I love my Nikon D90 camera. Since getting it in 2009 I’ve taken more than 39,000 photos and it’s the camera behind 99.9% of the flying dogs, colorful flowers, and tasty foods you’ll see on this blog. That being said, my Nikon is HUGE and screams “photographer” (or, worse yet, “steal me!”) so it just isn’t practical to bring it with me everywhere I go.

Enter the iPhone camera: tiny, lightweight, unobtrusive, and – most importantly – already with me at all times! The iPhone obviously won’t yield the same results as the Nikon D90 but it is a fantastic substitute when the perfect photo opp presents itself and I don’t happen to have the big camera with me. Here are some photos that I took with my iPhone:

These are some tips that I try to keep in mind while taking photos with my phone:

• It’s all about the light. Avoid grainy, blurry phone photos by choosing shots where your camera will excel. Look for people or objects facing into the sun (or a sunny window) or choose a well lit indoor location.
• Use another phone as an “off camera flash.” If you do need to take a photo in a dark room, borrow a friend’s phone set to “flashlight” mode to light up your subject. This will give you much better results than your own phone’s on board flash.
• Make your point with a clear subject. Minimize clutter by removing unnecessary items from the frame or getting closer to your subject so it’s clear what the focus of the photo is. This will help later if your photo is going to be viewed on a tiny phone screen or shared in thumbnail size on social media sites like Facebook.
• Post-processing is OK! My iPhone photos are often fairly flat and uninspiring but I have had a lot of fun using Apps like Instagram and BeFunky to jazz them up a bit. Don’t be afraid to play around… they’re just photos, after all! 🙂

I’d love to see YOUR favorite camera phone shots! Please feel free to post links to them and/or leave your own ‘phoneography’ tips in the comments.