How to Create Amazing Content From Your iPhone (using an iPhone Camera)

Want to kick-start your blogging career but don’t have a top of the range camera?

Then you’ve come to the right place!

Here I am going to talk through top tips to producing great content straight from your iPhone!

*Some links in this post are affiliate links*

Okay, so the first thing to mention is that you will need a laptop or computer of some-sort if you are wanting to personalise your blog and install a pretty theme or have it more personalised, but there are definitely ways around it which I will touch on in this blog post. But the main thing I am going to talk about is photography and taking high quality photos to create a successful blog and Instagram. 

So, let’s start!

The most important thing is how recent your iPhone is. If you are using anything below Iphone 11 or Iphone X, I would highly recommend getting an upgrade if you’re due one or buying one outright on Amazon. If the price is too high, they also do refurbished iPhones on Amazon which are highly discounted but just as good. My reason for saying this is that I recently upgraded from an iPhone 7 to iPhone 11 and the difference in camera quality is unquestionable. Apple have really upped their game and the level of quality you can get from the most recent iPhone, and the quality is very similar to that of a lower spec camera ranging from £150-300 alone.

See below the difference between iPhone 7 and iPhone 11 image quality;

The difference in quality is crazy, right?!

So, once you’ve upgraded and got one of the higher spec iPhones, lets get started on how you can take high quality images.

The first thing to do is get familiar with all the different settings. I would recommend using PHOTO for landscape and lifestyle shots and PORTRAIT for a selfie or portrait in which you want to blur out the background. Do be careful with portrait though, as sometimes it can blur the background too much which can make your image look like a badly edited photo-app job, see below; 

The great thing about iPhone is that you also have the ability to change the camera settings further than just the type of photo filter you want to use. Go to Settings>Camera> and from there you can change videoing recording and photo settings. I would recommend Settings>Camera>4K at 30 fps (High Efficiency) for video recording and Settings>Camera>Formats>Most Compatible for photo taking. These are the highest quality settings you can set on current iPhones so they do take up slightly more storage than the original settings. 

From there you will be wondering how to take the best possible photos using your iPhone. The most important thing is natural light. Wherever possible, make sure you are using natural day light rather than your living room light – it really makes a huge difference.

It’s also important to make sure than you are facing the light rather than standing or taking pictures with the light shining from behind – this will mess up the natural shadows and make the photo look grainy.

Another thing to point out is background. Although iPhone 11/X cameras are really good, they are not professionally built to capture all the detail, shadow and composition of a proper DSLR camera. Make sure your background is as clear as possible if you’re taking lifestyle, flat-lay shots in which you want to focus on products, or free from lots of detail if you are taking a fashion shot of your outfit. For landscape and travel photos with you in it (depending on the intent of your photo) I would stand as far away from the camera as possible if you are wanting to highlight the landscape, or if you want to highlight your outfit with a pretty & historic background I would stand as close to the camera as possible so that the iPhone picks up the detail of the outfit. 

Here are so examples of light behind me with a busy background vs natural light and clear background, both taken on iPhone 11;

 

Once you’ve mastered how to use mother nature and your surroundings in your favour, the next step is photo editing.

There are many apps available depending on what you want for your photos, but the main ones are Lightroom (check out 5 Lightroom tips for beginners), Snapseed and Colour Story. I use Lightroom as I can get the desired effect I want in which I have my own preset saved so it’s pretty straight forward (see here how to make your own preset). If you are just getting started on it I would definitely recommend picking up a preset from Etsy or you can download some amazing free ones which will save you a lot of time and also give you professionally finished photos. 

From there it’s time to share your content with the world!

The best and most popular way is of course Instagram, and one of the good things about Lightroom is that you can see all the photos you edited in grid form in the app just like it would appear in your Instagram feed, so you can start to create a story with your feed and see how it all flows together. This is a great way to share quick snapshots of your story and direct people to your blog.

Once you are ready to start directing people to your blog and if you haven’t already, I would set up a WordPress account.

The easiest way to start a WordPress blog is to go through a company like bluehost or Godaddy as these companies host the website for you meaning you have minimal to no coding to do so that you can focus purely on the appearance and content on your sight.

You can also easily set up a WordPress blog from your phone! All you have to do is download the app, create an account and you can start blogging and publishing straight away. Of course once time goes on you will want to give your readers a more personalised journey so you will need to look at the layout, theme and overall appearance of your blog, but if you’re just getting started and want to get your content out there it’s the perfect place to start!

So, there we have it! My hints and tricks on how to get started on your blog without breaking the bank with an expensive camera and website developer.

I hope this blog post has helped you to get started on your blogging journey and given you some tips you didn’t know before that will enhance your iPhone photography.

The best iPhone 11 deals I’ve found are from uSwitch.com which is an amazing comparison site with unbeatable prices (I’ve been using them for years). Or I would definitely recommend getting a refurbished iPhone which you can get for just a fraction of the price.

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