It’s Mother’s Day! Which likely means another family gathering for Sunday lunch, complete with several attempts to capture the perfect family photo. To help make things a little easier this Mother’s Day, we’ve put together some helpful tips to improve your phone’s camera, so you can capture those chaotic but special moments that matter most.

Use Portrait mode for your family photos.

Most modern phones have a portrait mode feature on the camera; this helps your pictures look more professionally taken with the background blurred out just focusing on the people in the shot. Portrait mode works especially well for smaller family group pictures, pictures of mum and kids and close up shots. This is a quick and effective way of getting a great quality picture.

Taking advantage of natural light.

Lighting makes a big difference to the quality of your photos, natural lighting is much more effective than indoor lighting for clear and enhanced pictures.

You can easily capture natural light in your pictures by standing near a window, taking pictures outside and avoiding lights being directly behind people. Natural lighting will enhance clear details and skin tones.

Using Burst for chaotic moments.

Family photos are hard to capture first time round, that’s where Burst comes in.
Burst mode lets your phone take multiple photos in a quick moment so you can flick through and choose the best shot later on. This is good for when the kids won’t stay still, someone keeps blinking, or people start laughing mid photo. Burst mode will capture the whole moment for you.

Cleaning your camera lens.

Blurry photos are most caused by a mark on your camera lens, simply cleaning the screen and camera before trying to get pictures with a cloth or shirt sleeve will do wonders for the quality of your picture.

Using the timer.

This one is important for a structured photoshoot with the family. Setting a timer for 3- 10 seconds gives time for everyone to prepare for the first few clicks, this ensures everyone is in the photo and gives no excuses to miss out on the family photoshoot!

Create Candid Moments.

Although posed photos are great, some of the best pictures are the natural candid moments you capture. Capturing a picture of mum laughing at the table, giving hugs with the children or even the conversations you’re having over dinner, these can bring the meaningful memories to life.