These days, you don’t have to be a professional photographer to have millions of followers on Instagram, you just have to know how to fake it. While there are myriad apps out there (free or otherwise) that can help pimp out your photos, there’s also a handful of tricks that even the most clueless among us can master to instantly up your Instagram game. Presenting: iPhone Photography For Dummies
Number One. There are different buttons you can use to take pictures – it’s one of Apple’s best kept secrets, but you can actually use the “+” volume button on the side of your phone to take pictures too (which will really come in handy if you consider yourself a selfie queen).
Number Two. Know your shortcuts – even when your phone is on lockdown (or somebody else’s is for that matter), you can still take a photo in no time at all. On the bottom right-hand corner is a little camera icon. Swipe up and bam! It’s photo time.
Number Three. Just say no to zooms – zooms blow up images by reducing quality, and even though iPhones are totally great, they’re not that great. A phone is just a phone, even when it’s basically a computer.
Number Four. Take lots of photos just by holding down a button – what better way to act like the professional photographer you’re not than by making use of a photo option with a fancy name like burst mode. All you need to do is hold down on the shutter, and until you stop pressing, your phone will keep taking photos in a rapid succession.
Number Five. Use a timer – lots of people install timer apps because they don’t realize that their iPhone already has a built-in timer. See that tiny clock next to the button you press to toggle in and out of selfie mode? That’s a timer. Say hello to your new little friend.
Number Six. Get focused – blurry photos are for amateurs. Tap whatever part of your screen the subject is on and a yellow box will magically appear to help you out.
Number Seven. The rule of thirds is your friend – in design there’s this thing called the rule of thirds. For some reason, our eyes are drawn to images where the subject is a third of the way into the frame from either the right or the left. So basically, if you want you pictures to get more likes on Instagram, this needs to be your golden rule. Don’t worry about eyeballing this, because that’s why your phone has grid mode. Happy Instagram-ing, everybody.