8 Tips for Taking Great Pictures with Your Smartphones

Smartphones have become the major means of photography among youths nowadays but most people still struggle to get great pictures out of their smartphones’ lenses. Here are the top  8 tips for taking great pictures on your smartphones:

Tap to Focus

Tapping your screen to focus your shot
is a no-brainer once you get in the habit of it, and it can make all the difference.Generally, smartphones have solid auto-focus, but they don’t always know exactly what you’re looking at. Smartphone lenses likes faces and objects in the foreground, but won’t read your mind if you’d rather focus on a more offbeat part of the shot. Even more importantly, tapping to focus guarantees that the camera will meter the light off of the subject that you’re actually shooting instead of just averaging the exposure across the shot—a sure-fire way to a disappointing picture.

Make Your Subject Face the Light Source

It is important for smartphone users to be aware of the ambient light when taking pictures. The subject should always be facing the light source instead of the person taking the picture. For example, when taking a picture of friends on a bright afternoon in a room, the friends should be the one facing the window instead of the person taking the picture.

 Clean Your Lens

This seems like a no-brainer, but it’s probably an overlooked step. I know I don’t do it often enough. Even if you have a case on your smartphone, the camera lens is usually exposed, so it’s not protected from oil, dirt and other debris that comes with everyday use. Take a quick second to wipe the lens, preferably using a microfiber cleaning cloth, to ensure that you get a clean shot.

Steady Your Hands

Steady hands are needed when pictures are to be taken so as to minimize blurs. This can be reduced by leaning against an object or resting your elbows on something solid. Some phones also have optical image stabilization. Just make sure you check in the camera settings to turn it on.

Increase your resolution

If your smartphone has an option for picture sizes, the largest one is your best bet. Generally, the larger the picture, the more detail you’ll be able to capture. This is especially true when re-sizing photos later and having them remain clear and crisp.

Exposure

As the biggest problem with camera phones is their inability to make up for low light, the exposure is one of the best settings to play with in dimmer situations. Setting the exposure higher lets more light into the lens, which means kicking it up a notch will likely get you a brighter, more vibrant photo. I’ve found that exposure tweaks often produce the biggest immediate improvement in my phone’s photos.

Avoid Digital Zoom

Zoom is one area where standalone digital cameras still hold an advantage. This is because they offer optical zoom, where the lens physically moves to get closer to a subject. Smartphone cameras, on the other hand, use digital zoom, which simply enlarges an already-captured image and, as a result, degrades the quality of the photo. Even if you’re shooting at the highest resolution, the pictures end up looking grainy, as the pixels are magnified. If possible, try moving closer to the subject for better results, and don’t be afraid to experiment with different angles.

Try different angles

When there’s nothing you can do about the lighting or you just can’t get the shot you want, move around! As a general rule, if you have the opportunity to take several photos of the same scene or subject, you should do it from as many angles as you can. This can be a relief when the photo you thought was perfect actually came out blurry or with too many shadows and you have several backup angles to pick from!