“You don’t take a photograph, you make it. — Ansel Adams
Great photo ops don’t always happen when there’s a dSLR camera in your hands. Your smartphone is frequently the only camera you’ve got to capture a great moment on the fly. Make the most of it! Here are some fast easy ways to get better photos from your smartphone’s camera.
Embrace your smartphone as a helpful but imperfect tool. If you’re aiming for vibrant brand-defining images, there’s no substitute for working with a professional photographer. But life is full of spontaneous moments worth sharing, and you can capture those moments on a smartphone. Make the most of your smartphone camera and have fun with it!
1. When shooting, make sure you have enough light and lots of space. Smartphone cameras record lightness better than shadow. You can edit to go darker. Leave some space around your subject so you can crop to fit different formats. You can remove background stuff later, but you can’t restore what was never there.
2. Choose shots with bright/light backgrounds. Lighter tones work best for backlit screens, especially tiny ones. The aesthetics of exposure and tonality is subjective, but as a quick rule, lighter is better.
3. Bold shapes and sharp focus always get noticed. Subjects should stand out. And when you review your shots, zoom in to examine detail around eyes, smiles, and other natural focal points. When you express yourself with photographs, speak clearly!
Want more? Photo editing apps are powerful tools for taking a photo from blah to brilliant. (SnapSeed is good.) And we always love shooting with a digital SLR camera whenever possible. But if you follow these 3 simple guidelines for smartphone photography and you’ll go far.