The Expert Guide to Smartphone Photography

Long gone are the days of needing a professional camera for high-quality photos. With the constantly-evolving smartphone cameras, it is becoming easier to capture beautiful pictures. We may not all be lucky enough to have the iPhone XS camera, but here are the best ways to improve your smartphone photography no matter what phone you have.

How to Take the Best Smartphone Photography

Whether it be for livening up your Instagram feed or marketing your company’s brand, there are numerous tips and tricks to help you achieve professional-looking photos from your smartphone.

Lighting is your new best friend.

Lighting can make or break any photo, so it’s crucial to know how to work with it. Smartphones shoot the best pictures in natural light since the flash often leaves subjects washed out and colors altered. If you’re shooting during the day, you should stray from focusing on subjects in direct sunlight. Shaded areas and cloudy days provide the best outdoor photos.

If the lighting isn’t working in your favor, experiment with angles. By changing the angles of your photos, you can manipulate where the shadows and highlights fall.

Simplify your shots.

Some of the most eye-catching and memorable photos aren’t the most complex. By utilizing negative space and focusing on one subject, your photo is more pleasing to the eye. “Negative space” is the area between and around the subjects of a picture. The negative space in an image allows the subject to pop, creating a more professional photo.

Become familiar with portrait mode.

Portrait mode can make a regular smartphone owner feel like a trained photographer. This feature is available on dual camera phones such as the iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XS, Google’s Pixel, and Samsung’s Galaxy S9. You can click on what you want your focus to be, and it will add depth behind your subject. It ensures that the subject is the only thing in focus.

Don’t zoom in.

When you’re far away from a subject, it may be tempting to zoom in for a better picture. However, you should avoid it at all costs. Zooming in distorts the image, making it appear grainy and pixelated. If you can’t get any closer to the subject, take the photo from where you are and crop it later to avoid lowering the quality.

Use accessories.

Get more creative with your smartphone photography by using various lenses. Similar to the lenses you can use on high-end cameras, you can attach external lenses to your smartphone camera to bring a new look to your pictures. There is a wide range of lenses, including fisheye, wide-angle, and macro lenses, that can take your photography to a new level.

Edit to perfection.

Once you’ve captured an image you’re happy with, there are a handful of remarkable photo-editing apps to truly bring your photo to life (when used properly)! There are apps such as VSCO and Afterlight that are great for adding filters and editing various components of your photos. If you’re editing a shot of food, try Foodie, an app that uses filters to highlight different kinds of foods. By experimenting with filters and editing, you can put the finishing touches on your smartphone photography.

Are you ready to try your hand at smartphone photography? The technicians at CPR Cell Phone Repair can ensure that your smartphone camera is in tip-top shape! We offer fast and affordable repairs on all your favorite devices. Find a CPR store near you!

This blog post was most recently updated on May 29, 2019.