Hey everyone! These are some of the iPhone portraits I captured of my friend Kelsey for the iPhone Portrait Photography course I taught live here on Skillshare. If you missed the live session, no worries! The live presentation has been turned into a course and you can watch it here: Live Encore: iPhone Portrait Photography.

I've selected 5 of my favorite photos from the shoot to share here, and I am super happy with how they came out. I am honestly BLOWN AWAY by the quality of the images that come from the iPhone. Let's take a look at them and break them down one by one!

iPhone Portrait Shoot with Kelsey in Bali - image 1 - student project

This first shot is probably my favorite of the bunch. I captured it using Portrait Mode and the 2x lens. The sharpness, tones and colors directly out of camera were beautiful. I did a simple edit on my phone using my mobile portrait presets, and absolutely love the end result. You can really see Kelseys emotions here, and that's central to a good portrait!

iPhone Portrait Shoot with Kelsey in Bali - image 2 - student project

All I can say is, wow. Look at the SHARPNESS! I shot this close up with the 2x lens, and made sure to focus on here eye. I wanted the board to fill up part of the frame to add some negative space, and have her peaking out from behind it. What makes this shot so compelling is the composition, our eyes naturally flow from top to bottom and end on her eye. The edge of the board really acts as a leading line to guide us through the image. Plus, the yellow color of her swimsuit compliments the blue ocean behind her quite well. Overall love this image!

iPhone Portrait Shoot with Kelsey in Bali - image 3 - student project

For this third shot I wanted to show a bit more of the beach, but still have the focus on Kelsey. I positioned her in the right third of the frame, and had her look to the left into the distance. Her gaze, alongside the leading lines of the background, really help guide our eyes off into the distance. She's also framed nicely by the surfboard, and the palm trees behind her. I wanted to go for a softer edit here, and am happy with how it came out.

iPhone Portrait Shoot with Kelsey in Bali - image 4 - student project
Last but certainly not least, an old-school looking black and white film photo. I had Kelsey run across the beach and I ran with her while taking a burst of photos. I shot this with the 2x lens, mid-stride! I really wanted to go for an old-school nostalgic look with this edit, so I made it black and white and also added a bit of film grain to add texture to the shot. It gives off old school summer vibes, and love the result.

iPhone Portrait Shoot with Kelsey in Bali - image 5 - student project

This last shot is a more natural depiction of Kelsey, and I shot it just before we went home. In all the shots we had amazing light, but for this one I wanted Kelsey to look into the setting sun. This allowed the soft light to fall beautifully across her face, and really makes this photo what it is, a great shot!

Overall, I'm shocked by the quality of the images the iPhone can capture. The iPhone really has become a legitimate photography tool in recent years. I can't wait to shoot with it more!

Sean Dalton

Travel Photographer

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