What You Need to Know to Improve Your Phone Photography

Even though DSLR cameras (digital cameras that have changeable lenses) do take the best quality pictures, sometimes it just isn’t logical to pack one around. Or maybe you don’t have the money for one. But there is an easy solution. Phone photography. Not everyone has a DSLR, but almost everyone has a mobile phone. And while the quality isn’t 100%, it is pretty darn good! So here are 5 simple tips that can take your phone photography from snapshot to spectacular.

1. Clean Your Lens

It would have been a bummer if Ween had of tried to take this photo only to find a huge smudge! But we made sure to clean the lens beforehand. Photo by: Nguyen Pham

This one may seem pretty obvious, but it’s a simple thing a lot of us forget to do! Our phones are in our hands and pockets all day and the chances that they will gather fingerprints and dust is really high. If your camera lens isn’t clean you’ll end up with smudges and blurs in your photo. If you are somewhere really sandy or dusty make sure to blow off your camera lens before cleaning it. Blowing on the lens ensures that you won’t scratch the lens, which would mean a permanent smudge in your photos. Cleaning your lens is the first step to really great photos.

2. Set Your Focus

If Ween hadn't of set her focus she would not have gotten this really precise focus on the plant in the middle. Photo by: Nguyen Pham

Another thing that we often forget to do is set our focus. While phones do have autofocus, your phone doesn’t know exactly what you want the focus of your image to be. So setting the focus before you snap the photo makes sure that the focus is exactly where you want it to be. It can also be helpful to lock the focus. This makes it so that whatever you focus on is set no matter what else in the frame might be moving. This is especially helpful if there are people walking around in the background. The way to set this lock is really simple. When you are setting the focus for your image, just tap and hold down for a couple seconds. You should see something that confirms you are in focus lock. Then you are good to go. To get out of focus lock just tap anywhere else on the screen.

3. Adjust Your Exposure

It was pretty bright outside, but Ween made sure to adjust her exposure to make sure this picture would turn out well. Photo by: Nguyen Pham

Exposure is just the level of brightness in your photo. Your phone tries to decide what that should be, but sometimes it isn’t what you want. Adjusting your exposure before you take the photo gives you more control over what the end result will be. After you set the focus of your photo, you can adjust the exposure to get what you want. Usually the way to do this is to slide the adjuster up or down. Your phone may also have an ISO setting, and adjusting that will let you change the exposure to your desired result. Ween liked playing around with this one and experimenting with what different photos looked like at different exposure levels.

4. Don't Zoom!

I had Ween zoom in on this photo. You can see that everything looks a bit blurry and grainy. Photo by: Nguyen Pham

One of the biggest mistakes you can make in phone photography is zooming. Your phone is not like a DSLR camera and when you zoom it decreases the quality of your picture. If you want to get closer to something, move your legs! Unless it’s something dangerous, getting closer is always your best option.

On this photo Ween just got closer and did not zoom. You can see that the picture is much clearer! Photo by: Nguyen Pham

If necessary, you can always crop the photo later. As long as you aren’t planning to print it out a really large size, copping won’t decrease the quality all that much. Ween already knew about this and was really good about making sure to just move closer to what she was taking a picture of.

5. Try New Things

Most people see a sign from straight on, but Ween wanted to get a new perspective! Photo by: Nguyen Pham

This is true of all photography, but I think especially for phone photography. Finding new perspectives and trying new things is so important! Most people snap a photo from chest height, because that is where it is easiest and most comfortable to take a photo. But because of this, trying a new perspective can take your photography to the next level. At first Ween had a little trouble with this. Just like a lot of us she just took a photo straight on. But with a little reminder she started trying out new angles and heights. There are lots of other things you can play around with as well. Look for reflections, use negative space to your advantage, pay attention to small details. These are all things that can make your phone photography shine above the others.

If you have an iPhone, Apple has a really great site dedicated to getting the most out of your iPhone camera. Check it out!

Photography is something that can be done no matter what kind of camera you have access to. And it is something that everyone can learn and enjoy.

What do you like about phone photography?