Transcripts
1. Introduction to iPhone Travel Photography: Hello, and welcome to the iPhone Travel
photography course for Instagram creators. I have used both smartphones
and DSLRs, and over time, I have realized
that the best gear, the best camera is the one
that you have with you. And more often than
not, that's your phone. This course is about getting the best travel photos
out of your iPhone. I know editing is often
what people jump to first, but I believe great photography starts even before you
touch an editing app. What makes a photo standout is not just filters or presets, rather how you use the light. And how you compose and
frame your subjects. I think that's more important, and that's what we're
covering in this course. In this course, you will learn
how to use light, angles, and composition to take
your photography to the next level using
just your iPhone. Let's get started
and turn your phone into the most powerful
creative tool.
2. Strengths & Limitations of iPhone's Camera: So in this module, we are talking about
what your iPhone does really well and where it struggles and how you can work with its limitations
and not against them. First, let's talk
about the strengths. Strength number one,
it's always with you. People even take it to the loo. Your phone is portable, lightweight, and you can easily
carry it around all day. That makes it perfect
for travel photography. Whether you're hiking, biking or just going around
the city on a walk, Dsards and mirror less cameras are rather
clunky and heavy. So they require some
getting used to. Strength number two, it's smart. The iPhone software
processing is really smart. It automatically adjusts
exposure balance. This video tape
you're seeing right now is being shot in auto mode. All I'm doing is
using this light, using this small
ring light here, and I'm just using an external microphone and nothing else. I haven't even adjusted the settings and I'm
shooting with a rare camera. I don't know what the
phone is shooting, but I trust the software enough that it's
doing a good job. Actually, smartphone
cameras do a lot better than beginners with
manual settings on a DSLR. Third strength is Instagram. You don't need to
transfer files, convert to raw or sync to a
laptop or anything like that. You can just shoot, edit from
your phone, and hit Upload. For Instagram creators, that
kind of speed is helpful. But let's be real. The iPhone is not perfect. Here are some limitations. Limitation number one,
no full manual control. You can't fully adjust
settings like ISO, aperture, shutter speed unless you're using a third
party application. Even then it's kind of limited or hidden
behind a paywall. But you can control
focus and exposure. To some extent, let
me show you how. To focus on an object, you just click, tap to focus. If you notice, every
time I tap on an object, the focus is being changed. And to adjust the exposure, after clicking on an object, you just drag down to
reduce the exposure, or you drag up to
increase the exposure. Now you can go as
high as you want, but I recommend you
don't go overboard. And there is another cool
thing you can do here. You can tap on an object, increase the exposure, decrease it, whatever
you want to do, and you can tap and
hold on the object, and your focus will
now be locked. Now, you can take the
camera wherever you want, but the focus will not adjust. The exposure will not
adjust automatically. It will be logged in place. It can be useful for
certain light conditions, for example, sunset, sunrise
and things like that. Limitation number two, fixed
aperture and small sensor. This means it won't be able
to blur the background as naturally as a DSLR
or a mirror less camera. It's not super
great in low light. Again, this point is
especially true if you're using an older
generation iPhone. Your iPhone may struggle
with scenes that have both super bright areas
and super dark areas. Imagine someone standing
against a sunset. You can either expose for
the sunset or the person. Limitation number three,
digital zoom is kind of trash. Never zoom in digitally. Unless your phone
has optical zoom, you have no point in
zooming in on your phone. It just crops your image
and lowers the quality. Instead, move closer to the subject or shoot wide
and crop later only if you have let's talk about specific scenarios
where your iPhone might not perform that well. First is night scenes
without any source of light. Think of dim alleys,
candle lit rooms, city streets after dark, without any street lights. Number two, back lit situations. Someone is standing right
between you and the sunset. So you can either expose for
them or expose for the sun. That's where your phone
might not perform that well. If you're looking
for dynamic range and you're looking to
expose for both of them. So your more phone might
not do a good job there. High speed motion.
High speed motion like sports, animals
running around. You might get a lot
of motion blur there. Like even fast moving vehicles might get some motion
blur around them, especially if the light is low. Extreme zoom situations, extreme Zoom situations like shooting something
from very far away, and you have to crop in a lot or zoom in your camera a lot. Those situations are pretty
terrible for most phones, especially base model iPhones because they don't
have telephoto lens. O model iPhones will perform slightly better here because
of the optical zoom. Fifth is low light and indoors, especially if the
light is uneven. For example, if I use a blue, for example, this
is white light. This is basic natural light. And this right here, you can't see it on camera, but I'm using a white ring light. If I was using a
yellow ring light, the phone's white balance will go bonkers, completely bonkers. And it won't be able to
handle the details properly. In these cases, know your
phone's hardware limitations and try to find good sources of light rather than
forcing a bad shot. So here's the big idea. Your phone is not a lesser tool. It's a different tool. It's smart, fast, and perfect
for storytelling on the go. But only if you play to it
strength and avoid the traps.
3. Composition Principles You Should Use: Module number two is
composition principles. This is where the
real magic begins. Your camera doesn't take
great pictures you do, and one of the most powerful
things that you can learn as an iPhone
photographer is composition. Composition is about how you place your objects in a scene. That is composition.
For example, me standing right in the middle. This particular
area, this is empty. This is all composition. For example, I can stand here, and the shot looks
weird to you most probably because all of this
is empty and it looks weird. So this is composition, about how you place your
objects in a frame. Composition is about
making your photo feel intentional and not random. Let's go over five
composition principles that I personally
use all the time, and I will recommend to all
beginner photographers. First is the rule of thirds. Your iPhone lets you turn on
grid in the camera settings. Please do that if
you haven't already. Now, imagine your frame being
divided into nine sections. The idea is to place your subject across
the intersections. People place them on the
left or the right line. Landscapes, the horizon line of the landscape
should either be on the top third or
the bottom third. This will instantly make
your photo more dynamic. Second is my personal
favorite leading lines. Use natural lines like roads, bridges to guide the
viewer's eye into the shot. You can even use roads. I personally use roads
quite a lot because that's what I find
here. Most of the time. Eading lines add a direction and storytelling to your shot. They make the photo feel like
it's taking you somewhere. This is perfect
for travel photos. Third composition is framing. Framing means using something in the environment to
frame your subject. It draws attention
to what's important and adds a layer of
depth to your photo. It also kind of
create a POV shot of you looking through something
to the final scenery. Look for these naturally
walking around, like arches, trees, leaves, and doorways
and things like that. Even car windows can work greatly to create
the framing shot. Fourth composition
is foreground, midground, and background. These are used to create
depth in the shot. IPhone photos can
sometimes feel flat, especially the wide photos. The solution is to
layer your scene. Add something close to the
lens in the foreground, like plant, railing,
or any prop. Keep your subject
in the midground. Let the background
complete the story. It can be a beautiful temple. It can be a beautiful mountain or any place that
you're traveling to. This adds depth and
dimension to your shot, making it feel immersive. Fifth composition principle is simplicity and negative space. Not every photo
needs to be super busy because sometimes
less is more. Negative space gives
your photo a lot of breathing room and
makes your subject pop. Now, about the ruse, I want to talk to
you about the ruses. First up, these are not rules. We think of them as guides
on your photography journey, especially if you're a beginner, trying to take better pictures. Initially, they will
help you a lot. I personally don't
use these rules. These rules are fitted
in my brain because I've been using them nonstop
for so many years. I don't have to
think about them. And that's what I'm
trying to do to you. Bonus step. Try breaking the rules once you
know them properly. Sometimes symmetry
centered subject can work, but it needs to feel
intentional and not random. In the next module, I'd
like to talk about using natural light without any external equipment
using your smartphone.
4. Developing The Photographer's Eye: Welcome to module number three. This is where we talk
about natural light. Good light can make
your average photos look incredible and bad light can make the most beautiful
places look drab and dull. Let's break down how to see and use light like
a photographer. The best time to shoot
outdoors is sunrise sunset and the time around it slightly after sunset,
slightly before sunset. That is the best time to shoot. The light is soft and warm. Shadows are longer
and more flattering. Everything feels
dreamy and cinematic. Plan your shoot around
this time if possible, especially for landscapes,
portrait, and architecture. Next up, are cloudy days. Natural soft box in the sky. Most people avoid
cloudy days to shoot, but photographers love them. Clouds act like a
natural diffuser, softening the light and
creating softer shadows. This is perfect for
shooting nature, portraits, close up, flat lay, and pretty much all
kinds of photography. So don't cancel a shoot with the sky is gray
rather embrace it. Next up is midday sun,
harsh but usable. Midday light around noon is the toughest time
to shoot because it creates super hard shadows and strong highlights
and strong shadows, something that our
phones struggle with. But here's how you
can work around it. Look for shade, like
under the trees, under a building or just
look for places with shade. Next up is use walls to bounce
the light to your subject. Face your subject away
from the sun to avoid squinting or the highlights
being too much to handle. Now, if you're shooting
architecture or street, midday harsh sunlight
can also work. Just be aware of what
your phone is capturing. And how much your
phone can handle. Fourth lighting situation
is back lighting. Shooting with the light
behind your subject can create a beautiful
dramatic look. What you do is you
tap on the screen and lower or increase the
exposure as you like. Tap on the screen to
expose for the subject. If the subject is too
close to the camera, you can tap on the subject and lower the exposure manually to get the silhouette or increase the exposure to expose
for the subject. Hold your phone at different
angles to control the flare. Use portrait mode for
dramatic backlit shot. Although it will be very tough for old iPhones to do this one. Photography really is
just painting with light, and the better you
understand it, the better your photos will be. You don't need
perfect conditions. You just need to pay
attention to what the light is doing
and act accordingly. Module number four is developing
the photographer's eye. So far, we've talked about composition light and the basic principles
that form photography. Now it's time to
go deeper because photography is not just
about technical skill. It's about seeing
things differently. This module is about how you can develop the
photographer's eye, that instinct to spot stories moments that
others walk right past. First step is to slow
down and observe. When you're traveling, it's easy to get caught up
in the excitement, snapping away
everything you see. But great photography
starts with observation. Look around before
taking out your phone. Notice how the light
hits the building. Watch how people move
through a space, look up, look down,
look around you. Train yourself to pause, see, and then shoot, shoot
with intention. This is the biggest
tip that I have in this particular course
if you're trying to improve your
travel photography. Ask yourself, what am
I trying to show here? Don't just shoot randomly,
shoot with a purpose. Are you showing the
scale of the mountain? Are you showing the city? What exactly are you trying
to show through that picture? Think before you shoot. When you start
thinking like this, your photos become more powerful because they have a story
and they have a vision. Look for stories and
not just scenes. Good travel photography
captures not just the place, but people, emotions,
and culture. Some ways to tell story
through your photos. Capture moments a
vendor laughing, child chasing pigeons, or there are plenty of moments
happening around us. You just need to capture
those moments for better travel photography show daily life and not
just landmarks. Look for juxta position. Old and new local and tourist are some examples
of juxta position. Find beauty in the ordinary. Not every travel photo needs to be of spectacular location. In fact, some of your
best photos might come from a cracked wall with
some texture around it. Reflections in
puddle after rain. Every time you see a puddle, just take your
phone, reverse it, and put right on top of the puddle to take a
beautiful reflection shot. These tiny things
can add detail and texture to your travel photos and make them look incredible. Explore beyond the obvious. The best photos often come
when you go one breed further. Wake up early to shoot
before the crowd. Visit local spots as well instead of just the
top rated ones. The goal isn't just to take
photos but to experience the place and take photos according to your
experience of the place. Capture movement to add life. A to make your travel
photos more alive. Capture emotion. Something should be
happening in the frame. Birds flying through sky, someone pouring chi, let's say, or something something any form of movement
or a street vendor cooking food or
something like that. Movement makes your
photos look dynamic. Whenever you are taking
photos of moving object, you can use burst mode on
your iPhone, like this. To take burst mode photos, all you have to do is drag the iPhone shutter to
the left, like this. And I'm moving my
camera around just so we have a lot of
photos to select from, and some photos will be blurry, some will be sharp. So let's go. We took the photo. Now you
just go to the gallery, and it says 46 photos
from the burst. Now, it will only show us one photo in the
gallery initially. Click on the burst. And you can select however many photos
that you like. Click on Done. Now, there are two options. First says keep everything. So it will keep your bit photo, which has all the 48 photos, and the three pictures
you favorited here will be saved
as a separate photo. And if you select keep
only three favorites, the burst photo will be deleted. We'll just pick keep everything. Use the burst mode only
when there are birds around or there are
movement in the shot. For example, moving cars, there could be a lot of
movement here and there. So use burst mode to negate that movement or to stop that movement
right there. Please remember developing
the photographer's eye is not about copying
other people's photos. It's about slowing down, seeing things more clearly whenever you are taking photos.
5. Discussing Photos I've taken: In this module, I'd like to
talk about some of the photos that I have taken over the years and discuss why they work. Please note that this
module is not about copying my look or
someone else's look. This module is all
about you developing your own photography
and learning why these particular
photos worked. Now, first photo is on
your screen right now. This is a photo that I took to highlight the beautiful light and the beautiful landscape. Sort of a barren landscape. Foreground are
these dried plants. Midground is the hill in the front and background are
the rest of the mountains. Now, through this,
I have tried to highlight the harsh
summer of Rajasthan. This is one of my
favorite photos that I've taken using a DSLR. You can easily take a
photo like this from your maybe pro model
smartphone because this uses a little
bit of optical zoom. So this photo only
has two elements. First is the green
grass and second, are the brown pathway
and the brown trees. It works because of
the leading line and how I have arranged the
composition of this shot. This is another one a beautiful
shot that I've taken. If you notice, this
is another one where it has a foreground,
midground, and background. Foreground are these tiny plants in the front, if you notice, clearly, these plants are framing the two
boats in the lake. So fbenom midground,
and in the background, we have a mountain, a fort on the top
of the mountain, and therefore city
at the bottom. And if you notice
a little closer, there is City Palace
or King's Palace. This is a shot
where I've tried to highlight the
geometrical shapes. Actually, I have noticed
that geometrical shapes tend to look very
good in photos. So here, it's all about
the geometrical shapes of the railings of the boat stand
in the middle of the shot, the city in the background in the beautiful blue
waters and sky and the light and
shadow game that is happening in the
foreground of this shot. This is another one, foreground, midground, and background. Now, this is where you see
me breaking some rules. In the rule of thirds class, I talked about the
horizon line should be either at the top third
or the bottom third. However, in this shot, the horizon line is
in the dead middle, but I think it still looks good because each and every
composition is different. Treat it differently. Lop thirds is a tool. Don't force it on
each and every photo, rather keep an open eye and use different tools
for different places. Here I have used leading line. There is a leading line
on the left of this shot. The pathway that the
four people are walking at and the shoreline can
also act as a leading line. There is a beautiful reflection of the trees in
the water as well. In this particular shot, I have tried to frame
the tree in the middle using multiple trees on the left and multiple
trees on the right. This is one of the oldest
photos that I've taken. This was taken back in 2017 and I was standing at the
top of a different hill. I asked my friend to go
climb that different hill in front and there was this view of beautiful
hills in the background. So I just use my friend to show the skate of these mountains
because without my friend, this shot does not work at all. So I have tried to
show the scale of the mountains and the scale
of nature, basically. This is where I have
tried to use framing. I've tried to frame
the temple properly and I never asked these two people to walk side by side or
something like that. They just happened to walk by and I was lucky
enough to be there. Now, with this shot, all I tried to do is
add some contrast. This is huge fog. It was, I think, six in
the morning, 6:00 A.M. I think it was 6:00
A.M. Six or 7:00 A.M. It was before the sunrise. It was pretty dark conditions
and it was thick thick fog. And another scooter passed us by and I noticed the
light was shining so beautifully in the dense
blue fog of early morning. So I just took this
photo and I enhanced the colors to make it
look more pleasing. This particular shot, there are no composition principles. I mean, it is just a
plain looking shot. It works because
of the beautiful light that I've tried to capture and roads in the shot works always
work beautifully. It just works
because of the light and dark and the contrast
I'm able to get. This is another one
of the foggy shots. This works in particular very well because
of the flower in the front because it adds much needed
contrast in the shot. Just let me know the comments, how do you like this shot? Contrast always works
well, almost always. Just take note of
your surroundings. For example, if you're
taking a photo of a building and the building is, let's say, brown in
color, most building, most old historic buildings
are brown in color. Just move around and try to see if there
are flowers nearby. You can put those flowers
in the foreground. You can get some
additional contrast and additional color into
a lifeless paren shot. For example, without these
pink flowers in the front, this photo does not work. It looks generic. It looks very average. But because of the flower,
it works beautifully. This is the photo that
made me realize to not just take vertical
photos for Instagram. You can take horizontal
photos as well. This composition cannot work beautifully in a vertical photo. However, this looks
breathtaking to me in its full horizontal glory. Through this through this photo, I have tried to highlight the beautiful light and
the contrast it creates. For example, if you take
a look at this shot, it starts with right area where my friend is sitting and
is trying to take a photo, then it moves to darkness,
it moves to light, it moves to dark, then it moves to bright white sky again. I think you need to find this contrast whenever
you're taking photos and when you take a
photo is very important. Try to schedule your
photography sessions around the golden r and you will reap amazing benefits
because of that. This is a very simple
shot that I've taken and I just noticed
that it was very hazy. Whenever there is haze, you will introduce
foreground elements and focus on the foreground more so they are able to pop in this particular shot
when I was taking this shot, I just noticed that the color of the grass and the flower
looks incredible. The green was popping like
it had never popped before because of the light and
the yellow looked amazing. I think I only took
two to three photos of this and it just worked. Again, this photo
is barely edited. This is almost straight
out of the camera. All I have done is
increase the brightness slightly and I did
not have to boost the colors because the colors genuinely looked
this eye pleasing. So sometimes go simple. Just keep your eye
open and look around, keep your eye open
and look around. That's just what photography is. This is a photo I
took to highlight the terrible state of
my city or airport. Actually, there were huge
renovations going on in my city and the people of my city
were very irritated, very annoyed by all that. I just tried to share it
without using a photo. The man who is in the
middle of his step that I think adds
dynamism to the shot, adds motion to the shot. And if you notice the buildings in the background look terrible. Again, almost all of these buildings are
40, 50-years-old. And not in good condition. The stairs in the
front, actually, they were breaking these
stairs to renovate them, but the renovation
was not happening on happening timely, if I may. So I took this photo
and shared it on my Instagram just to highlight the terrible
condition of my city. This photo was
taken to highlight the terrible
condition of my city. This is where I've used two
rules at the same time. First is going to be framing and second
is the leading line. Leading line is the
wall to the left of the shot and the stairs that form your leading line and the trees and the
plants on the left, they all form the frame. I've tried to give
this a natural frame because this is
particularly a nature shot. Where you. This is a shot
where I've used leading line. Leading line doesn't
have to be obvious whenever you're taking photos because leading lines
are mostly subconscious. Take this for example, in
this particular photo, the leading line is on
the left, the left shops. If you look at the bottom, they lead us straight to the subject to the clock
tower in the middle. And there are lines
on the road that lead us to the clock tower in the middle and on the
right side as well, there are a few lines
here and there. I think this shot works
beautifully because of that. It is a very chaotic shot again. Now, some people might
say I should have removed the wires from the shot, but I like this shot
being more authentic and highlighting what's real and
things that can be improved. This is one of my
favorite photos that I've taken
using my iPhone 12. This photo works because
it follows a rhythm. I think we have talked about
rhythm in this course. Rhythm is light, dark, light, dark, light,
and then there is sky. This shot works in
a similar fashion. There is light, dark, light, dark, light, and
then there is sky. I think just because
of the rhythm, I was able to create
incredible contrast. Without editing this
photo too much, I added a lot of contrast
just because of the light. And this photo also
highlights the importance of you being out of your hotel, of your home at the right time. Because this was taken,
I think at 7:30 A.M. Or similar time
ten to 15 minutes early or late,
somewhere around that. This is another photo where
I've used leading line. The leading line
is the rocky wall. I was standing on the rocky
wall to take this photo. If you notice closely, there's a bird in the sky
as well to add a little bit of motion in the shot and
there's a foreground, midground and background
style of composition, so it looks pretty
because of that. That's it for this module, and I really hope you enjoy it. Let's move on to the next one.
6. Final Tips & Mistakes: Module number six, final
tips and mistakes to avoid. Clean your lens before every shoot and during
the shoot as well. This is the easiest way to improve the image
quality of your phone. Hold your phone
steady like a camera. What a lot of us
do is like this, our elbows away from our body, and it's very difficult
to hold your phone till when your arms are
lengthy like this. So what I want you to
do is keep your elbows tugged and now things
become a lot better. Also pausing your breath for the moment you're
taking photo can also work wonders for that shot. Use your feet and not just Zoom. Move closer to your subject rather than using digital Zoom. Digital Zoom can severely reduce the quality of your shot. Shoot both horizontal
and vertical. Horizontal photos
can be used for storytelling purposes like this, you can use a free app called Ishot to create these
horizontal photocllages. So it works as an
Instagram post. You can post them on stories, and these are vertical
for Instagram needs. But because we view the world
horizontally, we as humans, we view the world horizontally, so it's easier to take storytelling shots
that are horizontal. You can also take vertical
16 to nine photos by default in camera, so you are able to better compose your shot for
Instagram stories. Use live photos to create long exposures, great
for waterfalls, street scenes, and scenes where there is a
lot of movement, and you want to capture
the entire movement. If you're using the portrait
mode on older iPhones, it has the tendency
to look ugly, Borderline ugly and the edge processing
is terrible as well. So what you can do to
mitigate that is go to edit the photo and
reduce the depth effect, so it will look more natural. Enable these camera settings
as well while you're at it. If you're editing
on a Windows PC, choose most compatible,
rather than HEIC. HEIC is higher in quality, but it's usually not supported
by non Apple devices. Learn from your own work. Revisit old shots,
reflect on what worked and what didn't eye will
improve faster than you expect. Study and follow travel
photographers regularly. I don't want to
give you any names of photographers I follow because I don't want you to be influenced by what I follow. What I want you to do is
develop your own interest, develop your own style, search, travel
photography on Instagram, and follow the creators
that you admire. Pay attention to
their composition, use of light, storytelling
aspects of their shots. Doing this consistently
will help you improve your eye without
you even realizing.
7. Outro & Upcoming Courses: That brings us to the
end of this course. If you've made it this far, thank you so much for being
in this journey with me. You now have everything
you need to start taking better photos
using just your iPhone. From composition and lighting
to developing your eye. These are the exact
tools that I have used to level up my own
travel photography. Remember, you don't need the
most exotic camera gear. You don't need to travel to
the most exotic locations. You just need to start seeing things a little differently. If you've enjoyed this
particular course, I have more courses coming
up, so please follow. First is the iPhone
photo editing course for Instagram creators. You can now take
incredible photos, but what about editing? This is the course where
I'll cover the editing. IPhone product
photography at home. Third is cinematic
iPhone video recording. Please stay tuned.
Thanks for watching.
Shubham Jain
