In the age of the mobile phone, everyone is a photographer. Advances in tech have meant that an ordinary phone is capable of more than the most expensive camera was just a few decades back.
Now, we have in-built options for practically anything you could hope to do with an image. There are also apps to specialize your effects, from all kinds of filters to different choices like the dedicated iPhone selfie app.
Play With Depth of Field
Depth of field refers to your point of focus in relation to the background. If you’ve ever seen one of those postcard pictures where a flower is close up against a fuzzy background, that’s an example of a shorter depth of field.
Playing with this in-and-out effect when it comes to photos can result in really stunning images. A great example of this is when you take an image along an angled length, using a shortened depth. It allows the focus to fade along the length in a cool way.
Go Abstract!
Focussing on angles, shapes, and basic forms can give an ordinary image a very abstract feel. With shading and lighting features built into many phones, you can remove the detailed depth of any image, reducing it to the abstract.
You will often find that a very plain photo suddenly becomes much more interesting when you abstract away from detail. It causes the underlying forms to come leaping out at you from the image in ways you hadn’t seen before.
So Many Filters
There are far too many filters to name here, but they range from particular light and shade functions to special effects like cartoons or distortions. If you’re looking to have a fun time with your photos, what could be better?
You could make photos look like antiques, for example. Getting some outfits from yesteryear and then using an antique filter feature can make for hours of entertainment and fun for everyone.
Props are Really Fun
In the end, it’s hard to beat setting up a whole stage for your pics. Using props to set scenes can also be something you do with friends on a lazy afternoon. There’s no limit to what you can get up to, either.
You could stage anything from a wild west theme to an avante garde art set. With some additional costumes, you could recreate scenes from your favorite films if you want. The only limit here is your ideas, so push the limits!
Conclusion
We are very fortunate to have the means to get creative right in our hands. We have more at our disposal than ever before, so it seems like a shame not to make the most of what’s on offer right on our mobile devices. Opening your mind to the possibilities is the first step toward creating all kinds of images you wouldn’t have thought you could! Getting the creative juices moving might be sluggish at first, but you’ll probably get the feel pretty quickly.
