John DeMato - NYC Branded Lifestyle Portrait + Virtual/Live Event Photographer
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John DeMato Blog

Welcome to the Deliver Magic blog, where experts who speak, coach, train, consult, and write books will find actionable insights to elevate their personal brands through visual storytelling. From strategy tips and branding photography to live event coverage and storytelling techniques, discover step-by-step guides designed to help you align what you say with how you show up in photos. Get ready to unlock the magic behind creating a cohesive visual identity that drives engagement, builds credibility, and inspires your audience. #DeliverMagic

The better alternative to photo filters?

 

Thumbs up or down to using filters on your smartphone self-portraits?

 
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For me, it’s a big thumbs down - here’s why.

 

For years, I would spackle a ton of photo filters on my smartphone self portraits. 

Check that - on ALL my photos - from IPhone shots to ones taken with my Nikon.

Ultimately, I grew out of that phase because I was actually degrading the quality and sentiment of the image with all the shit I was slapping on top of it. 

Now, when I take a smartphone self-portrait, I opt to manually control how I color and post-produce those images.

Did you even know that was possible?

I know - took me a bit post filter-only-phase to figure it out for myself, but, once I discovered the control panel with all of the manual options, my self portrait world merged with my professional portrait photographer world. 

To access the control panel with all the photo edit functions, for IPhone users, simply click EDIT on the photo your viewing and the panel of options will pop up on the bottom of the screen (for Non-IPhone users, check to see where you can access the edit functions on your phone). 

I now color self portraits in the same way that I do my client portrait work taken with the big boy camera. 

But I’m not a professional portrait photographer, so why does it even matter?

If you adopt a manual process to tweaking your images after you shoot them, you’ll have more creative control over the look and feel of the images.

You can customize them to how you want them to be presented publicly. 

Some of the things you can adjust include:

  • Exposure

  • Saturation

  • Brilliance

  • Sharpness

  • Contrast

  • Noise Reduction

While not as quick and dirty as using a preset filter from an image tweaking app or one found on a social media platform such as Instagram, these are powerful adjustment tools that can really fine tune the way you want your photos to look.

Never heard of these options before? Not sure what they do?

Don’t worry, I gotcha, :) 

That’s why I created an online course called:

Shoot It Yourself: Develop A Portrait Photographers Eye With Your Phone

One of the 9 modules included in this course deals exclusively with post-production image tweaking. 

Within that module, I go over and show you exactly what each of those functions - as well as a bunch more - do to your photos in real time!

In addition, you’ll also learn a ton more insights and strategies to help you create a series of well-composed images.

Some of the topics of the course include:

  • Composition

  • Lighting 

  • Stabilizing The Camera

  • Scouting Locations…

    ...and much, much more.

To learn more about SIY, and to grab your own copy, you can do that here.

BTW - I still have a handful of copies at the discounted rate left, but move quickly if you’d like to buy the course at 25% off before it’s too late!

Smartphone Self PortraitsJohn DeMato#yeahabsolutely, #sharemagicalideasComment