Better phone camera pictures are totally within your reach with the accessories I show you in my latest YouTube video.
(Crafters take note – there is a free printable design with this post, at the end.)
Although I love photography, I don’t love dragging a fully loaded camera bag around with me anymore.
Taking long walks with a camera is something else I love but not with the weight of my camera bag.
In my career as a press and pr photographer, I carried a heavy bag on my left shoulder for many years.
Back then, we needed two camera bodies, each with heavy motor drives full of batteries.
One body loaded with monochrome film and one with colour.
Then there were the spare batteries needed for the motordrives and the big Metz hammer flash guns.
We also carried a selection of lenses, some big and bulky and quite heavy.
Back then I absolutely loved my job and my shoulders were younger!
Those days are long gone and now, I only ever use my DSLR and lenses on short walks.
However, the rapid development of technology has made taking better phone camera pictures very easy.
I remember the days when I had a bag full of Cokin filters to slip into mounts on the lenses.
We used to use yellow or orange to bring out clouds when using monochrome film.
We could make the skies so dramatic with filters, but it’s all possible directly on our smartphones now.
Many diehard photographers shun phone cameras and of course, there are situations when a real camera is needed.
But I love the challenge of getting the picture I visualise, with just an iPhone.
The freedom to walk miles without a bulky camera and extra lenses is brilliant for me.
As I’m not shooting for billboards or ad campaigns, the quality we get from our phones is fine for me.
BUT, the biggest barrier to better phone camera photography for me has been ergonomics.
I have never been able to come to terms with not having a camera grip with the shutter button on top.
The motordrives we used to attach to our Nikons to give us high speed shooting on film, also gave us a firm ‘grip’ to hold.
Despite the weight and bulkiness of our cameras back then, we could grab them by the motordrive grip and start shooting with one hand.
The shutter button was on top of the motordrive and so it was so easy to fire away.
And if we had our Metz guns attached, we had an even more robust grip on the left of the camera as well.
We also needed to have one hand free for focusing before the days of autofocus.
So for well over twenty years, my brain associated composing and taking a shot, with having a proper grip on the camera.
It took me years to be able to use a phone camera seriously because of that one issue.
It simply felt all wrong in my hands.
There was nothing of any substance there, so how could I be taking a good picture?
As irrational as that sounds, that’s how I felt.
But as the years went by, my left shoulder thanked me for the break, as I used my phone camera more and more.
I gradually learned more and found ways to take better camera phone pictures using the built in features.
Before long, I was using my iPhone camera most of the time and enjoying the freedom from heavy bags.
But the issue of handling the phone as a camera never ever went away.
I find it very uncomfortable composing shots with that small rectangular device.
It feels so insubstantial in my hand and I often get my fingers in the way of the lense.
So one day last year, I started thinking about how to overcome it.
I wondered if there was anything available to make it easier to hold a smartphone when taking pictures.
Could there possibly be a gadget to help me take better camera phone pictures through feeling more at home with it?
And straight away, I found exactly what I wanted!
A simple little accessory, just like a motordrive camera grip, with a shutter button on top!
So I immediately ordered one from Amazon and waited in eager anticipation.
It came the next day and I was so happy with it.
Of course it hasn’t got the weight and robustness of the old school motordrive grip.
However, I has got that ergonomic feel and that is what I wanted.
There is a shutter button right on top of the grip – it’s brilliant!
No more having to touch the ‘shutter button’ on the phone screen to take a picture.
I am certain it is psychological for me.
All the thousands and thousands of times I had that sensation of physically pressing a shutter button must have created a neural pathway in my brain.
And this £20 accessory is keeping my brain happy now when I take pictures with my phone camera.
You may wonder how the shutter button can possibly trigger the phone to take a picture.
Well it does and you can even take the shutter button unit off the grip and take a picture remotely.
Watch my video and you’ll see exactly how it works and why having one may help you take better phone camera pictures.
What about the second accessory to help take better phone camera pictures?
Well, that is this LED light that you can mount on the cold shoe that they’ve put on the grip.
The one thing that phone cameras have never equalled or come close to equalling is flash photography.
In fact, I don’t believe flash photography has been the same since the comimg of digital cameras.
We had it all worked out when using Metz hammer guns with film photography.
With tilt flash heads, reflectors and soft box attachments, we could manipulate flash to make it soft and virtually shadowless.
These LED lights are a bit better than using the flash that’s built into the phone cameras.
The one I have isn’t on Amazon anymore but I have found some similar that are newer and probably better.
If you want to buy either or both these brilliant accessories and take better phone camera pictures, check out my Amazon storefronts.
Amazon does pay me a very teeny commission on anything you buy from my storefronts.
Have a look and see what else Amazon suggests if you do go over and check out these items.
Always best to do your research and read reviews.
Now that we’ve looked at taking better camera phone pictures with these accessories, it’s time to talk crafts!
Over on my dedicated craft blog, I always giveaway free printable designs with every post and video I do.
I have a whole selection of free printables listed here.
They can be used for a wide variety of art and crafts from paper beading to collage and art journaling.
They are 100% free to download and use with a very few Terms & Conditions which you can find here.
My latest free printable over on my crafts site is taken from this collage I did.
All you need to do to get this is follow this googledrive link and download the PDF or JPG – or both, if you want to.
All my free designs are stored over there because to have them on my websites would overload the system.
Be aware that these are free. I never ask for payment so if you are asked for any kind of payment, you have followed the wrong link.
So if that ever happens, click away immediately.
It’s not likely to happen on this blog because I don’t have advertising links here.
There is advertising over on my crafts blog to help pay to run it, so people need to be more aware of other links over there.
On that blog, I usually put the link in the caption of the free printable picture just to make it clearer.
Anyway, if you are here and you happen to be a crafter, you are welcome to visit my other blog and get all the free printables.
To wrap up, if you are interested in taking better camera phone pictures check out my YouTube video.
It’s not long – about 10 minutes – but it shows how to use the grip and light.
Thanks for reading this – maybe you’d like to subscribe to my blogs to stay up to date with my posts and the craft designs I giveaway.
Comments or questions cannot be left here, but you can leave comments under my videos on YouTube.
You can ask me questions and I will chat with you over there.
I can also be found on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.
But your questions and comments will be seen quicker over on YouTube.
My Next post over on my crafts blog will be about making the bracelets below.
These beautiful bracelets were sent to me by a fellow crafter in Australia.
Terri sent these along with many other crafted items she has made.
She also gave me instructions on how she made them so we are going to attempt to make some this week.
Hopefully all will go well and I’ll have a new post and video up here by next Saturday.
See you then if you’re interested!
Meanwhile, have fun taking better phone camera pictures!