Mobile Photography Tips By Michael Kestin

First off, let me say that it’s fun to take pictures with a mobile phone. The phone is always with us, always ready to shoot, and I have my studio to edit with me. Even better, I can share my pictures immediately.
It’s another kind of workflow and a useful alternative to my big camera. Here are some tips:

1. Light
   It’s all about light. Light surrounds us everywhere. See the light, get the shadows too.
   

2. Focus
   What’s your theme? Try to select just one theme for each shoot, and let it guide you. Stop for one second and think about whether you want to capture the picture in front of you. Need to zoom?
   

3. Perspective
   Get down on your knees, lay down on the ground, climb a ladder, climb a tree: there are hundreds of possibilities for capturing another point of view of the same subject… try as many of them as possible.
   

4. Reflections
   Mirrors are everywhere: glasses, puddles, smooth and shining surfaces. Use these to your advantage and discover other, more unique views.

5. Black and White
   Focus on forms, structure, textures, surfaces. Light models things, try to capture that!
   

6. Simplicity
   Less really is more. Use empty spaces, the sky, uncolored surfaces, and focus on details.
   

7. Apps
   Feel free to change moods and colors and to add elements to your photos. Editing apps can help you to make your pictures much better, or at the very least more interesting.
   
   Apps Used: Leme Cam and Distressed FX

8. Moments
   Always try to catch the best moment… a memory worth capturing. Feel this moment
   
   Apps Used: Snapseed, Mextures, Distressed FX

9. Shadows
   Mother nature paints with light. When the sun is shining, shadows help create lots of interesting scenes for you to capture. Look around and you’ll see that even mundane scenes can be captured in a special way.
   

10. Storytelling
    Take two ore more pictures and make collages. This is a simple way to use your photos to tell a story.
    
    Apps Used: Leme Cam, Distressed FX, Pixlr
    Apps I often and intensively use for editing my photos:
    – Snapseed
    – Pixlr
    – Mextures
    – Distressed FX
    – Mattebox
    Michael Kestin is a musician and interior designer who also works as a photographer and visual trainer giving workshops in visual thinking and mobile photography that focus on visual spaces.