Smartphone and mobile photography are becoming increasingly popular. While phone cameras still can’t replace good SLRs, they’re a very good match for the compact cameras, and since your phone comes everywhere with you anyway, it also becomes your go-to camera.
Just because your phone is your default camera, however, you can take beautiful photos even with a 5MP, 2560pixel X 1920 pixel camera like the one that comes with my old Acer Liquid E. All you have to do is take a few extra seconds to think about what you’re doing, and follow the tips below.
Lighting is Everything
As with any camera, lighting is extremely important, and it’s doubly important if you’re using a phone camera.
It’s not always possible to control it, but there are two important points you want to keep in mind: 1) you need light. 2) you don’t need direct light. Getting your subject to stand in non-direct sunlight (best) or non-direct artificial light (second best), can make the difference between a bad photo and a good one.
Optical zoom is great, but when it comes to phone cameras, you’re pretty much stuck with digital zoom. This means the optics of the camera don’t actually change, the image doesn’t actually come any closer.When you do this, you get low-resolution images, which are of lower quality than non-zoomed ones. So use your legs and hands instead, and just get closer to your subject.
Steady Does It
This goes without saying, but it’s still important to keep in mind. When using any camera, and especially a somewhat inferior one, you want to keep your hands as steady as possible. Try leaning your elbows or hands on a steady surface while taking your photo, you’ll be surprised at the difference this can make.
White Balance
Many phone cameras and apps come with the option to control white balance. Adjusting your white balance makes sure the colors you capture are as accurate as possible, White balance controls usually include an “auto” option, and other options such as “daylight”, “cloudy”, “fluorescent”, “incandescent”, etc. While the “auto” option is sometimes good enough, you can get much better results when adjusting the white balance to match your lighting. So if you know you’re going to be taking several pictures indoors under a yellow light bulb, it could pay off to take an extra minute and adjust your white balance.
Get Up Close & Personal
This is an extension of the “no zoom” section, but it’s more than just not using your zoom. If you want to take a picture of something, take a picture of it. This doesn’t apply when taking photos of views and such, but when photographing objects, it can make a world of difference. So don’t be lazy!
Avoid Flash
I’m always amazed at how often cameras “tell” you to use flash when it’s really unnecessary. True, phone cameras can’t always handle low light, but if you can’t do it without flash, you might not want to do it at all.
