Cell phone photography 101

Photo shows require photos, which means they also require cameras. This used to be a problem, but nowadays nearly everyone has a cell phone equipped with a camera. These cameras are more than capable of taking really good, competitive photo show pictures. Here's a great post of basic cell phone photography from Julia Turner. Thank you, Julia!

Cell Phone Photography 101

by Julia Turner

I take all my photos with an iPhone X, currently running iOS 13.4. My set is a tri-fold board from the office supply store with a piece of fabric draped over it. There are heavy boxes behind it to keep it from falling backwards, and the Snapple in front prevents it from falling forward. This table is set up in front of a window, so there's a lot of natural light on the models.

This is how all my photos begin. I like having the grid lines on so I can make sure the horizon and horse are level. The Snapple is holding up the board. It doesn’t need to be in the photo, but the other two items are important. The flashlight serves as a black so my phone camera can detect true black and get the balance right - any black object will do. The paper is a printer test paper. It helps both by adding true white to get the white balance and by balancing the other colors. Without this some models will often appear too red or too green.

I crop out the clutter, and this is the end result.

Stablemates get similar treatment. 

Here's the actual photo.

And the cropped version.

Thank you again, Julia, and look for more cell phone photography tips in my next post!