Tricks for taking better photos with your smartphone

DURBAN North professional photographer Ryan Joffe believes that a good composition and knowing how to not use too many filters are some of the skills you need to acquire if you wish to take a good picture using a smartphone.

Joffe, who started taking pictures in 1992, says that taking a good photo with your phone helps you keep memories of moments in time.

Also read: Take BETTER SHOTS with your iPhone

He shares some tricks that can assist the public in taking better photos with their phones. Joffe highlighted that almost everyone has a camera in their pocket, but not everyone knows how to use it properly.

“It is a good idea to have a smartphone with a good camera with you at all times. This allows you to stop and appreciate the beauty [you encounter] without having to use all your camera gear. Smartphones are incredibly forgiving with their depth-of-field and other in-built settings people usually battle to grasp,” says the professional photographer.

He also believes that if a picture can tell a story, it is a winner.

When asked about his secret behind taking a good picture using a smartphone, he said, “It is important to always walk around your picture to see which light and which angles highlight what you want to show.”

These tips work whether you are shooting on the go or at home:

• I suggest that you google effects and how to get them: Adding a blur effect can create a sense of movement or draw a viewer’s eye to a particular focal point.
• Use the right camera setting for the shot: Aperture is, in some ways, the most important camera setting because it often has the most impact on the look of our photos in any given setting. There is a wide swath of shutter speeds you can shoot at that won’t change the look of your photo, but the aperture changes the look.
• Clean your camera lens: This is crucial because dust, dirt and smudges can degrade the quality of your photos.
• Use gridlines to balance your shot: Vertical lines in the grid also contribute to composing a well-balanced shot. They assist in aligning and positioning subjects like trees, buildings or other prominent features in the landscape. This results in photographs that draw the viewer’s attention to the subject and convey a sense of depth and perspective.
• Avoid digital zoom: Digital zoom nearly always produces poor results as it reduces the resolution of the image. If you only have a digital zoom, then instead of using it, simply move closer to maintain the image quality.
• Focus on one subject: Spend some extra time setting up the shot. Some photographers say that the subject should not fill the entire frame.
• Use natural light whenever possible: Very few smartphones can produce excellent indoor shots due to their small sensors. As such, it is best to take photos outdoors in the proper lighting conditions to get better results. Therefore, try and use natural light when taking photos on a smartphone.
• Use your phone’s self-timer: This is used to reduce camera shake when taking photographs in low light or with long lenses.
• Use editing tools: You have easy access to editing tools, whether in the phone camera’s built-in editor or by using more advanced phone apps like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop. By using these apps, you can crop and touch up your photos in seconds.
• You may need a phone with a better camera: Megapixels are the building blocks of image resolution. Generally, more megapixels can mean a clear image, but only when coupled with a large and good-quality sensor.

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