profile

Level Up Your Phone Photography

Shape the Story and Mood With This One Camera Setting

Published 5 days ago • 1 min read

​

We are drawing with light (with our exposure slider)

LEVEL UP YOUR PHONE PHOTOGRAPHY

Gabrielle Touchette | September 10, 2025

Control the light, control the mood

Photography means "drawing with light". That's what the word actually means in its original language. So controlling your light might be the single most important thing you can do when taking a photo.

​

Lighting is everything.

Every great photographer, film director and visual artist will tell you that.

In photography, the single most important thing you can do when taking a photo is CONTROLLING THE LIGHT.

Even with the simplicity of a point and shoot camera, our phone gives us the ability to control the light whenever we're about to take a photo.

The technical term is controlling the exposure.

Look at these two photos. Does the dark photo put off a different vibe than the lighter one?

Of course it does.

The darker one is more mysterious, dramatic and ominous.

But the lighter one is more open, cheerful and radiant.

The only difference between these two shots is how I exposed the photo. Here's what I did (with my iPhone):

Before taking the photo on the left, I tapped on the brightest part of the image and the exposure slider appeared (that's the yellow vertical line & sun). I lowered the sun to make the photo darker.

Before taking the photo on the right, I tapped on the darker part of the image and then pushed the exposure slider up. This made my photo brighter.

With just this tiny adjustment, I'm completely transforming the emotion and mood of my photos.

And this is just on a static subject! Imagine what it does for portraits? Or landscapes? Or food photography?

As a photographer, you are an artist drawing with light.

What mood will you create with your next exposure?

______________________________________

Curious to know what my top 4 iPhone photo & video tools are?

•••

Hi I'm Gabrielle. I run a full time photography business in Winnipeg, specializing in portrait and commercial photography. This newsletter started with my passion for helping everyday people realize their full photography potential. With a bit of technical and creative help, you too can take better photos with the phone camera you already have.

Find more of my resources here:

​Instagram • My Blog • Patreon • Lightroom Editing Course​

Gabrielle Touchette Photography

​Unsubscribe • Preferences • PO Box 46, Winnipeg, MB R2H 3B4

​

Level Up Your Phone Photography

with Gabrielle Touchette

Confident creativity starts with your phone. Simple, powerful ideas to help you grow your phone photography skills, tell visual stories that matter, and unlock your creativity in everyday life. One weekly e-mail at a time.

Read more from Level Up Your Phone Photography

LEVEL UP YOUR PHONE PHOTOGRAPHY WITH GABRIELLE TOUCHETTE ••• Welcome to Week 30 of 2025! In today's e-mail, you'll get: TIP OF THE WEEK: Capturing Creative Photos of Yourself PHOTO OF THE WEEK: The Rule of Thirds TIP OF THE WEEK Capturing Creative Photos of Yourself Want lifestyle photos that actually feel like you, but don’t have access to a photographer to take the photos for you? No problem. You can do this yourself! I've been meaning to create a how-to blog post on storytelling selfies...

about 2 months ago • 1 min read

LEVEL UP YOUR PHONE PHOTOGRAPHY WITH GABRIELLE TOUCHETTE ••• Welcome to Week 29 of 2025! In today's e-mail, you'll get: TIP OF THE WEEK: A visual lesson in great group shots PHOTO OF THE WEEK: The wild rabbit that eats weeds in my backyard RESOURCES YOU MIGHT LIKE: Are newer iPhone cameras better than old ones? TIP OF THE WEEK Tricks For Nailing Group Shots When I was 11, I took art lessons from a local artist whose other day job was sketching for court cases. I thought he was the coolest. I...

2 months ago • 2 min read

LEVEL UP YOUR PHONE PHOTOGRAPHY WITH GABRIELLE TOUCHETTE ••• Welcome to Week 28 of 2025! In today's e-mail, you'll get: TIP OF THE WEEK: What Beginner Photographers Hate PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Amplifying Texture & Shine RESOURCES YOU MIGHT LIKE: How To Make Phone Photo Stickers TIP OF THE WEEK Shadows as Subjects Most beginner photographers prefer soft light. This is when the light is so diffused that shadows are almost undetectable. Soft light: you can't see the sharp edge of a shadow. On the...

2 months ago • 2 min read