Getting Better Phone Photos

Are you like me and used to use an actual camera for shooting you photos? I have found that cell phone cameras are starting to get to the point where its useless to always pack my camera with me.. The biggest suggestion I can make is practice and get to know your phone’s camera as well as settings. They have so much great potential that no one really realized so if you can learn how to use them then it will save you a lot of hassle.

1. Using the Motion > Long Exposure setting for taking photos of waterfalls, streams, shooting stars, fires, people moving, or beach waves can create a soft, continuous water affect that is more pleasing to the eye then just a standard photo.
   
2. Using portrait mode for taking photos of things you want to focus on will automatically create a slight blur on other items around it so it draws the eye where you want it to go. This works great for food, statues, boats, animals, and more.
   
3. If something is tall or you want to capture a larger area then make sure to use panorama mode. While this mode is set to pan left to right or right to left, just turn you phone sideways and you can use it to go up / down.

1. Go into Settings > Camera and turn on the grid settings. This will help you center what you are taking a photo of and if you do not know the rule of thirds you will want to brush up on it but if not then just try to get the item you want people to focus on in the center of the grid as that is where the eye will go first.
   
2. If you are using an Apple you will also want to increase the quality of your photos as well so go into Settings > Camera > Camera Capture and select “Most Compatible”. While “High Efficiency” sounds nice this just an Apple sale to get you to keep using their propriety software. Most Compatible will actually save the file as a JPEG where as High Efficiency saves it as an Apple file that is smaller but as it is smaller you do lose a bit of photo quality. Having a JPEG also allows you to edit the photo in a variety of software if you decide to do so.
   
3. In Settings > Camera > Camera Capture turn off HDR and on Keep regular photo. When you go to take the actual photos you will have the option to turn on HDR. Open the camera app and set HDR to auto. HDR is “High Dynamic Range” and helps assist the camera when you are trying to shoot in high-contract situations basically places that are very bright or very dark. What happens is your camera takes multiple photos at one time at different exposures and merges them together to create a photograph with more detail.
   
4. If you tap on your phone while in camera mode you will see three slide bars pop up on the far left and ride side of the screen. These are the brightness, contrast, and temperature settings; they can really make a big difference and save you a lot of time editing. Tap on the screen, adjust the slide bars, tap on what you are taking a photo of that you want the camera to focus on, take the picture, and review to see if it turned out who you wanted it to. Play with them so you can learn what style you like best.