I can hear your questions already: “What is this? Is iPhone photography really a thing? It’s just a phone… can you really get good pictures? My answer to all of the above questions is, “Yup!” The key to taking all good pictures is to take as much control over as many of the automatic features of your camera as possible.

For the iPhone one of the best ways to take over those automatic focus and exposure controls is to download the free VSCO app. I’m not going to give a full tutorial on the VSCO app, but I do just want to highlight a couple of key things about using the exposure “ring” (that’s what I call it at least!) to your advantage.

Once you are in the VSCO camera, touch the screen with two fingers and it will open up a focus and exposure “ring” that you can them move around onto any object. Below you can see that the exposure ring is on the darkest object in the image and everything bright is way over-exposed.

Now the exposure ring is one of the brightest spots in the image and the darkest spot in silhouette and basically black.

 

You can see in this final picture the exposure ring is straddling two extremes and allows a compromise for exposure between the lightest and darkest points. Play around with this to achieve the result you want. 

Ok, enough technical.

I love taking pictures of complete strangers. Have you ever tried it? It’s an amazing way to get to know someone. Of course you have to find a way to do it so that they don’t think you’re a total creeper. My introduction goes something like this.

“Can I take your picture?”

To which they usually reply:  “I guess… why would you want my picture?”

“Well, I love meeting new people, and I am doing a series of pictures on Instagram about the people that I meet.” Then I show them some pictures of other people I have met that day.

This couple had their first picture together taken by me today.

 This doctor still does house visits, you don’t see that very often.

This girl was visiting Saint Joseph, MI from California and if had not stopped to take her picture nobody would have said a friendly hello to her that day.

The best thing about taking pictures of strangers is that you can share a moment of trust with someone that you don’t know because you’ve just broken all the stupid cultural barriers that normally prevent you from being able to meet amazing people. Have you ever noticed how lonely this human existence can get? When you go downtown for a walk you might notice the hundreds of people walking down the same sidewalks as you, but nobody is talking to each other except for maybe the person they came downtown with. If you’re lucky you might get the culturally accepted nod and grunt, but no meaningful exchange happens. I guarantee if you feel the loneliness of life and long to just just sit and talk with someone, there are others who feel the same way. Go make yourself vulnerable. Meet some new people. Be the one that starts that conversation.  You might be surprised how many people would love to just talk, and you might be surprised by how may cool people you meet.

Here is one set of pictures that tells a thousand stories if you just take the time to look. After 65 years of marriage they’re still holding hands. Ask yourself why and you might just have to think about it the rest of the day.

Justin does a lot of social and street photography while working at some other cool projects involving filmmaking; check out his work @justinsamuelbarber to see more mobile photography and amazing views of life around town.