Expert guidance for your phone photos. Cut through the confusion, unlock your phone’s potential, and take creative, standout photos that tell stories and make a difference. Drawn from Gabrielle’s 17+ years of professional photography experience, each weekly e-mail is filled with practical tips and none of the complex technical jargon.
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Week 28: Making Giant Sticker Prints from Phone Photos
Published 9 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 opposite side of soft light is hard light. This is when shadows have strong, visible edges and the transition from light to dark is very abrupt.
Hard light: the edge of a shadow is sharp, there is no soft transition from bright to dark.
Beginner photographers find this type of lighting challenging - and for good reasons.
It's hard to take photos in this light because the harsh shadows can interrupt a clear view of the subject.
It took me several years of professional photography experience to finally come to love and embrace harsh light. Yes, it's more challenging to work with, but it provides more dynamic opportunities for creative photos (in the right settings).
One of the reasons why I love hard light is the interesting shapes that harsh shadows can create. Instead of always trying to avoid harsh light, I love finding ways of using it to add more pizzazz to my photos.
Here's how you can play with interesting shadows with hard light.
Use shadows as repeating patterns on top of a subject:
Shoot towards the sun and let the long shadows of your subject add more drama:
Make the shadow the main subject of your photo, rather than a secondary subject:
Overlap light on shadows on light for more creative shots:
Let the harsh shadows amplify the 3-dimensional aspects of your scene and accentuate texture:
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Getting More Texture and Shine
I've been spending a lot of time in my garden and having fun taking iPhone photos of the textures and colours. This photo was taken in full sun at midday, and I loved how that hard light not only accentuated the texture of the basil leaves, but also the shine on them.
RESOURCES YOU MIGHT LIKE
Turn Your Phone Photos Into Stickers
I ordered Peel & Stick prints of my iPhone photos after I came back from a trip to Europe and I was SO happy with the results. If you're looking for a fun way to print your photos and display them on your wall, try these fun giant stickers!
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.
Expert guidance for your phone photos. Cut through the confusion, unlock your phone’s potential, and take creative, standout photos that tell stories and make a difference. Drawn from Gabrielle’s 17+ years of professional photography experience, each weekly e-mail is filled with practical tips and none of the complex technical jargon.
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