Photographer’s simple tips for taking professional photos with your new iPhone 15

Tips for taking the best photos with your iPhone 15 camera 

Lights

Light gives us a different, festive and aesthetic touch at Christmas time. The combination of coloured lights or candles will give us more beautiful and creative photos. In portraits, remember to put them in the background, and you can also use side or front lights.

Thanks to the Portrait mode and the ability to edit the depth and focus point afterwards, we can get artistic photos that remind us of these dates.

Having a light in front of the person being photographed will help to achieve a better result, but don’t worry if you can’t – smart HDR and the ability to meter the exposure on iPhone 15 Pro will help to have a good overall exposure of the shot.

Shots

Thanks to the multiple lens options available on iPhone 15 Pro Max, we have the possibility of taking portraits with different shots. For example, we can take group portraits or wider Christmas scenes with the Wide camera, using the 24, 28 and 35mm lengths, to close the shot with the 2x or 5x Telephoto options and get close-ups or shots of distant details. 

Details

With the help of the macro mode of our iPhone, we can zoom in on Christmas details to get a different and creative view. Isolate objects and some Christmas food dishes to emphasise their texture and shape.

Also, remember that colour and light will help us get a better photo – make sure you don’t cast a shadow on the objects and try to keep them in the central part of the frame.

Colour

With basic notions about colour, and combinations of different tones, you can get very striking photos. For example, by mixing objects with warm and cold tones we can give more contrast to the scene, as well as if we use complementary colours. Also keep in mind that the type of light will alter the saturation and tone of the colour.

Movement

You can take advantage of Live Photo to capture what happens 1.5 seconds before and 1.5 seconds after you’ve taken a picture, and thus have not only the photo, but also that moment in a short video that you can then share.

Composition

Gifts lend themselves to still life. For this you can use aerial shots that help to include multiple elements, as well as the delicious plates of food. Using the grid to compose using colours or shapes is a good way to get colourful and colourful photographs. Remember that with the help of the camera level we can know if our iPhone is placed completely perpendicular to the scene we are going to shoot. Of course we can also take the picture with an inclination of 30-45 degrees, giving a greater depth to our still life.

Decoration

A key element to give context to the photos taken at this time of the year. Whether you are going to take pictures of people, gifts or trays of Christmas sweets, don’t forget to decorate the space with a Christmas touch. Add lights, garlands, or even accessories such as funny hats to both the subjects and the pets… you will have the perfect Christmas card ready for next year!

Pace

Slow motion video is always a nice option for capturing moments at Christmas when one of our protagonists makes a move. From scenes of people playing in the snow, to capturing champagne being poured into a glass, your iPhone camera can capture them all with Slo-Mo.

Your pet

Including pets in our Christmas scenes is now even easier with Portrait mode. Remember to position yourself with your iPhone at their height by lowering the track point and using any of the Telephoto lenses. If you want more creative photos and fun scenes, use the Wide camera and angled viewpoints. 

Get yourself in the frame

Don’t forget to include yourself in the portraits! Thanks to the camera timer, and also thanks to Apple Watch Camera Control, we can leave our iPhone on a tripod or in a stable place to be part of that group portrait.

Remember it’s a festive time, so try to get people interacting with each other.

Also, try to take more than one picture, to ensure the perfect shot. And with all the photos you have taken, and thanks to iPhone Shortcuts you can make a GIF in the simplest way, something very useful to send for example a Christmas greeting on the move.