I'm a longtime photographer and performing musician. Here are my top tips for taking pictures on your phone at concerts.

For the last 11 years, I've felt my best on stages. It all started in 2012 when I was 16 years old and found musicians at my high school who were as serious about playing as I was. My first band was called Welcome to Wednesday, and we filled Dallas clubs with high schoolers at monthly concerts. It was a surreal time that made me realize I want to do this forever.

Since then, I've played drums and bass in several bands from indie rock groups to jazz combos. Now that I live in NYC, I'm in a band called Blanket Approval, and I'm playing more shows than ever all around the Northeast Corridor.

After high school, I went to St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, where I majored in photography and practiced photojournalism at our school paper, Hilltop Views. This opportunity landed me press passes and access to photo pits at festivals like South by Southwest and Austin City Limits.

At these events, I learned how to take unique images that stand out while photographing big names like Cold War Kids and Khalid with my big, fancy camera.

But when I attend concerts for fun, I typically shoot with my phone, which is much harder for me at concerts because I can't adjust the lighting, color, or zoom as easily as I can on a camera. But after years of trial and error, I've come up with four tips for taking standout pictures at concerts with a humble phone camera.

When it comes to taking any portrait, I think that capturing the correct skin tone of the person is a must.

This can be especially hard at concerts when musicians and their instruments are colored by ever-changing stage lights. In my experience, this lighting often makes the images come out with red or blue faces.

But an easy fix for this is making your photo black and white. To do this on your phone, you can open up Instagram or another editing app and turn the vibrance and saturation all the way down to zero. I also find that this can make an image pop more because, without an overwhelming amount of color, the viewer can focus on the details like facial expressions.

Being in the front is an incredible opportunity for concert photography. But when I'm up there, I see other people take the same photo looking up at the artist from below.

Instead, I recommend focusing on the less-photographed details, like a guitarist's foot when they're about to press it down on a pedal. This way, when you look at your Instagram the next morning, you'll find that no one else has a picture quite like yours.

There's no getting around it — if you're too far from the stage, the subject of your stellar concert picture won't be the band.

So let go of that possibility and focus on the environment around you to find a foreground subject that captures the vibe of the event. I think another member of the crowd that stands out to you is a great place to start.

No matter the camera, I think the most interesting concert photos capture an interaction.

If you're close up, snap your picture when the musicians face each other or dance together. If you're in the back, stay alert for opportunities to shoot interactions happening in the crowd. When I go to shows, I often see performers jump into the audience, and I love seeing the way it makes their fans light up.

Above all, enjoy the show. But if you're trying to get a great photo to commemorate the night, pay attention to the details of your own experience — no matter where you're standing.