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5 iPhone Photo Hacks You Might Not Already Know

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at DePauw chapter.

If you’re like me, you didn’t start getting into photography without trying things out on your iPhone first. There have been many things I’ve learned over the years and thank god TikTok has been there to help out a little bit. Here is a list of 5 of my favorite iPhone photo hacks that you need to know: 

  1. Portrait Mode Focus 
    • Take your photo in portrait mode, go into editing mode and go up to the top and click the f button. This controls your aperture, basically how blurry the background of the photo will be. The lower the number the blurrier the background. A great tip for still taking good quality photos without needing a DSLR camera 
  2. Panoramic Mode
    • Now if you have an iPhone, you probably have played around with the panoramic mode more than once. This is a great tool if you want to take larger landscapes or even portrait photos. Basically, if you’re tired of not capturing enough of the background of your image panoramic mode is perfect to capture everything just make sure you have a steady hand. 
  3. Moving Object Photos
    • Trying to capture moving objects behind you like the subway or a car? Make sure you have Live Photo on, take a couple of pics, stand still, go to your image, swipe up, and click on long exposure, and you’re done. Super easy for that trendy, blurry background. 
  4. Wide Angle
    • The perfect way to look taller or get those interesting and obscure angles is to turn your phone into a wide-angle lens. Put your phone on the ground at 0.5 zoom and either take a video or a bunch of pictures and, boom, you now have a more interesting angle composition for your photos. A great way to spice these photos up is to take either your torso, foot, leg, or hand, and move it closer to the camera to appear bigger. 
  5. Low Lighting
    • This is by far one of the easiest tips. When you’re taking your pictures, hold down on the screen (preferably focusing on you) and scroll down the sun to bring down the light exposure. This is a very easy way to create mood lighting and add some contrast to your photos. 
Lizzie is a senior at DePauw University in Greencastle, IN. She is creating her own major compiled of Economics, Computer Science, and Studio Art which she will call "Emerging Technology in Business & Design". She hopes to own her own cosmetic company one day! Lizzie enjoys playing volleyball, doing anything artsy (embroidery, painting, graphic design, etc), playing around with makeup, and all things fall! Lizzie currently works on the photo blogs and she is also the photographer for DePauw's branch of HerCampus.