Simple Tips to Improve Your Smartphone Photography

By Kelsi Roth, Senior Graphic Designer and Social Media Specialist

Keep it clean.
No, not like inoffensive. Literally clean. Make sure your product is free of smudges and dirt! Clean your photo surface, props, and your camera’s lens, and make sure there’s no debris or trash cans visible in the background.

Add some light.
Make sure the space you’re photographing in has plenty of light! Go near a big window, or head outside on an overcast today (to avoid harsh shadows). Even though you can brighten an image later, that will degrade the image quality.

Find a new perspective.
We’ve all seen photos of jewelry on a solid neutral background. While this is great for showcasing products on your website, it’s not very compelling in a social feed, especially on an app like Instagram with so many beautiful images. Have someone model pieces, add props, or use interesting backgrounds.

Incorporate local flair.
An easy way to gain local interest is to post photos of other small businesses and local favorites. Wear a piece to a hot new restaurant and snap a photo. Head to the farmers market with a model. Don’t be afraid to photograph near local landmarks! Bonus – tag the other business when you post your photo.

Tasteful editing.
Instagram has a great built-in editing tool. Filters are very harsh so we don’t recommend them, but the edit tool will allow you to straighten images, adjust brightness, contrast, white balance, saturation, and other things that can take your images from “meh” to “wow!”