how to take quality photos with limited equipement + iPhone?

[final fight cd | 187]

I have an iPhone 12 pro max.  I am trying to take quality pictures of game related things.  But they look like trash.  Mainly, the glare from the flash makes the lighting uneven and depending where I stand in my room I create a shadow on the item.   For you all instragram posters what you all do, assuming you use your iPhone and not an actual camera.   I'm down to buy some stuff if needed but not looking to spend a lot of money.  I hoping some easy tips and tricks will suffice.  

[Gloves | 11,843]

Lighting, as you've already seen, is among the most important things relating to good photography. Your phone is working really hard to adjust for shitty lighting, so give it a hand. 

Depending on what you're taking photos of, a simple lightbox can do wonders. I'll take some pics of tools I use, not for Instagram, but based on my years of experience with photography, which have all amalgamated down into a very simple and cheap setup for casual use. 

[Gloves | 11,843]

A simple lightbox, made from stuff you can buy at the dollar store (you really don't need expensive stuff for this part - as long as you have a white background, you good):

It's held together with tape but that doesn't matter in the slightest, it's just a background, and for light to bounce off of to illuminate your scene. Go to the dollar store, grab some bristol board, you're solid.

 

Next up, lighting and a tripod. Any shit tripod will do, don't spend a lot; as long as it has relatively long legs. The circle light I have here is actually my wife's, she bought it for having facetime calls and it works for this purpose just fine. She spent "like 30 bucks" (Canadian) according to her. More light = better.

 

That's it, really, if you're taking photos of "stuff". Depends on size and so forth, but in general good lighting and a solid background work wonders. Here's a #nofilter photo straight from my phone with that setup, which I just took (on my shitty TCL android phone):

 

Your phone probably takes better photos than mine out of the box. 

If you want to make the photos even better, you can use the built-in apps for adding lighting, contrast, etc., or a free tool online called PhotoPea, which is literally Photoshop on your web browser (with ads on the side): Photopea | Online Photo Editor

Some simple touchups can go a long way without being disingenuous to the real item, just don't blow it out with huge contrast or anything. Here's a slightly shopped image:

 

That could be a product image on the website selling this figure and nobody would bat an eye, all with a shitty phone, like $35 of crafts, and a free online photo editing tool.

[final fight cd | 187]

1 hour ago, Gloves said:

 

 

this picture does look great.  i will give your suggestions a whirl.  mos def appreciate your insight!

 

[Gloves | 11,843]

2 minutes ago, final fight cd said:

this picture does look great.  i will give your suggestions a whirl.  mos def appreciate your insight!

 

Happy to help! Feel free to reach out if you have questions.

[fox | 1,681]

At the very least turn off your phone's flash.  But that also mean you are going to need some decent lighting.  Daylight works great.  Some pro-sumer lights are worth investing in.  Heck you can even take the shades off your lamp and flood the room with light.

Photoshop is great but there are good alternatives too.  Paint.Net is basically photoshop, just download the extra filters.  Photopea is another good one that is browser-based.