It has been a great year for Kasual Life! 2014 has been filled with many shared memories and we can continue to live vicariously through our iPhone photos. As the year comes to an end, we wanted to give a special gift to our readers – our secrets to creating Instagram worthy photos and which apps to use!
Sometimes pulling out a DSLR to snap a food pic can seem excessive, especially when we’re just meeting a friend for lunch. We always have our iPhones at hand, so it’s the perfect tool. Here are our 3 basic tricks in iPhone food photography:
1. Composition
We love using bird’s eye view when there’s great natural lighting. When it seems impossible in finding an appealing angle – we love our “45” trick. With just a quick 45-degree tilt of our phones, the composition of our photos magically seem to perfect itself.
2. Exposure
When it comes to editing in photo apps, we stick to the basics. We love using VSCO Cam to bump up our exposures and adjust temperature. This works great for removing unwanted shadows to create bright clean plating.
3. Don’t overedit!
Surprises can be fun – but not so much if your food doesn’t look like the photo you saw on Yelp or IG. When we showcase our #kasualcraves on IG, our goal is to share photos as how we saw them in real life! Simple adjustments in exposure and temperature helps us achieve this. For clear realistic photos, avoid using pre-made filters on food.
All the tricks above can also be applied to landscape photos! But here are a few extra tips to get that perfect shot:
- Find your focal point, focus, and snap with a steady hand
- Looking for symmetry can create unique perspectives
- For non-square photos, conserve its dimensions with an app like Squaready
- If lighting isn’t on your side, making a photo B&W + bumping up the contrast can transform it!
*All photos were taken with our personal phones