8 tips for taking great photos on your smartphone
Taking pictures with a smartphone is probably one of its most popular uses today, and smartphone developers usually highlight photo quality when advertising emerging models. Camera settings, lighting, scene modes, and composition are all important for taking great pictures. Here are eight tips on how to optimise these features to get the best out of your smartphone, regardless of the brand.
1. Adjust focus and exposure
Most handsets give you some control over the focus and exposure of your camera shot. If manual focus is available, it’s usually activated with a tap on the screen. You can use this to point where you want the camera to focus. This will make your photos more precise and focused.
If you think exposure (how light or dark the photo is) is off, these parameters can usually be adjusted to whatever you desire. White balance adjustments often require a switch from auto to manual mode (where supported), but many cameras now support fine adjustments to colour temperature.
2. Stabilise phone camera
An important method for reducing blur is knowing how to hold your smartphone camera stably. Holding your arms outstretched or far away from your body can make them sway more when photographing. Try moving your elbows into the sides of your body and that will give a bit of extra stability where needed. You can also rest the smartphone on a stable object.
3. Use HDR mode
High Dynamic Range (HDR) is now a staple feature for smartphone camera apps. It helps to bring detail out of the darkest and lightest parts of your picture and creates a better balance of colours overall. However, photos in HDR mode take a little longer to process.
4. Avoid digitally zooming
Digitally zooming by pinching or swiping on the screen of your smartphone while using the camera will distort the image, as the phone only enlarges and crops the output from the sensor before the photo is captured. You can easily take a photo without zooming and then crop it afterwards, as this provides flexibility and allows you to change your mind later.
5. Improve the photo composition using the rule of third
The Rule of Thirds basically proposes that an image is split into nine equal blocks which form a three-by-three grid. You should aim to get the most interesting parts of your image (like a treeline or a group of faces) near the corners of these segments, where the imaginary gridlines meet. Most smartphone camera apps will display these lines for you.
6. Use natural light as much as possible
Try making use of natural lighting as much as possible, and try positioning your subjects so they’re well-lit from the front and not silhouetted by a strong light from behind. Also, if you can get your camera shooting at ISO 200 or lower, you’ll see less grain in the final image and photos will look clearer and more impressive.
7. Know when to use portrait mode
Portrait modes are shallow, depth-of-field simulation rather than the real deal, and may have problems associated with them. Edge detection isn’t always perfect, so there are times when you capture a photo and areas are blurred that shouldn’t be. The key to capturing good photos using portrait mode is knowing when it is likely to succeed, and when it will struggle.
8. Edit photos
Maybe after you’ve taken your photo it doesn’t look as vibrant, sharp, or as beautiful as you want it. An easy fix is post-edit using an editing programme on your computer, like Lightroom, or even an app on the smartphone itself. Applications like VSCO, Photoshop Fix and Photoshop Express are great apps to use.