Business Selling Tips
Listed in no particular order are some ways to increase photo quality when using your smartphone to picture pigs:
1.) Check camera settings
The only real options you have on an iPhone is to turn on the HDR (High Dynamic Range) in your settings. This setting turns off the flash and then combines three exposures into one picture to give a greater definition and color image. When you view your images in the album, you will have 2 pictures for each frame (one normal and one HDR). Also, make sure you do NOT have any auto filter turned on while shooting. This will decrease your photo resolution.
2.) Crop, Don’t Zoom
Most smartphone cameras offer a digital zoom feature, but you’re almost always best served by pretending it doesn’t exist. Even in the live view preview, you’ll be able to see how noticeably your images degrade the second you begin to “zoom” and it gets ugly fast. You’re better off shooting the photo at full resolution (by turning digital zoom off) and cropping it later. Many smartphones have 8-megapixels of resolution and sometimes more. That means you can crop substantially and still have plenty of resolution left for what will look like a quality picture.
3.) Ditch the Flash
According to blog, Popular Photography, “the problem with many smartphone flashes is that they don’t actually, well, flash. They’re glorified LED flashlights, thrust into a duty they’re not fully prepared for. They are bright, but the color temperature can be gross and they miss one of the primary duties of a strobe: freezing the action in the frame. The actual “flash” duration is much too long, so you end up with an image that’s both blurry and terribly-lit.” Rather than relying on your flash, open the doors and windows to your barn to increase as much natural light as possible or invest in some bright, white bulbs to hang above your picture area.
4.) Keep Your Lens Clean
In reality, we are in the pig business and our pockets are probably not the cleanest environments. The grime that looms over your camera lens results in dark, hazy images that won’t look good no matter what you do. Good thing is, smartphone lenses are rather durable and so giving them a quick wipe with a cloth (or your t-shirt) shouldn’t hurt. Occasionally, you might break out some lens cleaning solution and do the job some justice. You’ll notice the different immediately!
5.) Shoot in Landscape
Cameras are horizontal devices. Virtually every camera on the market is built to compose and shoot images in landscape mode, and only on occasion will you shoot in portrait mode by turning the camera on its side. Phones are the exact opposite—they’re almost always meant to be used in portrait mode. The camera in a phone will not shoot in landscape mode unless you physically turn the phone on its side—you should do that. Figure out which way to hold your phone in order to shoot in landscape mode, and shoot that way whenever possible.
6.) Quick Ways to Release the iPhone’s Shutter
There are various ways to “click” to take a picture on your phone. We know you’ve got to be fast with baby pigs, so a few of these techniques may provide an easier way to capture your photo – FAST!
The most obvious – the shutter button on your camera app. This is the big white circle button located at the bottom of your live view area when taking a picture
The volume buttons located on the left side of your device will activate the camera shutter. One thing to know is that you have to push rather hard so try to stabilize your hand while shooting to avoid shaking the camera.
Your headphones! If your headphones have a built-in volume control, you can use their volume buttons as a shutter release!
A remote Bluetooth Shutter can be purchased and used to snap your picture. This is a pocket-sized remote that can be controlled with your other hand.