Better Smartphone Photography For Crafters!

Better smartphone photography is possible if you use the two accessories I suggest in my latest YouTube video.

(Just to say, there is, as always, a free printable design for you at the end of this post.)

Better smartphone photography is literally at your fingertips.

Are you a crafter who uses your smartphone to take pictures to use in your projects?

Well you may be interested in a video I made that will facilitate better smartphone photography very quickly..

It shows how I overcame the clumsiness of holding a flat rectangular device as opposed to an ergonomic camera grip.

As a former professional photographer, I no longer want to walk this world with a heavy camera bag.

I spent well over twenty years shooting thousands of press and pr images, using SLR cameras.

My camera bag weighed a ton, carrying two camera bodies – both with motordrives, and several lenses.

Not to mention filters, flashguns, notebooks (and all sorts of paraphenalia like fishing weights – but that’s another story!).

My left shoulder really suffered over the years and I was very lucky not to suffer serious long term problems.

So the coming of smartphones with built-in cameras has been an absolute gift to me.

And over the years, smartphone photography has got better and better as the technology has developed.

But the one thing that I have never got used to is the handling of a smartphone as a camera.

The traditional SLR cameras I used throughout my career were substantial pieces of equipment.

For studio work we used medium format cameras which were almost always on a tripod.

But for press and pr work, it was always 35mm Nikons with motordrives attached.

That gave us the side grip with the shutter button on top and it made traditional cameras a dream to hold and handle.

And we used Metz hammer flashguns which were attached to a bar on the bottom of the motordrives.

So we often had that chunky hammer gun handle to hold on the other side of the camera too.

An absolute Godsend if we needed to run anywhere with camera in hand and bag on shoulder.

Since I left that world, my love of photography has continued to grow.

In the last few years of my press & pr career, we did move over to digital photography and everything changed drastically overnight.

But I did wholeheartedly embrace the new technology.

Hours spent alone in the darkroom gave way to learning digital darkroom and learning the Adobe software.

Over the years, I have had many digital SLRs as they improved and the pixel count got higher and higher.

And I still have two mid-range Nikon DSLRs.

BUT, it is my iPhone camera I use the most because I am so tired of carrying a heavy bag.

Smartphone cameras can do SO much.

But the practical handling of a smartphone for photography really irritates me.

That small, flat device,with nothing to grab and hang onto bugs the hell out of me!

Maybe the muscle memory from taking thousands upon thousands of pictures with a traditional camera messes with my brain!

I don’t know, but no matter how happy I am with the outcome, the actual taking of the pictures feels weird to me.

So I went looking for an answer and I found one!

Better smartphone photography is now a reality for me because I feel more physically comfortable holding the phone.

All it took for me to feel more at home with holding my iPhone when using it as a camera was this £20 accessory.

The other thing that makes for better smartphone photography is this LED light.

These two accessories really have changed how it feels to take pictures with a smart phone.

Of course, holding a smartphone is never going to feel like holding a traditional SLR camera.

But this is a lot closer to it than trying to juggle a small phone with nothing to hold onto.

And it is a compromise I am happy with just to be free of carrying a heavy bag.

Watch my video to see how the grip and light function.

This little grip has several features that make for better smartphone photography.

If you want to order the grip I am using, I do have them in my Amazon storefronts.

It seems as if they don’t sell the exact LED light I use BUT, there are some that look even better.

Have a look in my Amazon stores and maybe look at what other choices Amazon suggests.

You can find my stores here:-

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

You can read my Amazon Affiliate statement here.

And finally, here is the free printable I have for you this time.

It’s a scan of a collage I did. It’s over on my googledrive to download in both JPG and PDF.

The link to it is in the caption directly under the picture of the design with my name and copyright stamp on – make sure you find it there.

It is entirely free to download and use – I do not ask you for payment.

If you like free printable designs, go to my free designs page where you can scroll through and see what else there is.

Thanks for your visit here – I hope you found it useful and will enjoy the video review of the smartphone grip over on my YouTube channel.