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Because who says you need a big fancy camera?
Yes, I know, FaceTune is ~meant~ for photoshopping your face. But if you forget about that, FaceTune is actually the best general photoshop app I've ever used. I actually PREFER it to regular photoshop on my computer as it's so user-friendly, plus you can use your fingers to edit, which I find easier.
The best functions on the app, in my opinion, are "Tones", which you can use to remove unwanted background objects, "Details" which is like sharpen but you can apply it to a specific area of the photo, "Smooth" for faking depth of field, and "Patch" which is basically the photoshop Clone Stamp tool.
Go onto "Tones", select the colour of the background surrounding the unwanted object with your finger, then start colouring the object (i.e. a hand) in with that (again, use your finger). This might leave some weird lines, so go onto "Smooth" and just use your finger to smooth out the lines. Alternate between these until you're satisfied with how it looks.
Go onto "Details" and with your finger go over the bits of the picture you want to be in focus. Next, go onto "Smooth" and smooth out the background so it's a bit blurrier. This might not work with every pictures, but if you have a clear focus point, this can be a great way to fake depth of field.
An easy hack to make pictures look better is to imagine your picture has been divided into three, with guidelines (as shown above). Then, you want to make the focus point of your photo slightly off centre, or have a nice flow of the lines in the picture across all three sections.
You also want to have your horizon completely level, and placed nearer to the top or bottom of your photo, rather than dead centre. If you can't see a straight horizon, then just try to create balance within the photo. This isn't a hard and fast rule though; If you think something looks good, then just go with that!
I dunno man, there's just something about a ton of lines all matching up in symmetry.... when in doubt, try and take a symmetrical image, people go crazy for that shit.
This is especially good if you have no horizon at all in your photo – just try to make a beautiful, symmetrical image with what you have in the frame.
For square photos, positioning your focal point smack bang in the centre of the picture is usually a winner. When doing this, you want to make sure you're as level as you can be with the thing you're photographing i.e. not shooting too low or too high above. This also applies for photos of faces. Shoot at eye level with your subject!
Zooming makes your camera run slower (especially in lower lighting), and it produces exactly the same quality (if not worse quality) as cropping into an image. Plus, cropping rather than zooming gives you more options when you edit the picture.
You also want it to be a clean surface, but ideally still interesting (I like marble surfaces, and pretty coloured walls).
Instead, play around with the effects on your phone or on Instagram to up the brightness, the contrast or the saturation, for a photo that is it's best self but still looks real. My preferred combo is a little bit of contrast, structure and saturation.
If you really want to filter though, don't use Instagram's... VSCO and Colour Story are the best for filters IMO. If you also want better editing control than Instagram for things like saturation, contrast...etc Snapseed is brilliant. The native edit features on iPhones are also really great!
If you have an iPhone, (this may work for other smartphones too) the volume buttons on your headphones double as a camera shutter. So you can prop your phone up against something for super stable photos, or selfies without arms in.
Burzt turns a burst of photos into a gif, Boomerang makes cool Instagram videos like the one above, and Slow Shutter creates soft blurs and movement in photos.
Photography "rules" are really just there for guidance when you need it – only follow the ones you want to follow. You do you, and just have fun. Happy photo taking!