How To Take Amazing Photos With Your Phone

Let’s face it; we all love taking pictures. And with the advent of social media and smartphones with impressive photography capabilities, everyone is in on the game.

Based on statics by InfoTrends, Statista.com put together a chart that shows that an estimated 1.2 trillion photos were taken in 2017, and a large percentage were taken using smartphones.

With so many pictures taken every day on mobile phones, it’s important to know how to take amazing photos with your phone if you want them to stand out in a sea of mediocre cellphone photos.

In this article, we’re going to look at all the things that you need to pay attention to in order to take great photos with your phone.

1. Pay attention to lighting

Lighting is by far the most important thing in photography. Without it, the concept of photography wouldn’t even exist. It’s important not only because the light is what the camera captures to create an image, but it also affects how your subject looks.

There are two types of lighting: natural lighting and artificial lighting. Natural lighting refers to lighting that is readily available in nature such as light from the sun.

It’s worth noting, though, that this light is not the same throughout the day. As the sun moves across the sky from sunrise to sunset, it gives off light with varying intensities and colour temperatures.

So, you need to be mindful of that because the same image taken at different times of day will look considerably different because of the changes in the quality of light.

Weather conditions can also affect the quality of the light. For example, the lighting on a cloudy day is not as harsh as on a bright, sunny day. This is because the clouds diffuse the light.

Even if you take a photograph at the best time of day under the most ideal weather conditions, if you don’t get the positioning right, your photo might turn out less than impressive.

You and your subject should be positioned in such a way that the light illuminates the subject well and to your liking. The light could come directly from the front for even illumination, from the side for a more textured three-dimensional image or the back for a glow around the subjects head or silhouette.

Just be aware of where your shadow falls as the photographer since the sun will be behind you so that it doesn’t creep into the shot.

Shooting indoors using natural light depends heavily on having fixtures and areas that allow light into the room. These include things such as windows, doors, skylights, etc.

If there’s no natural light available, you’ll need to use artificial lighting. This includes the likes of house lights, LED lights, etc. One good thing about artificial lighting is that it is easy to manipulate. You can adjust the colour temperature, intensity, and direction as you please.

Other artificial sources of light can be appliances such as a fridge or electronics and devices such as TVs and phones. All you have to do is position your subject in such a way that the light will illuminate it to your liking.

As tempting as it may be, never use the flash on your phone’s camera. The resulting images hardly ever look good because they tend to appear flat and washed out. More on this later.

If you want to use flash, your best bet for better quality photos is to use a wireless off-camera flash such as the Godox Ami or the Profoto C1 Plus.

2. Focus on your focus

Unless done for artistic purposes, a photo should always be sharply in focus. It’s aesthetically pleasing to the eye. And speaking of the eye, subjects with eyes are usually deemed in focus when their eyes look crisp.

Because perfect human vision is 20/20, we expect the pictures we see to look the same. Different smartphone cameras have different technologies they use to focus (which you can read about here).

During the day or when there’s enough light, if your phone is set to shoot on Auto, it should not struggle to automatically find the nearest point of focus.

Again, depending on your camera app and how it’s set up, you might have to tap on the area on your screen where you want to set your focus.

It is common for phone cameras to struggle to focus on their own in low light conditions. In this instance, switching to manual focus and finding the area you want to focus on yourself might be the best option.

3. Don’t zoom in, move in

If what you want to shoot is too far, move in closer. It’s that simple. Smartphone cameras can’t zoom optically like dedicated cameras. In most cases, they employ what is known as digital zoom. To the layman, it may sound like it’s still a zoom anyway but it comes with repercussions.

Real zoom is known as optical zoom. This is found only in lenses that have movable glass elements that affect the size of the image captured.

These type of lenses are, unfortunately, not found in smartphone cameras. Instead, mobile cameras have fixed focal length lenses, which means they cannot zoom. Digital zoom makes up for this shortcoming.

Although digital zoom promises and delivers a magnified image captured from a distance, the resulting imaging is far from pleasing in terms of picture quality.

I know it may be tempting to use digital zoom instead of walking closer to your subject, especially if you’re trying to be inconspicuous or there are many people/obstacles between you and your subject.

But one thing I’ve realised is that it doesn’t hurt to walk closer to your subject. Plus, the image quality you get will always be better when you walk closer than zoom digitally.

Also, taking a photo from close enough without digitally zooming in and then cropping the photo later yields better results than using digital zoom.

4. Protect the lens and keep it clean

Our phones go through a lot, whether they’re protected by a phone case or not. They come into contact with rough surfaces. They rub against other objects in our pockets and handbags. Even our oily hands and fingers come into contact with the camera.

Because of all this, smartphone camera lenses are more susceptible to fingerprints, dirt, and damage. These things can and will have a negative impact on the quality of the photos you capture.

So, you need to make sure that the lens is clean every time you take a photo. If it’s not, use a soft cloth to wipe it clean.

Even though it’s not the actual camera lens itself that is exposed but the protective glass/plastic that’s placed over the lens, the condition of this protective layer does heavily affect the final photo.

In extreme circumstances, the lens could eventually suffer damage, too.

For example, if your phone suffered damage from a fall and the lens’s protective layer is cracked, small particles of dust or moisture can make their way into that tiny space and cause serious problems.

You’ll have two things to contend with; a cracked layer that obscures the vision of your camera, and particles that cause blur in every image you capture.

Fingerprints and stains can easily be dealt with by yourself at home. But if the damage to the lens is more severe, the best option is to take it to the manufacturer or a skilled professional who can fix it for you.

Be mindful that anyone not authorized to make repairs on your phone could nullify the warranty if they do so.

5. Keep it steady

A shaky camera is an enemy of good photography. That’s why it’s important to keep your phone steady, especially in low light when the shutter speed might be very slow. Remember, the slower the shutter speed, the more camera movement becomes a problem.

Smartphone cameras these days have amazing OIS systems that help keep mobile images sharp but there’s only so much they can do.

If your hands are shaky or the shutter speed is very slow, you should rest your hands, elbows, or phone on whatever surface you can in order to support the camera from shaking.

However, the best way to keep your smartphone steady when taking photographs is to invest in a good camera support system. The most popular of these is the tripod, although there are plenty of other options available. Even tripods themselves come in various types!

There are plenty of benefits of having a camera support system such as a tripod. I won’t go into much detail in here because I already discuss 8 of them in this article, but I will say that camera support systems open up more opportunities for you to explore in mobile photography.

For example, you can’t do long-exposure photography without a tripod. That means cool things like light trails and light painting are out of the picture. Excuse the pun.

Some photo manipulation effects require the camera to be positioned in one place without moving. None of that can be possible without a dedicated camera support system.

If you’re serious about mobile photography, even as a hobby, I highly recommend camera support as one of the few accessories you absolutely should invest in. I used to be sceptical about getting a tripod but now I can’t imagine not having one.

6. Add lenses

It’s not that far back when smartphones all had only one camera. It was during this time that the smartphone camera lens attachments made their appearance to compensate for the restrictive limited field-of-view of a single prime lens on a phone camera.

By attaching an additional lens to that one camera, you were able to widen or narrow the field-of-view. So, you can imagine how this changed the way people took photos with their phones.

Now that smartphones come with multiple cameras with various lenses, do I still recommend buying external lenses? Yes, I do.

And that’s because phone manufacturers don’t give you the real truth about phone camera megapixels. I won’t go into detail about it here but I suggest you learn more about it for yourself.

One thing that is not emphasized in the marketing of a lot of these phones that have multiple cameras is the fact that, in a lot of cases, the other cameras are of significantly inferior quality. To the point where attaching an external telephoto lens to the main camera may yield better results than those of the native telephoto camera.

Add-on lens manufacturers have their fingers on the pulse and are always aware of what’s happening in the world of smartphone camera optics.

For this reason, they are constantly evolving in order to keep up with the rapidly changing landscape of phone photography.

That’s why you see popular brands like Moment and Olloclip still catering for new phone models that have multiple cameras.

Also, I am not aware of any camera currently on the market that has a camera with a macro lens. But then again, it’s near impossible to keep up with the hundreds of phones released each year.

Nonetheless, it’s not common to find a smartphone with a native macro lens.

If you feel no reason to invest in a smartphone camera lens because your phone already has multiple cameras, at least consider getting a macro lens, if you’re interested in that type of photography.

Personally, I’m not a macro photographer but I have been simply amazed at what some people are able to capture with their phones using these add-on lenses.

7. Get your composition right

In photography, composition refers to the way objects and people are positioned and arranged within the frame of the photo.

The rule of thirds is one of the most fundamental principles of composition. The idea behind this theory is that photos are more visually appealing when the subjects in them are aligned with the imaginary lines that divide the photo. Important features such as eyes and faces are framed where the lines intersect.

To apply the rule of thirds, you need to imagine the photo has two evenly spaced lines running horizontally across and another two lines running down vertically, effectively dividing the photo into nine equal parts.

The most important thing in that photo is the subject. Instead of positioning them in the middle of the frame, put the subject off-centre to the right or left where the vertical lines run down.

If it’s a full-body shot, then you’ll have to position the head around where the vertical and horizontal lines cross in the top left or top right. The positioning doesn’t have to be exact, but as close as possible.

In the beginning, you might struggle to figure out where to draw the imaginary lines but luckily that shouldn’t be a problem on your smartphone. Your camera app can overlay a grid on your screen that will help you apply the rule of thirds in your photos.

With time, you will get used to using the rule of thirds and can then turn off the grid. By this time it will be like second nature to you and you won’t even realise you’re doing it.

Other things you need to be aware of when composing your shots is looking room and headroom. When the subject of your photo is not facing the camera directly but rather facing slightly off-camera (3/4 profile) or looking out the frame, then there should be enough space for the subject to look into.

This ‘looking room’ is also known as ‘active space’. The area behind the subject is known as ‘dead space’.

When it comes to headroom, an important thing to remember when framing a shot with people is to avoid chopping the tops of people’s heads off by giving them little space above their heads.

Make sure you give your subjects enough headroom but not too much unless something is happening above the subject’s head.

Also, do not cut them off at the joints. This ends up making them look dismembered. Instead, frame from above or below the joints.

However, when taking a close up shot focusing on a detail on the face (such as eyes) then it’s acceptable to chop off parts of the head to in order to get close enough to get the shot you want.

8. Think creatively

When it comes to thinking creatively, most often the phrase “think outside the box” comes to mind. As cliche as it may be, it rings very true. But what does that even mean?

Simply put, it means you should think differently. Take an everyday idea, object or subject and turn it on its head.

A good example is the picture below. It’s a visual representation of a pun where the peace sign is constructed using something that sounds similar — peas.

Another way you can show creativity in your photos is by your use of colour. You can experiment with using contrasting or complementary colours in your images. You can use colour as a way to make your subject stand out in a photo or as a way to signify unity.

Juxtaposition is another way of looking at things differently and putting out images that can be deemed creative.

For example, if you take an image of a subject set against a background that would ordinarily not be associated with it, it makes the resulting image look or feel creative.

This is especially so if the contrasting elements tell an interesting or powerful story when combined.

If you think of yourself as a non-creative person, that doesn’t mean you can’t capture amazing images. The best thing you can do for yourself is to find inspiration and motivation from other smartphone photographers.

This can be either online on social media or in real life from people around you in your community.

But don’t just copy other people. Use them as inspiration. See what they do, understand why and how they do it. After that, you can emulate their style and add on (or subtract) to create your own style.

There you have it, folks. These tips are in no way a complete and definitive guide to taking good photos with your smartphone but paying attention to them is a big step in the right direction. Soon you’ll be taking photos you can be proud of.

If you visit https://thesmartphonephotographer.com/how-to-take-amazing-photos-with-your-phone-15-tips, you’ll get even more tips that will help you take amazing pictures with your smartphone.

Originally published at https://thesmartphonephotographer.com on January 8, 2020.