There's a lot that goes into a good photo besides the camera. Here are a few things to keep in mind when

you're shooting that'll dramatically improve your shots.

In photography, lighting is extremely important. If you're shooting outdoors, you want to shoot during magic hour.

These are the few hours after sunrise and before sunset when the lighting is softness and not as harsh.

If you are shooting during the day, try to avoid taking pictures of people in direct sunlight.

It casts harsh shadows and obscures people's features. Try to go somewhere in the shade where the lighting's more uniform.

An overcast day is also a great time to shoot because cloud cover provides even lighting.

An important thing to keep in mind when you're shooting photos, make sure you're exposed to the brighter parts of a

photograph. That way you're retaining all the information from the scene.

If your photos are coming out too dark, you can always brighten them with

editing software. My personal favorite is Lightroom. It has some really

great presets and has very robust editing controls. Another popular option

is Afterlight. You've probably heard of the rule of thirds, this is a key

part of taking better photos. Most smartphones have a grid option that

overlays over the camera app. Try using this to align points of interest

when you're taking photos. When you're taking pictures of people, frame

them so you're cutting them off mid-shin or mid-thigh. Also, try to be

mindful of how much headroom you're leaving.

Don't leave too much space above your subject, or too little, aim for

something in between. If your native camera app doesn't give you a lot of

control, maybe try using a third party one. I really like using Camera+.

It gives you plenty of control over important camera features like ISO,

aperture and even lets you control the focus manually. Some top of the

line smartphones have features that add software depth the field,

essentially giving you look of a DSLR camera, and it's actually pretty

good. It works best when you have plenty of light and depth behind your

subjects. If you're a selfie lover I got some bad news for you. That front

facing camera isn't as good as a rear facing one. So next time you're

taking a selfie, maybe ask somebody to take that photo for you. Another

way to get really creative with your photos is to use lenses. These are

similar to what you have access to on higher-end cameras but cheaper and

more portable. A fisheye lens gives you an extremely wide field of view.

It's a bit more stylized but can allow you to take some really creative

shots. A wide-angle lens works similar to the fish eye it's just not as

extreme. It works great for dramatic landscape shots or even when you're

indoors or in confined spaces. A telephoto lens is the zoom lens and it

works really great for taking shots of things far away. This is what you

want to use instead of the digital zoom your phone provides. Every time

you go further into the image it just pixilates it and degrades it more

and more. It's also great for taking pictures of things up close. It'll

add depth of field between your subject and its background. And lastly,

there's the macro lens, which lets you take extreme close-up shots. Like

the fisheye, this one's a bit more stylized and used for artistic or

creative shots. Just in case you were wondering, all the photos in this

video were shot on my iPhone X, with the lens portion using Olloclip's lenses.

So as I mentioned at the beginning of the video, there's a lot

that goes into photography besides the camera, and these tips will help you go a long ways in improving the photos that you take.

But the biggest piece of advice I can offer is to practice, so get out there and start shooting.