Tips to get great smartphone wedding photos from your guestsYou've got wedding photos of the two of you covered and you've got the beautiful wedding album in mind, but how can you get brilliant images from your guests to remember the day?Perfect for funny memories, special moments and thank you's, having a great selection of images shot by your guests is incredibly easy to do now that everyone has a smart phone in their pocket. It only takes a little preparation to get the most out of the army of amature photographers on your guest list.How to take excellent smartphone photos at your weddingClean the lenses. Phone camera lenses are highly prone to dirt, oils and makeup. A quick wipe over with a soft cloth prior to shooting is incredibly important to capturing good images.Use the grid. Framing your shots using the grid function on the screen display allows you to compose more interesting and engaging pics.Use the rear (main) camera. If you're not shooting selfies, use the rear camera - always. The rear camera has a higher quality lenses and will produce sharper images.Don't use flash. Flash can be incredibly harsh and less than flattering on the subjects. In the absence of soft boxes and pro equipment when you're taking wedding photos on your smartphone, using the brightness and white balance function will produce better photos.Use HDR on bright days. The HDR setting on your smartphone camera is designed for use in high contrast settings. Bright days or low light with strong light sources will benefit from turning on the HDR function.Don't zoom in, move in. Even the most up to date smartphone will have limitations on zoom. Rather than using the zoom function to capture a close up, move in closer to your subject. This will ensure that the image is sharper and allow you to get better detail for any future image cropping.Set a wedding hashtag. You'll either love or hate creating a wedding hashtag. Some couples prefer to keep their special day completely removed from social media, in which case this isn't for you. But if you want friends and family afar to follow along, setting up an official wedding hashtag is a great way to help those who couldn't make it feel included. Word of warning: Check the results for a hashtag before you announce it. It may have already been used and you don't want to have your guests stumble upon the wrong thing.Use Google Photos shared albums or Dropbox. To enable a private sharing platform for all your guests, create an album in Google Photos or set up a Dropbox that everyone can be invited to. This will allow them to upload the high resolution version of their images so that you can add them to wedding photo books or albums later on.Provide a list of suggestions. Give great direction on the day and make a game of it. Provide a list of certain shots you'd love captured and set your guests a 'scavenger hunt' style photography task. For example - lights, kissing, holding hands, piece of cake, something old something new, a photo of you.When you finally have a chance to sit down and enjoy all the great pics your guests have shared with you, consider using them to produce a special photo thank you card or a handy photo book.Seeing through the eyes of your friends and family is a wonderful way to relive the laughter and the love of your wedding day, time and time again.
