Did you get your hands on the iPhone 16? If yes, now is the time to shine with it as there is no better time to click great pictures than Diwali. Everyone dresses up, all the places are decked up, and there are Diwali decorations, happy faces, and especially lights- there’s so much that you can capture during the Diwali festivities. I have been using the iPhone 16 over the last week to capture the festive mood.
Along with this, I also spoke to a bunch of professional photographers who shared further tips to get the best out of your iPhone this festive season. It is not like you have to be a professional to click great pictures, if you even take care of the basics, you are sorted. And that’s what I am going to help you out with. So let’s jump right into it, let’s go!
In case you didn’t know about this, iPhones are the best portrait shooters out there. So this Diwali, click as many portrait shots as you can. It makes your subject stand out and gives a really beautiful blur. You will get a lot of praise for these portraits. And this is just on the standard setting, you can even adjust light settings such as Natural Light, Studio Light, etc, and adjust the focal lengths to get even better results. A good tip – try using it on 2x zoom.
“For portraits that stand out, try positioning your subject near a light source like diyas or fairy lights. Use Portrait mode to blur the background and let the soft light create a warm glow around your subject,” Vansh Virmani, Delhi-based Photographer and Creative Director said.
Along with portrait shots, iPhones have also aced videos. The iPhone 16 comes with Cinematic Mode which allows you to record professional-looking videos by switching focus on the object in the frame. For best results, try panning on your object and shifting focus while tapping on the screen.
“Cinematic Mode creates a shallow depth of field, allowing you to blur the background. Use this feature to isolate people or objects and make them stand out, giving a more professional, film-like appearance to your videos,” says Garima Bhaskar, Street Photographer and Visual Artist from New Delhi.
This one is a banger. The 2x optical zoom works great in Diwali Pictures, especially when you want to capture a slightly dramatic and momentary picture. Optical zoom is great because your camera can zoom without losing the details. If we put it into simple words, the portrait mode with optical zoom equals DSLR-like photos.
iOS 18 has added various “Photographic Styles” to the iPhone 16 that you can choose to play with the colour, tone, and palette of pictures. You can play around and create a custom filter for your pictures with it, I particularly like the Dramatic, Vibrant, and Stark B&W.
If you want most of the camera features in one place, don’t forget to use Apple’s latest trendsetter, the Camera Control button. The iPhone 16 comes with a new and unique button on the right side of the panel. The iPhone 16 introduces a unique button on the right side of the panel that lets you take photos more conveniently. Although I haven’t become habitual of it but I’ve used it enough to give a fair judgment. It is essentially useful while clicking landscape shots. While clicking your Diwali pictures, it can help you switch between Tone, Photographic Styles, optical zoom (0.5x, 1x, 2x), Zoom, Depth, and Exposure. This button can be used by sliding on it, pressing it lightly, and also clicking it. As I said, all in one place!
When you have to capture an object emitting light, such as a diya or a candle, play with the exposure. Bring down the exposure to click more dramatic and aesthetic-looking pictures. Focus on the object that you’re trying to capture and try moving the exposure slider down to click good low-light pictures with enough light and details. Likewise, you can even increase the exposure when you need brighter shots.
It is not only about iPhones, as framing is very necessary to click stunning pictures from any device. To help you in selecting a good frame, you can turn on the grid lines and leveler from Setting > Camera. And you can even use the basic rule of thirds wherein you keep the subject in one-third of the frame and leave two-thirds empty.
While clicking pictures, even in low light settings, make sure that your subject is not standing against the light, there needs to be some light on their face. You can also use the light decorations during Diwali as a backdrop for your subjects and click some quintessential Diwali pictures. Just play around with the lights and shadows to get good results.
Diwali essentially calls for a lot of low-light shots, and during that time, the Night Mode on the iPhone 16 will come in handy. It helps you capture brighter and more detailed shots without brightening them too much. Two tips: keep your hands as steady as possible when taking these photos, or use a tripod. If Night Mode over-enhances your pictures, try turning it off. I’ve captured some great shots that actually looked better with Night Mode turned off.
Just keep these simple steps in mind and you will end up getting some brilliant shots to bombard your social media with.
