Back-to-School: 5 Ways to Take Great iPhone Pics

Photo source: iStock

Have you always envied that mom or dad in your social circle who seems to always get the perfect Back to School iPhone photos, (even though you personally think your kids are cuter), and somehow seems to always know where that first shot from kindergarten is, in order to post it in an “AWW-worthy,” split screen shot beside the similarly awesome 7th grade photo in a Facebook post that puts everyone else to shame?

Yeah, us too, but it is actually easier than you think to get those shots. And with MemoryWeb, they will always be easy to find, even 20 years from now, in timeline order. Here are a few tips that can help you capture the true essence of your kid, in an instantly classic image you and your friends will love, with the iPhone already in your pocket.

Dress Your Kids for Photo Success

No, don’t make your skateboard guy dress up in an oxford shirt, or your Goth teenager wear a dress on the first day of school. You want to remember your kids as they truly are. However, patterns and busy tops are not a camera’s best friend, and distract from the person in the shot.

When possible, ask your child to wear a solid color, at least on top. If she MUST have a splatter top, then it is better to focus on a closeup.

Watch the Background and the Rule of Thirds

Along the lines of keeping clothes fairly simple, your pics will turn out best if you are really careful about what could pull focus from your main subject. Is she standing next to a couch cluttered with her new backpack, or is he lounging in front of the bike rack at school with random kids walking behind him? The cleaner and more plain the background, the better your child will stand out. However, you can have things like a school bus or the school in your background, as long as you keep focus on your kid.

Also remember the photographer’s rule of thirds. This most basic rule of photography helps us out by breaking your shot up into gridlines and positioning your focal point along one of the intersections. Digital Photography School has one of the simplest explanations with some great sample images…Check it out, but your iPhone camera does it FOR YOU..See our next tip!

Use Your iPhone Camera’s Hidden Composition Helpers to Look Like a Pro

Whether you know about the Rule of Thirds or not, your iPhone camera does! Turn on the grid lines in your iPhone camera by going to Setting, “Photos and Cameras,” and setting Grid to “on.” This makes it dead simple to determine a focal point for your picture and make sure your child’s eyes or smile or body lines are positioned nicely within the grid.

If you want to get even fancier, you can set focus and exposure levels as well. Simply tap your iPhone camera screen where in the frame you want focus. A little sun will appear as well. You can then lighten or darken exposure by scrolling up or down.

You can learn more about these easy-to-use but often ignored features at the iPhone Photography School. They do ask for your email, but that gives you access to many great tips videos. http://iphonephotographyschool.com/blog/. If you don’t want to give out your email, AppAdvice also did a nice tutorial.

Distract Them with Props

Do you have a kid who hates being the center of attention? Or one in the throes of ages 6-9 when any camera seems to incite those cheesy poses that drive you just a little mental? The best options here are to have your kids hold something or point to something that they feel takes the focus off of them. It can be a sign stating his grade level or that cool new lunchbox. Then make his face the focal point instead of the object to get your most natural poses and expressions.

Making Keeping Track of Your Back-to-School iPhone Photo Masterpieces a Snap

Some people are great at organizing photos and others aren’t. Whichever camp you fall into, MemoryWeb is a wonderful resource. When you use the MemoryWeb app on your iPhone, we auto-populate your MemoryWeb account with all your images as you take them from your iPhone. We can also import from your desktop and Facebook, according to your preferences. We'll also automatically tag dates and locations to your pictures so you can do things like find every photo taken at your elementary school and view them on an interactive world map.

Our proprietary software also uses facial recognition to prompt you to identify the people in your photos. You then tag those people. Tag your children and watch MemoryWeb build a timeline of your child’s growth in photos—a true MemoryWeb. Download the app on iTunes today and start adding your images. You will be amazed how easy it becomes to see every image you have of your kid in chronological order, without you having to spend hours entering dates taken.