Wrote a tip about it. Want to hear it? Here it goes.

I had an inspiring (and motivating) conversation about this blog last Thursday, with Margie Rosenstein, one of our amazing graphic designers at the office. She told me that she had encouraged her daughter to come to my blog to find ways (and confidence) to shoot some examples of her work for a client. Wow, I felt so honored and then immediately I felt a little pang in my stomach because I realized that there just isn’t much here to help someone struggling or needing tips or guidance. My heart sank a little. Then on that Friday, Dianne Brisson, our rockin’ member services manager thanked me for sharing “the video tip” (how to shoot still images in video mode) with her because she had gone up in a hot air balloon and loved the results she had gotten with her iPhone. (By the way, her pics were awesome!) Well, the universe doesn’t have to hit me over the head (three times). Hahaha! So, I’ve decided to start posting some tips or background info every so often to be helpful. I’ll put them under a “Tips” category (as soon as I remember how to make a category in WordPress again). Lol! And, really, why not? I’m already going to be diving into the pool by recording a KelbyOne class at the end of this month. What?! Hahaha!

For now, here’s the tip! Well, two tips. Maybe three. Possibly four.

How to shoot with your iPhone, so you get a full screen, wider, with a little zoom shot. Don’t worry; it’s super easy. 😉

Above: When you take a regular photo using your iPhone camera app, the image doesn’t fill the width of the screen. It only takes up about 75% of the screen leaving black bars on either side.

Above: When you want a shot that fills the full screen where the image goes all the way to the edge (leaving no black bars), switch to video mode. When the video is engaged (turned on), a white button will appear right below the red record button, and that’s what you’ll use for taking stills. Because the still image is taken in video mode, the shot zooms to fill the screen and eliminates any bars.

Above: Now you’re shooting at the full width of the screen, but it’s a little zoomed in. If you want the photo to look like it originally did (or wider), you’ll need to step back a few (or more) feet to achieve the best of both worlds — a wider angle shot that also fills the screen, (like you see here). Compare that with the first shot, where the tips of Maggie’s front paws were cut off (that doesn’t sound right), the patterned throw pillow on the left was missing completely, and the red one on the right was mostly cut off.

One last thing, make sure you have your video recording set at the best quality possible. In the iPhone7plus (what I’m currently using) that would be at 4k recording. You choose that by going into your Settings, under Photos & Camera, under Record Video. *(Android note: I understand this technique works with Galaxy phones as well, so give it a try, and please let me know if that’s an accurate statement — it would be great if true). Shooting in video mode is particularly useful for landscapes like this sunset (pictured below), but btw, I shoot 90% of the time in video mode — landscapes or otherwise.

Ninja tip! Don’t forget to delete the space hogging videos you’ll create getting these stills. Ack! Anyway, I hope these types of posts will be helpful.

Have a great week everybody! 🙂