the phone, and snap!

For iPhone: settings > camera > grid > on

For Android: settings > varies by phone

A few more….

4. Remove Unwanted Glare
Scrapbook pages in page protectors may result in a distracting glare. Remove the layout from the page protectors and lay set them on top to take the photo.

5. Do a Quick Edit!
After taking a photo, take 30 seconds to edit it! A quick auto enhance makes all the difference.

6. Try Different Angles

Capture fine details by changing your angle. In this photo I focused on the butterfly to show the dimension of the page. Tap the screen to focus and slide up and down to adjust exposure.

Now, get your projects off the shelf and take photos of them to share and inspire others. You’re creating art, we want to see it!

XO, Chari

Thanks, Chari, for the great tips!

Close To My Heart is proud to recommend Persnickety Prints as a trusted photo lab for quality photo prints. Our commitment to memory keeping means we strive to provide products or the highest quality that will last. Persnickety Prints shares that same mission with all their photo processing and with their new Persnickety Box app. Every order is assessed, optimized, hand-printed, and quality checked. You already use the best products to tell your story—be sure that you have the best quality photos, too!