How to Take Awesome Wedding Pictures Using Your Phone

It can be difficult to decide whether to allow social media at your wedding – in fact, it may have even caused a wedding argument or two! Whatever you decide though, unless you go full on Mariah and confiscate your guests’ phones upon arrival, you’ll need to accept your guests will be snapping pics of you on their phones.

Why not share this guide with them to make sure the pictures that will at some point surface on social media are the best they can be?

Online smartphone retailer Mobiles.co.uk discovered that over three quarters’ of guests like to take pictures on their phone at a wedding, and on average each guest captures 28 snaps of the happy couple. We asked them for their top tips on how to take amazing wedding pictures with a smart phone.

Get to Know Your Camera Settings

It makes sense to learn about your camera settings. Most people tend to just leave their phone camera in the default ‘auto’ mode – which is perfectly functional but means you miss out on lots of cool features that can enhance your photography and give you higher quality pictures.

Don’t be afraid experiment with different modes, and try it out in portrait, landscape and ISO. ISO (Industry Standards Organisation) is definitely worth checking out as the setting judges how sensitive your phone camera is to light, based on your current surroundings. Lower ISO numbers are better for brighter lighting and higher ISO numbers work best for brightening low light shots, such as those taken in candlelight.

Read more: 15 photographers share their favourite wedding photo

Think About Your Lighting

If you want to take a picture on any device, it’s important to think about your lighting when you’re composing your shot. Photography is all about capturing light and how it reflects on the image.

Before you take your picture, think about what your light source is and where it comes from. Professional photographer Keith Cullen advises: “Natural lighting will always produce a better shot. When taking photos inside, look for artificial lights or ways to reflect what natural light is there.”

Consider Composition

The way you frame and set up your picture can make all the difference between it being an attractive photograph and something that looks cluttered and chaotic. Follow the lead of professional photographers and use the ‘rule of three’ when composing your shot.

To do this, you’ll need to break down the photograph both horizontally and vertically into a nine-sectioned grid and ensure the subject of your photograph (for example, the bride) is placed at intersecting points on the squares and not completely in the centre of the frame (as this creates a more balanced shot). Most phones have a grid setting pre-installed and this can be turned on in settings.

Read more: 15 fun and unusual photo booth ideas

Clean Your Camera Lens

This is a super simple point but it makes a lot of difference – clean your lens before you start using your phone as a camera.

Give it a wipe with a lens-friendly cloth before you start snapping to remove dust and grease – you’ll be amazed at what a difference it makes to the pictures you take.

Use Different Apps

Experiment with different photography apps to give your photos the perfect finish – you can add filters, tweak colours, play around with the sharpness and more to add more dimension and flair to the photos you take.

Don’t go too far though – you don’t want to over-edit your photographs and have them lose their original beauty. Wedding photographs should be timeless and some filters and effects can date your photos – avoid trends when it comes to your pictures and they’ll last a lifetime.

Why not try one of the top five photo editing apps to get you started?

–          VSCO Cam

–          Prisma

–          Pixlr

–          Snapseed

–          Afterlight

Know Your Camera Features

It’s fair to say that mobile phones now have some of the most advanced cameras on the market and they’re slowly overtaking the traditional DSLR in terms of versatility and innovative software.

Read more: 23 questions you must ask your wedding photographer

The iPhone 7 has dual camera technology – this features a 12MP wide-angled camera working together with a 12MP telephoto camera, to offer higher-quality zooms from further away. The dual camera is also great for providing blurred bokeh effects behind your subject, with the high-tech Portrait mode.

For high-tech video recording, consider the Sony Xperia XZ Premium – this phone features a ground-breaking motion eye camera, which can record up to 960 frames per second. This allows you to watch previously unseen action unfold in super slow motion.

If you are all about taking selfies at a wedding, the Samsung S8 is great as it has smart auto-focus technology which will ensure everyone who is crowding in for the snap will be in perfect focus, even if there’s a bit of jostling going on.

For snapping spontaneous wedding moments, the HTC U11 has squeeze technology which allows you to take several wedding photos in a quick burst.

For more fun wedding photography inspiration, don’t miss our round up of the best wedding selfies!