In today’s digital age, our smartphones have become a constant companion keeping us in continuous contact with the outside world. With the current demand for high-quality smartphone cameras in new mobile phones, smartphones are increasingly becoming our shoot-anything, take-everywhere digital cameras. Only a few years ago, clicking pictures and making videos with mobile phones was a compromise, with low image quality. However, times have changed since, and phone cameras have gotten better and better.
Check out some essential hacks to capture the best images you can get from your phone:
1. Start with a good quality camera
This one is a little obvious, but the quality of smartphone cameras is increasing day by day. If you’re using an older handset, there’s a chance you could upgrade to better camera quality. If you’re looking to upgrade to a newer model, be sure to sell your old phone at InstaCash for the best price and seamless & safe pickup.
2. Set up the lighting
Smartphone camera sensors are much smaller than what you would find in even a compact digital camera. Despite having very bright lenses, smaller sensors give mobile phones a distinct disadvantage in image quality in dim lighting. To get better quality, try to set up your shot such that there’s natural light falling on your subject. Sunlight has all the right frequencies to make any photograph better. It’s always a good idea to open a window as opposed to using your phone’s underpowered and sharp LED flash. For those times when you need to click a picture without much natural light, the next hack may help.
3. Play with your camera’s exposure settings
Smartphone camera apps typically offer some level of manual control to the photographer. A simple yet powerful adjustment you can make is the exposure. It can brighten or darken a scene. Using this feature may turn a bland image into an eye-catching shot. Android phones usually display a +/- icon for adjusting adjustment. On an iPhone, look for the sun icon to the right of the focus confirmation box and drag it up and down to brighten or darken an image respectively.
4. Use the rule of thirds
You can turn on the gridlines feature in your phone’s camera app. Using the grid lines as a reference can help in keeping the camera straight. They’re also helpful in taking portraits in front of a landmark- keep upright structures perfectly vertical in your photos for more aesthetic appeal.
Using photography guidelines such as the “rule of thirds” can make your photos more appealing. It suggests mentally dividing up your image into nine parts using two horizontal lines and two vertical lines. The critical elements in your scene should then be placed along those lines, or at the points where they meet. The theory is that an off-centre composition appears more aesthetic to the viewer and looks more natural than a picture where the subject is placed right in the centre of the photo.
5. Set your focus up close
Even without any add-ons, your smartphone camera can set the focus pretty close. This feature is one of the things in which small image sensors can work better than the larger ones. You can snap a picture up close while keeping the entire frame in focus. That’s something a big camera can’t do and can get you some stunning and head-turning photographs.
6. Crop, don’t zoom
While attempting to capture something at a distance, we often try to zoom in precisely on what we want to focus on. However, it’s better not to zoom in. Zooming in from a distance can make the photo pixelated, blurry, or grainy. Instead, take the picture from a distance and crop it afterwards. You won’t have to compromise on quality, and a larger image is more comfortable for optimising or editing later on.
7. Clean the camera lens
Our phones are typically in a pocket or a bag when we’re out of the house. It is also the most touched surface we encounter. The device’s camera lens thus collects all kinds of dust, lint and grease. Be mindful of cleaning the lens with a soft cloth before clicking a photo. This will avoid smudges or dirt on a perfect photograph!
With some essential tips on how to take better photos with a smartphone camera, you can get started on your journey to taking improving your photography skills. As with any other art, good photography comes with practice. So keep practising!
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