Who doesn’t love taking a gorgeous wine picture? Sadly, it often feels like it happens by luck. At least for Nancy. But, since Kaiya joined us in October she’s taken our Instagram to new levels and it just keeps getting better. We’ve found (and tested) a ton of tips and tricks. Here are our absolute favorites with examples from our camera rolls. We both use older iPhones with zero fancy equipment—just what we’ve learned from photography tips articles and accounts.

Our 3 Favorite iPhone Photography Tips

First off, our favorite place to get photography tips is TikTok. The quick-video format means creators have to keep it short and simple. And they do! Our favorite account for these tips is Camera Bro. 

Love The Water?

If you love water, consider using it as a backdrop. Nancy does this a LOT because she loves to take pictures of wine bottles in running water, especially near anything resembling a waterfall. While this can look gorgeous as a video, it’s not always the best in still photography. Enter Camera Bro, who upleveled Nancy’s “wine bottle by the waterfall” shots.

And this was in one go, without any practice. Not bad, eh?

It’s easy! 

1. Make sure your phone is taking “live” photos.

2. Brace yourself so that you’re moving as little as possible in the photo.

3. Click on the subject to get it in focus.

4. Stay very still before and after clicking the shutter.

5. Open the picture you just took and flick up.

6. Select “long exposure.”

Talk about a glow up! This is great with rain, fountains, heck even a sprinkler or faucet could add a cool touch! Watch the tutorial on TikTok.

Love Dark, Moody Shots?

There’s nothing quite like a gorgeously atmospheric shot but these often come out blurry. The trick? Stabilizing your phone. We’ve read a ton of articles about this and have taken to doing the following to make sure our pictures are perfect. No tripod needed and because we do them hands free, there’s no shakiness.

Here’s what to do.

1. Frame your shot and lean your phone against something sturdy.

2. Press and hold on the subject, you’ll lock in your focus this way.

3. Use the self-timer so that there’s not even a hint of a shake from pressing the shutter or volume button!

Use The Gridlines

We’re not the least bit knowledgeable about photography and couldn’t tell you the rule of thirds even if doing so correctly meant a bottle of Beaujolais Grand Cru. That said, we have read, and played with, using the grid lines to block out a third of the photo, because that’s what the tips all say (CameraBro includes this one a LOT). Bonus tip: flip your camera up-side down.

Let’s See YOURS!

Be sure to tag us when you post wine pics on Insta (using @couchandcork) and let us see you in action. What do you think of the upgraded photos we shared here? Got any tips for us?