Sometimes all that’s available is your phone. So, it seems appropriate to offer some tips for taking better photos with your smartphone:
- Don’t zoom; you’re losing photo quality. Crop after the fact. Most smartphones these days have enough megapixels that you can crop and still keep enough resolution for display on the internet.
- Get in close; the small sensors pick up detail better than some of the kit lenses on a DSLR; it’s like having a faux Macro lens.
- Edit them. I confess I’ll actually use Photoshop or Lightroom to make basic edits on photos I’ve taken with my phone. Camera phones can pick up a lot of grain in low-light, and I hate using the flash, so I’ll remove some of the grain in post-production. If you don’t have Lightroom or Photoshop, there are a lot phone apps to do basic editing: Photoshop Express, Snapseed, and my personal favorite is PhotoEditor.
- Which leads me to my next tip: stop using the flash. The lighting is harsh and almost always ensures the dreaded red-eye. If possible, try to find another light source. Alternatively, when in sunlight, try to avoid taking portraits in direct sunlight, and see if you can find some shade. If there’s no trees nearby, sometimes the shade from a building will do just fine.
- Most people like to add lens flare. It’s trendy, but you can also try bucking the trend by cupping your hand around the lens to create a lens hood. In exchange, you keep detail and contrast in your photo.
- Fill your frame with your subject, and lose the distracting elements surrounding your subject.
- Turn the grid on; it’ll help you with composition. When you’re shooting a landscape, you want the horizon line to be straight. If you’re shooting a portrait, try to observe the rule of thirds, and don’t just plop your subject in the dead center of the frame.
- If you have the HDR setting on your smartphone, go ahead and turn it on. Most of the time, I like HDR in small doses, but the sensors in camera phones are so small, it’s easy to get blown out skies, or lose contrast in most situations. Most of the time, this setting can save your lowlights and highlights, and give you a nice contrast-y image. Obviously, this setting may not work in a low-light setting, as you lose the ability to change some of your other settings in this mode.
For example, take a look at the shot on the left shot in HDR mode, and the shot on the right shot as “normal”, with no flash and ISO at 200.
- Sometimes, when you’ve a subject that’s hard to isolate long enough for a still photo, consider a short video instead. Small children and animals are a prime example of this; most small children do not have the patience to stand still for more than a second or two.
- Finally, don’t be afraid to play with your angles. Straight-on works, but it can also be boring. For example, take a look these toy soldiers. It’s a view from the side, and cropped in close to fill the frame.
- And last but certainly not least, since this can be the most obvious, but is often overlooked: clean your lens. It’s as simple as a cotton swap dipped in rubbing alcohol to clean the grime off for clearer photos.
Bodacious Betty
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