Photo guides
How to tell someone how to take a picture of you
"Can you take a photo of me?" gets you a photo. Two more sentences get you the photo you wanted.
The short version
- Set the phone up first: camera on 1x, grid on, flash off.
- Say the shot: full body, waist up, or sitting at the table.
- Give two landmarks: where the top of your head goes, and where the photo ends.
- Ask for several photos, and say you'll move between them.
- Correct in terms of the phone ("lower the phone a bit"), not your body.
Most people asked to take a photo want to get it right. They just don't know what right looks like to you, so they do what feels natural: face in the middle of the screen, phone at their own eye level, one tap. Everything below takes less than a minute and fixes most of that.
Before you hand the phone over
Set the camera up so they can't accidentally change it.
- Leave it on 1x. People tap 0.5x or pinch to zoom without noticing, and pinching in past what the lenses can do loses detail fast.
- Turn the grid on, in the Settings app under Camera. The lines give them something to line you up with.
- Turn the flash off unless you need it. A flash in daylight or across a restaurant flattens the photo and the room.
- Hold it upright, the way you want the photo. Hand it over the right way round and most people keep it that way.
The two sentences that do most of the work
The first sentence says what kind of photo it is. "Full body, so my feet are in." "From the waist up." "Me at the table, with the food in it." People can't aim for a shot they haven't been told about.
The second sentence gives them two landmarks to check on the screen: where the top of your head goes, and where the photo ends. "Top of my head on that top line, feet right at the bottom." Landmarks work because they can be checked. "Get the background in" can't be checked. "Head on the top line" can, and putting your head there brings the background in anyway.
Three ways to answer "what kind of photo?", each with its two landmarks.
Show them, if you can
A photo you like says more than any description. Before you hand the phone over, open a photo with the framing you want, from your camera roll, Pinterest or a saved post, and show it to them for a few seconds. "Like this one" sets the target. Then switch back to the camera.
Ask for several
"Could you take a few? I'll move a bit between them." This takes the pressure off them, because they don't have to catch the perfect moment, and it gives you choices. Shift your weight, look away, laugh, turn slightly. Out of eight or ten, you'll probably keep one or two.
How to correct without confusing them
Left and right are where it usually falls apart. Your left is their right, and "move left" could mean the phone or their feet. Give directions about the phone instead, since that's what they're controlling:
- "Could you lower the phone a little?" (instead of "get lower")
- "Step back a couple of steps so my feet fit."
- "Could you put me a bit more to the side?"
- "Hold it a little straighter."
Look at the first photo, give one correction, and let them go again. A single clear fix lands better than a list.
Phrases to keep in your back pocket
- "Would you mind taking a photo of me? Happy to take one of you too."
- "Full body, please, so my feet are in."
- "Top of my head on the top line, feet at the bottom."
- "Could you take a few? I'll move around a bit."
- "Perfect, could you do one more a little further back?"
When talking them through it isn't enough
Even with good instructions, they're looking at a screen you can't see. You say "a bit lower", they guess what that means, and you can't check until they hand the phone back.
Goodside puts the instructions on the screen itself. Choose a shot type, one of 127 ready-made framings, or one of your own photos, and the person holding your phone sees two marks: "Top of head" and where the photo ends. They line you up with the marks and tap the shutter. You don't need to explain anything except "line me up with the marks".