Make sure the light is good. If everything is dark on screen, the photo will be dark. Sometimes it's just a matter of shooting from a different angle.
When taking group photos or portraits, take a second to find the ideal background. Avoid letting trash cans or other clutter into the photos if possible. Avoid having people being lit up by projectors. If you’re on a chemistry trip and you have the option between a blank wall or a wall full of test tubes, pick the one that conveys a sense of science more!
We love to see both people and unique locations/items. Instead of just taking a close-up of a cool piece of technology, an exciting location, or notable people, try to get Roanoke College students/faculty/staff interacting with the person, place or thing. Or at least have them smiling and standing around it. If your phone has multiple lenses (.5x, 1x, 3x) try out the different options. In front of an interesting building, or inside a unique space get a wider angle view with the .5 lens. When interacting with smaller bits of equipment, try the zoomed in lens.
For group photos, make sure the entire bodies of the group are visible shoulder to shoulder. Try not to cut off the shoulders of the people on the outside edges of the group.
Play around with different angles. Don’t always keep your phone or camera at your shoulder height when photographing people when they are doing something active. See if you can get low to the ground to find an interesting angle from down low. Or maybe hold the camera high up and point it straight down to get a top-down view of someone working at a table.
Take several photos for each given set up. This will give you a better chance of avoiding unflattering expressions for the people in the photos. You can look through later and delete the unflattering ones, and keep the nice ones.