FIVE USEFUL TIPS TO CAPTURE HIGH QUALITY PHOTOS USING YOUR SMARTPHONE

April 25, 2017

It’s always amusing to catch glimpses of moments through the lens of our cameras. People venture into photography not only because of their own personal interests or as a profession, but also, it is fun and sentimental. But not everyone can afford expensive DSLR cameras, so, we resort to using our smartphones which is more practical. Not only are they convenient and accessible, but they also let you experience photography with minimal effort.

In this blog, you will learn 5 useful tips to take photographs using only your smartphones, some downloadable editing applications and your natural photography skills!

1. CHOOSE A SUBJECT

- When opting for a great subject, it must be sentimental and relatable to yourself and your viewers. Remember, you are not just taking photographs for your personal use. You also capture precious moments to share with your loved ones. It is essential to put emotion into every picture that you take. Treat photography like an art, and you can never go wrong with your pictures. Moments caught on camera are a good way to express your thoughts and feelings.

Application used: Snapseed

Smartphone used: iPhone 6s

2. PLAY WITH DIFFERENT ANGLES AND LIGHTING

- Choosing the perfect angle of a subject is just like capturing the best selfie. Two things to consider are your subject and the lighting. Find the perfect lighting and choose the best angle to highlight your subject. Don’t hesitate to move around to get everything perfect. Remember, try to avoid taking pictures into the light. Usually, your camera will expose for the light and make your subject severly underexposed.

Another important tip is to use the natural lighting to exposes real and bright colors. The best time to take amazing outdoor pictures is during the daytime. As for indoor shots, always opt for a place that is well-lit. Always remember that light is one of the important keys in capturing the perfect angle and a stunning shot!

Application used: Snapseed

Smartphone used: iPhone 6s

3. FOCUS NOT HOCUS

- The most important thing to remember when nailing perfect focus is knowing your subject. You must know what your subject is and what to expose in the picture. Since smartphone cameras have auto-focus, all you have to do is compose your subject and tap the screen to get the focus that you want. Aiming for an ideal focus only takes right timing and an interesting subject.

Application used: Snapseed

Smartphone used: Samsung S3

Application used: Snapseed

Smartphone used: Samsung S3

4. ENHANCE WITH EDITING

- Let’s admit it. No matter how good our smartphone cameras or no matter how high the megapixels are, they don’t guarantee us a perfectly shot image. Therefore we rely on editing applications to enhance your photos, and there’s nothing wrong with it! Every photo can benefit from editing, however here is an important thing to remember: we use editing applications to enhance, not change. This is a common mistake for everyone who depends on editing apps. They abuse its features that usually result to changing the whole image. This may make the pictures look unnatural. It’s very important to keep in mind that we only use these applications to intensify our photographs.

For iPhone users, SNAPSEED and VSCO are great editing apps. They don’t just offer cool and eye-catching filters, but they also have easy to use manual editing tools that is similar to Photoshop. For Android users, Cymera has different effects and editing features, along with a variety of filters.

Application used: Snapseed

Application used: Cymera

5. DO’S and DON’TS

- If you want to capture quality photos, always use the rear facing camera and avoid the front one. Front cameras usually have a lower megapixel count. They are good in taking selfies, but they are never suitable for photographic pictures.

Smartphone used: iPhone 6s (no enhancements)

- Always check your camera settings and adjust them based on your preferences. You can always use different features like HDR and Panorama.

Details: HDR, Saturation (Cymera)

- Avoid zooming in as it will lower the quality of the picture. If your subject is too far away, it is much better to move closer to it, or just find another one that is closer to you. The quality of zoomed in photos is decreased because you are digitally zooming in. This causes the image to become pixelated as you zoom.

Details: Zoomed in picture

- When you are shooting in the daytime, a flash is not really necessary. However, when you are taking pictures at night, a flash is necessary especially if the setting is too dark. Nevertheless, it doesn’t guarantee a good quality result as it sometimes produces blurry and shadowy images. Using a flash diffuser is helpful to capture quality photos in the dark.

Those are the five useful tips you can use to take quality photographs using your smartphone camera. Now, you can capture photos professionally without a lot of effort and expense! Taking pictures is not just a hobby and a fun activity, it is also sentimental to many as it captures precious moments. I hope these guidelines would make all your photographs more memorable and beautiful!