I Was Terrible At Taking Photos. Could My iPhone Change That?

I’ve never been great at taking photos. That wasn’t so much of an issue in the early days of the camera phone, when it was easy to excuse my bad photos on the technology at hand and not my lack of skill. But as the devices in our pockets have improved, the more embarrassed I’ve become of my camera roll: the unflattering photos of my wife speaking mid-sentence, the barrage of half-in-motion shots of my dog running in the park, the mirror selfies I should have left behind in 2007.

In May, my wife and I had our first child. We knew those first newborn moments would be fleeting, and that we’d want to look back (when we were less sleep-deprived) to remember them. In the lead-up to the birth, I decided it was finally time to brush up on my photography skills. 

I wanted to keep things as uncomplicated as possible—no equipment to fuss with or post-production editing to contend with—which meant learning to better use my phone to snap candids. So, armed with my iPhone 16, I turned to a pro for tips, with the goal of taking better photos of my new little family. 

How a professional photographer uses her iPhone camera

While Toronto-based photographer Nicole Breanne Shabada uses a Canon R5 for her professional work, after the birth of her first daughter she started relying on her iPhone to capture photos. “It wasn’t always convenient to pull out my DSLR,” she says.

Since then, Shabada has challenged herself to use her phone for photography more often, even creating a series of beginner-friendly video tips to improve your iPhone photos. Her message: You don’t need a fancy camera to take professional-quality photos. 

Here, Shabada runs through her four top tips to capture gorgeous shots with your phone.

Take as many photos as possible—and weed out the bad ones later

The biggest hurdle I needed to overcome, it turned out, was all the time I spent trying to finesse a shot before I’d even snap a single photo. Shabada says not to worry so much about creating the perfect shot and instead be liberal with the number of photos you take. You’ll never regret trying to capture little moments with your family and loved ones, and you can always sort through the bad shots later on. 

Shabada also suggests taking a mix of photos with your subjects: For every photo I take of my newborn, for instance, she says I should take one of my wife, and a selfie of the three of us (and a bonus shot of the dog, if she cooperates!). Part of capturing moments, she adds, is ensuring everyone is accounted for.

Get creative with composition

Taking photos of small details means I’ll never forget how tiny his hands were once upon a time. (Photo: Erica Lenti)

Whenever I’d try to take a photo of my wife or a friend, I’d always opt for the same setup: waist-up, chin slightly tilted, usually seated, not unlike the (unfortunate) school photos of my past. But Shabada says it’s important to try lots of different approaches.

First, she suggests capturing the little details—especially when it comes to little ones. “Take pictures of their toes, nose, sleeping face, eyes, hands, all of it—you’ll want to save those as they change so quickly,” Shabada says. Then you can zoom out: get a close-up of faces, then those waist-up shots and finally a full-body photo. She loves a good selfie (no mirrors!), too, to get everyone, including those behind the camera, in the shot.

Shabada also suggests trying to find a neutral background—in your home, that might be a corner or blank wall; outside, it could be a field at the park or a brick wall—so that your subjects are the sole focus of the shot. 

Natural light is your best friend

When afternoon light poured through my bedroom window one afternoon, I snapped this happy shot. (Photo: Erica Lenti)

A single light source is the easiest way to light your photos, Shabada says, and that’s usually natural light. For indoor shots, try to set up shots so that light from, say, your window is directly on or beside your subject’s face. You can bounce light onto the opposite side of a subject’s face using anything white you have laying around the house, like a sheet (held taut by an extra set of hands, or hung from, say, a door frame) or a piece of white foam board. And try to shut off overhead lights if you can. 

Don’t be afraid to toy with built-in editing options

I added portrait mode lighting to this shot after the fact, which blurred the background and kept focus on his adorable little face. (Photo: Erica Lenti)

I’ve always been intimidated by the idea of editing my photos after the fact. But Shabada assures me that sometimes a small tweak can go a long way. Some of the most impactful edits can be made directly in your phone’s photos app. On the iPhone, for instance, you can adjust white balance; in photos taken indoors with overhead lights, shifting the white balance slider more blue will eliminate those yellow-y tones from artificial lighting and restore skin tones to their natural hue. Newer iPhones also have the option to add portrait mode lighting to any photo you take, creating a blurred background that allows your subjects to stand out more.

One of Shabada’s go-to edits is a super easy swap from colour to black and white: “It can really tone things down and make a photo more simple,” she says. 

If you feel like taking your editing a step further, Shabada likes using the Adobe Lightroom app on her iPhone. The app includes built-in filters that can both enhance your photos with just a tap.

How I improved my photography skills

Armed with Shabada’s advice, and the newfound confidence that anyone can be a photographer with an iPhone, I set out to shoot as many photos of my family that I could. 

Knowing the importance of natural lighting, I found myself pulling out my phone whenever I saw the sun peep through our windows. On a particularly sunny afternoon, I snuck a shot of our son lying on our bed, cooing. While he slept on my chest one evening, I remembered Shabada’s tip to capture those small details and took a photo of his tiny hand. And on our routine evening walk, I snapped a quick photo of my wife. 

My photos shall not put Shabada out of business by any means, but these days, when I scroll through my camera roll, I no longer cringe at bad photos. Instead, I see a collection of moments I know I’ll be excited to look back on in the months and years to come.