Nowadays, more photos are taken with the smartphone camera than with compact cameras or SLR cameras (at least in a non-professional context). This trend is benefited by the fact that it is convenient to keep your smartphone in your pocket, so you can immediately share photos on Facebook or Instagram quickly without having to wait to go home. Despite the leaps and bounds made in improving cell phone cameras, you still need to be careful and know how to move if you don't want to take ugly shots, out of focus or with very little light. With the right techniques and applications you can actually take better photos with your smartphone and avoid blurry images .
In this guide we will show you the options to be adjusted on any modern smartphone (iPhone but also any Android smartphone, but also old mobile phones) and thus take photos with a higher quality.
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On some "photographic" smartphones we can find apps that offer a "manual focus" mode, in which we can manually choose the focus by moving a slider (from the lowest point, for close-up and macro shots, to the highest point, for the shots of immense landscapes).
Stability
Another aspect not to be underestimated is the stability of our hand and, in general, of our body. If we move suddenly, lose balance, shake with our hand or get hit, we will get a loose photo with few details (in a nutshell a bad photo).
To increase stability we can lean our back against a wall, a pole or a tree or use smartphone tripods, such as those below:
- Rhodesy RT-01 Portable tripod (10 €)
- Vicloon Travel Tripod for Mobile Camera (11 €)
- Hitchy Tripod Smartphone Mobile Phone (16 €)
- Phinistec 125cm Aluminum Tripod Smartphone (19 €)
- Tripod Selfie Stick -BlitzWolf 3 in 1 (19 €)
Zoom
Many think that zooming is a useful function for shooting distant objects, so as to make spectacular photographs.
Unfortunately, on the great majority of smartphones we will often find only a digital zoom (applied as a software effect), which decisively ruins the image quality. So let's avoid using the zoom and get as close as possible to the subject, so as to always take pictures at a good quality.
The same goes for photographic smartphones, which often include an optical zoom : in this case, we can also zoom in a bit without losing quality, since the magnification will be obtained by changing the angle and aperture of the lens.
When in doubt (we don't know if we only have a digital zoom or even an optical zoom), better not to use it at all!
How to use the flash
The flash should be activated only after sunset and only if we have to take photos inside, with artificial light already present : the flash will help to achieve a shot with the right colors and the right intensity of white, without distorting the shot too much.
We do not use the flash when we are away from home and there is a bright sun, as it is useless to photograph distant objects or subjects (over 2 meters it is not possible to illuminate with the small flash light, you need a photographer flash or headlights d 'lighting!).
Settings to be manually adjusted on the smartphone
Even if the modes included in the camera app of our phone allow you to take the vast majority of photos with a decent quality, the best results can be obtained by setting the Manual mode and adjusting the following items:
- White balance, set to Auto value, rarely offers perfect white. We set the correct value according to the scene and the light already present in the environment is the basis for obtaining a balanced shot, paying attention to the differences between neon light and incandescent light.
- Exposure value (light intensity) is one of the most important settings. On the outside we use lower values, while on the inside we use higher values. When there is little light and at night you can use a positive exposure value to make brighter shots (without exaggerating!). Let's try -1 and +1 immediately, we will have to get good exposure values for all occasions.
- Exposure time : this value indicates when the shutter remains open to collect the useful light for shooting. This parameter is very difficult to configure, but once you have learned the basics of photography, it allows you to create very beautiful shots of objects in rapid motion (such as the blades of a helicopter, a racing car or the games of a running athlete), using values greater than 1/4000 s (better still if we use 1/8000 s). If, on the other hand, we wanted to photograph immobile objects or obtain a slight "wake" effect, we set longer exposure times (1/30 s or less).
- ISO sensitivity : increasing the ISO value (200 or 400) is useful in the evening or when we are in a room with little light, while during the day and outdoors we always use 100 or at most 200 as the ISO value. We advise you never to go beyond ISO 400, since the shots tend to be very grainy and with distorted details.
Use a better camera app
Different applications for taking photos can be installed on Android smartphones and iPhones. Below we have collected the two guides to create on our portal with which to choose the best photography app for Android and for iOS.
- Best camera app for Android to take photos with your mobile phone
- Better apps to photograph with iPhone and make more beautiful photos
These alternative applications allow you to set seen in the previous chapter, normally included only in high-end or professional cameras. Blurred or blurry photos can be adjusted and refocused or exposure can be locked for indirect control over shutter speed.
Conclusions
In the end a smartphone, in the hands of an expert in photography, can really be used in place of a compact camera or even a camera, so as to capture extraordinary images regardless of the tools used.
Good photos taken with smartphones will hardly compete with the shots of a professional SLR, but true photographers manage to overcome the technical limits and exploiting the environment around and the technical improvements of the applications can get very beautiful shots.
In another guide we talked about which smartphone has the best camera, so that we can count on quality sensors and make spectacular shots even if we are not very experienced (and very little is needed to transform beautiful shots into spectacular shots, as we could see ).
If we are looking for photo editing apps and apps to apply filters and effects on our photos, acting directly from the smartphone, we recommend you read our guides on the Apps to edit photos on iPhone with filters and effects and on the apps for Editing photos on Android, photo editing and camera effects .
