5 Reasons to Ditch Your Phone and Pick Up a REAL Camera

I know, I know…camera phones are so convenient. Who wants to tote around a clunky DSLR when you can just grab your camera from your pocket and capture those unforgettable memories of your kids? We already have enough stuff to carry around as it is!

I’m all about using my phone’s camera and I normally take multiple pictures with my phone every single day. But those aren’t the photos I’ll be saving forever and always (okay, maybe just a few). Most of the pictures you’ll find in my photo albums are pictures I’ve taken (on vacations and holidays) with my nice camera. And it is such a joy to flip through and see such beautiful photos to represent my beautiful memories!

And just for reference, all cell phone pics are taken with my iPhone 5s. All “real camera” pics are taken with my Canon 7D and either my 28mm 1.8 lens or my 50mm 1.4 lens. Also, none of these pictures have been edited beyond basic cropping, etc. I do not know how to use Lightroom or Photoshop, so they are pretty much SOOC (straight out of the camera).

Here are 5 Reasons to Ditch Your Phone and Pick Up a REAL Camera:

1. Our families are beautiful. Shouldn’t the pictures we take do them justice?

Just like you, I think my kids are gorgeous and my husband is insanely handsome. Don’t we want pictures of our family to be equally as gorgeous? Yes. I do. :) I’m great with photos of me being a little grainy and blurred (you can’t see my crows feet as easily–ha!), but I want the photos of my baby’s sweet cheeks to be crystal clear.

2. Ummmm…hello, shaky hand. We’ve all been there. Your child puts a diaper on his head and you clamor for your phone to snap that utterly adorable photo. The only problem is that in your haste, your shaky hand managed to ruin your photo! A real camera has a little something called “image stabilization”…and you can always adjust the shutter speed for those days when you’ve had a little too much caffeine…OR for those times that you are slightly jittery because there is a LEMUR CRAWLING ON YOUR CHILD. :)

Phone cameras are also notorious for blurring subjects who are in motion, as you can see in the pictures below. The second picture was taken on a different day but in the same location. You’ll see that my son looks like he is frozen (although I assure you, he was running like a crazy kid). :)

3. No light? No problem. Instead of defaulting to using the flash (ick!), you can crank up the ISO on your nice camera and get a much prettier picture even in low light! Have no idea what I mean when I said, “crank up the ISO”? No worries. See the bottom of the post! The following pictures aren’t great examples of low light conditions (notice the beautiful blue sky), but they do show how my son was facing away from the sun and was shadowed in the iPhone photos.

4. Blur that background! I absolutely LOVE photos that have a shallow depth of field (a blurred background). But achieving this look is really difficult with a camera phone (believe me, I’ve tried). A DSLR makes it super simple.

5. Do I really want to put those pictures in an album to keep forever and always? Pictures from your phone are great for capturing moments when you’re in a pinch and want to remember that special moment. But if it’s a birthday, holiday, vacation, or special family event and you know you’ll be taking pictures, why not put just a tiny bit more effort into using your DSLR? Your photo album and memory book will thank you (not to mention your kids, 20-years from now). Here are just a few of my favorite photos currently residing in our family photo album…

I know, I know…there’s an elephant in the room. You might be saying:

“I want amazing pictures. I have a nice camera. But the pictures I take with my nice camera aren’t that much better than those with my phone!!!!”

Well, I’m here to help. Actually, not really. I’m going to pass you off to an expert. Meet Kyle.

I recently stumbled on a COMPLETELY FREE 7-part snackable photography course from Shultz Photo School that one of my friends shared on Facebook. I was curious, so I signed up and I am SO GLAD I DID!

Kyle knows his stuff. He was a professional photographer for years and has made it his mission to teach parents like you and me how to use our cameras to take AWESOME pictures of our kids! Each day you’ll receive a short e-mail with TOTALLY REVOLUTIONARY WAYS TO MAKE YOUR PHOTOS AWESOME. I’ve been working on improving my photography for a couple years now. I’ve taken a couple of (very unprofessional and disappointing) photography classes, read my manual cover to cover, and scanned through a zillion blog posts on photography, but I have never encountered information presented in such a succinct, easy-to-understand format that I could implement immediately. I was so impressed! And did I mention it is free???