10 Tips to Taking Great Photos with Your Smartphone
Michael Kelly
A great moment photographed will always make for a great photograph. It doesn’t matter what the image resolution, composition or lighting is like. Birthday parties, graduations and spontaneous silliness are moments we want to capture forever. Now that our smart phones are equipped with sophisticated digital cameras, we’re more likely than ever to capture these wonderful moments. If you’re looking to go beyond simple point and click photography and make those special moments look a bit more stylish, here’s how to do it with your smartphone.
Adjust The Settings You Didn’t Know You Had
You have a lot more control of your phone’s camera than you may think. Some operating systems give the options to adjust focus, white balance and exposure. If yours doesn’t have these options, you can download camera apps that will allow you to adjust these settings.
Focus tells the camera which depth of field (DoF) on the image should have the most detail. A quick way to adjust the focus is to tap the smart phone screen on the most important part of the subject you’re taking a picture of. For example, if it’s a portrait shot, tap the screen right between the subject’s eyes. Check to see if your camera’s phone can adjust DoF. The larger the DoF, the more of the shot will be in focus and detailed. Ansel Adams great landscape photography demonstrates his mastery of the use of large depth of field. You can also create a shallow DoF and have your main subject clearly in focus and everything else out of focus. This can create a very unique portrait effect.
White balancing refers to adjusting or balancing the temperature of an image’s color so it appears more natural. Lighting conditions can cause color casts in photos. Indoor lighting creates images overcast with warm hues such as orange, pink or yellow. Outdoor lighting is cooler and casts a blue tone to images. Setting the white balance on your camera can help bring color temperatures in line with how we naturally perceive them. This way, indoor photos won’t have an unnatural red tint and outdoor photos won’t have a blue tint. You can also get creative with this feature. For example, you can purposely make a snow landscape more imaginative using the cool blue cast. Or you can make a room lit by a glowing fireplace feel cozier with an image cast in a warm red. Read More
