Quality photos make all the difference in an inspection report, which makes it crucial to make your snapshots count. We noticed that we’ve covered other apps that can help you take great pictures, but we neglected to provide home inspectors tips on taking better photos without having to download extra bells and whistles. Let’s remedy that right now. Here are a few ways to take cleaner, clearer inspection photos with your iPhone or iPad.
Take Your Time
Step in, breathe out, and center your shot before taking the pic. Not only will your photo have less of a shaky cam effect, but taking the extra few seconds will give your device’s autofocus feature time to do its thing. In areas that have a high light contrast, as in part of the photo is incredibly dark while the other is incredibly bright, simply tap on which shade you’d like to highlight in your picture and your camera will adjust focus accordingly.
Use Both Hands
“But I need one hand to hit the button!” some home inspectors will say. Au contraire. Yes, you can take a picture on your iPhone or iPad by tapping the button at the bottom of your camera, but you can also take one by pressing the ” + ” button on the side of your phone (this is also the volume up button). Using the side button can help free up both hands, allowing you to take steadier, clearer pics.
Master HDR
Short for High Dynamic Range, this function is a miracle worker when it comes to shots with unusually high light contrast, like, for example, photos of an object in front of a sunny background. The HDR function basically takes three photos, each taken at different exposures, and creates an image composite that showcases the best aspects of each shot. HDR is only available on devices that run iOS 4.1 or above, but if your device is HDR-ready, you can use the function by opening your device’s camera as if you’re going to take a picture and tapping the “HDR off” tab at the top. Because you’re taking three shots instead of one, HDR pics take longer to capture, so steadying your device on something stationary could vastly improve the image’s clarity.