6 Ways to Save Your Eyesight When Using Your iPhone

First Impressions

I grabbed the iWALK Small Portable Charger(which I got for $30), and the first thing I noticed was the size. The whole thing is smaller than my iPhone, meaning that it'll fit in just about any size bag and works with a lot of stadium concert rules!

It comes in multiple colors like pink and teal, but I got it in white.

The Timeline

I left for the concert at 2pm with a fully charged phone. I had to use Spotify, Google Maps, Uber, and my camera all before Taylor even came out, which means that by the time Gracie Abrams and Phoebe Bridgers had finished their opening acts (around 8 pm), my phone was on death's door.

The portable phone charger went right into the port and kept my phone alive for the rest of the night! It also didn't interfere with the audio in any of my recordings, which was super important to me.

Final Thoughts On This Portable Phone Charger

This product really surpassed my expectations because of how much power you get from such a small device. I've used it multiple times, and every time I do, my phone ends up fully charged, meaning I have enough battery for another round of adventures and antics.

I'll definitely have it in my bag all summer long. You can search on the internet for some other portable phone chargers for your summer, but this is definitely my favorite.

1. Before shooting, make sure you're working with the best quality.

Some of the iPhone camera’s default settings don’t set you up for the best picture quality, and you may not even realize it until you adjust your camera’s resolutions. A lot of the newer iPhone models automatically switch between several different lenses based on the situation you’re shooting in, which can result in blurry or low-quality pics. To eliminate a blur, go to Camera > Macro Control On. This disables the iPhone camera from switching lenses so you have more control in snapping the best, clearest images!

For high-quality video, enable 4K on your phone’s camera. All you need to do is go to Settings > Camera > Record Video, then select 4K from there. From now on, your videos will be sharp, clear, and perfect for sharing.

2. For selfies, hold the iPhone camera slightly above your line of sight.

Instead of holding your phone straight across from your face, raising it slightly above your line of sight, angled down, gives your selfies a more flattering angle. If you prefer to snap pics of your “better side” only, this tip comes in hot, allowing you to easily play around with different angles. Don’t be afraid to try shooting from different perspectives either! Moving yourself (and the camera!) around can help you find the #1 scene to take a selfie in.

When considering the background of your selfie, aim to eliminate any visual distractions. Posing against a solid background is extremely helpful in making sure all eyes are on you.

As far as selfie lighting goes, stray away from direct sunlight — you’ll be caught squinting, and that’s no fun for The ‘Gram. Diffused light (posing in shade, or on a cloudy day) supplies just enough light to flatter your image!

3. Use the Rule of Thirds. For the significant others that need some iPhone picture training, tell them to take some notes here.

The rule of thirds is your BFF when taking pics of others. To begin, ensure your iPhone camera’s grid is on. Go to Settings > Camera > Grid On. When you open the camera, you can now see the frame is divided into 9 equal rectangles – or 3 columns and rows – whichever way you think about the thirds, the grid will guide you in the picture-taking process!

You want to place your subject (the person you’re photographing) at the intersection of the grid lines. A good rule of thumb is making sure their eyes land around the top horizontal line. This gives them enough headroom, ensuring their head isn’t “chopped off” by the edges of the image frame, also leaving space at the bottom of the frame to accommodate for any full-body pics.

The grid is essential for non-people pictures, too. It’ll aid your composition skills for pics of beautiful latte art, sculptures, and more by eliminating background distractions and pulling attention solely to the subject.

4. Wide angle lens not cutting it? Try the iPhone camera's panorama mode.

@kienquancreates Easy iPhone camera hack #cameratutorial#iphonecamerahacks#photomagic#photography101♬ 原聲 - ABCandE

Whether you’re trying to capture vacay pictures with big landmarks, or just an artsy city skyline pic, sometimes the wide angle feature on the iPhone camera doesn’t give you enough space to work with. This panorama hack is the ultimate solution, so you don’t have to settle for weirdly cut-off images.

Start on your iPhone’s panorama feature, then turn your phone sideways and move it slowly upwards to capture tall buildings and vistas! You can stop the panorama feature at any time, so you’re not stuck with an image that has less-compatible dimensions.

5. For cool, motion-filled pictures, use the iPhone's long exposure feature.

Long exposure is a fun effect you can use to up your Insta game. These images capture slowed-down motion for added effect – think moving cars, walking crowds, and even sparkler photos or fireworks (light painting). To begin shooting long exposures on the iPhone, first take a picture on Live Mode. Once you’ve got an image you like, go to the Photos app. In the top left corner of your image, you can change the capture from Live to Long Exposure and see that the moving objects in your picture are blurred and add a unique component to your photo.

6. Hack the iPhone camera's Portrait Mode.

@rambosphotos I used to hate portrait mode before I found this little feature aswell #iphonetricksandtips#iphoneportrait#iphonecamerahacks#phonephotographytips♬ original sound - Rosie ⋆ London Photographer

In photography, the f/stop controls how wide your camera’s aperture is, which affects the depth of field (fancy speak for blurred backgrounds). The iPhone camera chooses the f/stop for you when live shooting in Portrait Mode, but you can take control of f/stop to alter the amount of background blur after the fact. Just take a photo in Portrait Mode, then Edit > f/stop on the top left of the screen. A lower f/stop number results in narrow depth of field (more blur, good for eliminating visual distractions), while larger numbers result in wide depth of field (less blur).

7. Use the iPhone camera's wide angle for cool 'fit pics.

The best part about this picture-taking tip is you can execute it by yourself. For the best outfit pics, use the .5 wide angle option on the iPhone’s back camera. Place your phone down low (can touch the ground), making sure you’re in-frame with some test shots. Once you've found the best perspective, pose by kicking a leg out towards the camera, reach your hand toward it, or lean down to look at the camera lens. Capturing with the wide angle setting adds a level of distortion to your pics for added personality. Happy Instagramming, bestie!

As a Power of Women honoree, Mariska was recognized in regards to her work as an advocate for sexual assault survivors. She took the stage and used her platform to discuss rape and assault conviction reversals, shining a light on the recent overturned ruling in Harvey Weinstein's landmark NYC case. Here's what she said:

Today I want to talk about reversing convictions, and more specifically I want to talk to you about how impossible it is to reverse mine. It’s impossible to reverse my conviction that survivors matter. It is impossible to reverse my conviction that what happens to us matters, and that our society must respond to survivors with a more a compassionate, holistically, deeper, and more nuanced understanding of what healing means.

It is impossible to reverse my conviction that after a trauma, survivors can reclaim lives of hope, of possibility, of audacious risk, beautiful intimacy, and glorious, glorious abundant joy. And I stand before you as evidence of that statement.

It is impossible to reverse my conviction that we must listen to survivors as experts on what justice means. It is extraordinary how little their voices are consulted, let alone incorporated, in the process of deciding how to repair harm. Justice is not a one-size-fits-all journey.

It is impossible to reverse my conviction that patriarchal impunity has to end. Patriarchal impunity is when a male-dominated system exempts perpetrators from punishment. Studies show that only 20% of all rape cases in the U.S. are reported to the police, and that between 5 and 0% of all rapes result in a guilty plea or a conviction. So why do 80% of victims not report? Because they're met with a system that grants impunity to perpetrators; a system that blames victims; a system that accepts only those victims who are experienced as "real" rape; a system that completely misunderstands the neurobiology of trauma, which causes behavior in women that doesn't fit the picture of how a "real victim" would act.

Is that change needed that victims should just pull themselves together? Just buck up and report anyway? No. No, it's the system that receives them that needs to change

It is impossible to reverse my conviction — and the conviction of my extraordinary team, The Joyful Heart — that the backlog of untested rape kits can be brought to zero; that the testing of all new kits must be mandated; that we need a statewide kit tracking system; and that survivors have the right to access the status of their kits.

It is impossible to reverse my conviction that grammar — yes, grammar — that we use when we speak about rape must change. In the sentence, "A woman is raped," there's a crime and there's a victim, but there's no perpetrator. Where's the perpetrator? Where is he? Statistically, as we know, most likely he's walking free. He's so free that he doesn't even appear in the language about the crime that he committed. Is that not extraordinary? It's extraordinary that in the very grammar, the perpetrator goes free. Reintroducing perpetrators in the language of rape will make some very unwieldy grammar, but that's the nature of change. It's unwieldy, it's messy, it's uncomfortable, but it's necessary.

Hargitay continued on in her prolific speech to describe that rape shouldn't be considered a "crime of passion" because it's "not simply the next step in the trajectory of his passion" when a man takes a consensual hookup too far and assaults a woman against her will. She stated that it's "an exercise of power," doubling down that the language we use is important.

The speech went on to address that rape is both about power and control, as a "construct" that was "built, and assembled, and reinforced over time." She noted that there are people with these positions of power — and she specifically called out those in the entertainment industry — that could make a difference and aligned themselves to victims and survivors.

After this and some other remarks, Hargitay specifically called out the Weinstein conviction reversal. She said:

I do want to say something about the Harvey Weinstein conviction, specifically about the reason that it was overturned: too many women's voices. Too many women's voices were allowed to speak. Hallelujah! Amen! I can't imagine anything more beautiful than that. The Daily podcast episode talked about how it was so risky for the prosecution to have that many women testify. Risky to let women speak? You're damn right it is!

Too many women speaking brings change. Too many women speaking shakes the establishment. Too many women means we get listened to more, and people might actually hear what we have to say. Look what happened when women started saying just two words, right? Me too — just as an example — a tidal wave of change. Me too.

And then of course, there was the response: the Me Too Movement. The backlash. The examination of whether the changes that have come are lasting, or are even positive. Of course there's a backlash! What did they expect? For women to speak repeatedly, loudly, together, with a purpose — for there to be no backlash? The backlash is evidence of how powerful those voices were, how powerful those voices ARE.

Watch Mariska Hargitay's Full Speech Here

Turns out that your TV heroes really can be your IRL heroes after all. Long live Olivia Benson! Long live Mariska Hargitay!