Smartphone Photography Tips
Smartphones! They make everyone amateur photographers! It's so easy to pull out your phone and snap some photos of your family these days, and it's a great thing. You can easily document your life from your phone, and save the images forever. But, wouldn't it be great if everyone had that professional photographer 'vision' for great photos? I'm here to share with you all some of my best tips for taking eye-catching images on your smartphone. Keep in mind, smartphones won't give you the quality of a DSLR camera and a professional, so if you want professional photos (like the ones shown in this blog), hire a professional photographer.
1. Don't zoom! I am always telling Daylen not to zoom on his phone camera unless he has to. This cuts out a lot of image quality, making them appear blurrier and pixelated. Instead of zooming, move closer to the subject, or crop the photo later for a higher quality image.
2. Use the Grid feature. Turn on the Grid! This is an easy cheat to use the Rule of Thirds in your photos easily. The Rule of Thirds basically says, if the subject or horizon is on a third instead of in the middle of the photos, it can be more visually appealing to the eye. Not all of the time, but most. Use the Grid lines to line up your subject and horizon for a more interesting image.
3. If you have portrait mode, use it often! The portrait feature mimics a DLSRs way of blurring out the background of an image with a larger aperture, or opening in the lens. It keeps the subject in focus, but looses focus on the rest of the image. This can be very visually appealing for portraits and close-up subject images. However, don't use it for landscapes, or photos where the subject is far away.
4. Keep an eye on your backgrounds! Photos can more visually appealing with clean, bright backgrounds. If you are taking photos of your kids, place them up against a light colored wall or decoration. Also, make sure there aren't any distractions in the backgrounds of your photos before you snap away. You want all of the focus to be on your subject.
5. Get some smartphone lenses! These are so fun for smartphone photography. You can get fisheye, macro, zoom and wide angle lenses for your smartphone, so your images look more like those from a DSLR. They clip onto your phone, right over your camera. I have a pack of these, and enjoy taking interesting, fun photos with them! You can get really cool angles of every day things, without spending a lot. Click the photo below to see some on Amazon.
