Terri Ramsey Beavers We often hear the adage, “a picture tells a thousand words.” For many of us, this saying is true. Photographs are a great way of capturing a moment in time that you want to last forever. Many believe that pictures can capture the beauty of a moment and take us away to a different world. Hungarian American photographer Cornell Capa believed this too, stating, “Photography has the capacity to provide images of man and his environment that are both works of art and memories of history.”
Nowadays, we all have a camera in our pockets. Our tablets, smartphones, and even our laptops have cameras built-in that has the ability to take amazing pictures when the time calls for it. And while we all want to believe that the camera never lies and what we see is true, this isn’t always the case, but it isn’t bad. In fact, our technology is moving towards helping us to take more impressive photographs.
Our smartphones and tablets are getting more advance with each version before it. One of the main features now advertised in most smart devices is the complexity of the camera. According to tech website Dxomark.com, the latest Google Pixel phone is the first to feature “a dual-camera setup, with a standard-wide and telelens cameras on the back and a single-lens camera on the front.” The photo technology for smartphone cameras has advanced since the last version, giving customers a camera that scores highly for its performance. Phones like the Google Pixel and iPhone now boast cameras that use features that are close to those of a Digital SLR camera, making it great for photographers who want to use their smartphones to capture images or experiment with their photography skills. Here are some tips to help you make the most of your camera phone:
How to Get the Most Out of a Camera Phone
Of course, there is a question of how to do this. There are many tips for using your phone camera to take amazing pictures, but the most important ones you can focus on are:
- Lighting: Natural lighting makes excellent images if you know how to set your pictures up. Instead of using the flash, which could cause your pictures to become overexposed, using the lighting around you to compose your shots is a better alternative.
- Exposure: Newer phones come with an auto-exposure feature that helps find the right lighting for your photographs.
- Zoom: Zoom is highly discouraged by camera photographers. This is because zooming often results in overblown images, which could make your photos blurry. Instead, it’s customary for photographers to set their shots and edit them later to help with focus.
- Editing: Most phones come with editing software that can aid with making your pictures a little more professional. These edits could help with ensuring that your brightness and contrast are right, the subject is within focus, as well as setting filters to give photographs a new aesthetic look.
- Camera Apps: Another great thing about using your camera phone is the fact that you have access to great camera apps that can help you with your photography. The Google Play Store and the Apple App Store are filled with mobile applications that can help you make the most of your phone’s camera and give you what you need to create amazing photographs.
How to Achieve Professional-Level Pictures with Your Camera Phone
For professional-level photographs, you will need to ensure that you have a good understanding of how your phone camera works, the options you have available to you, and the basics around setting up and taking a photograph that is pleasing to the eye.
The Rule of Three
Most pictures are taking using the rule of three, which is a technique that most photographers use to ensure that their photos are aesthetically pleasing and well-balanced. The rule of three states that photographs should have at least three different points of interest. These points can be anything from lines, shapes, or textures to people or animals. The idea is to keep viewers engaged with the photograph by providing them with multiple things to look at. A lot of pictures are taken using this technique, and most photographers, whether novice or expert, use this method to help balance their photographs.
Get to Know Your Settings
In order to take a photo at a professional level, knowing what your camera’s features are and how to use them is essential. It may seem daunting at first, but it becomes easier once you learn how each setting impacts the picture. Modern smartphones come with a lot of setting options. It helps to play around with them and find what works best for you.
Explore and Experiment With your Photos
Once you get the hang of using your phone to make professional-level photographs, then you can move on to experimenting with other forms of photography. Because photography has developed so much over the years, there are vastly more ways to experiment with your photography. Not only do you have newer versions of the traditional DSLR camera, but you can also find that you can take nature photographs using your phone, landscape, and environment images using drones (Click Here to learn more), or even just family and wedding photographs with new inventive ways. It helps to experiment with lighting and how to composite your shots to create a unique feel and experience.
In Conclusion
It’s important to remember that photography is an art, and mastering it will take a lot of time and patience. Fortunately, we live in a time where smartphones, and photography apps, make the art of photography a little simpler for us.
With just one click, you can capture all those precious moments in your life that would otherwise be forever lost to you. You can composite and shoot a scene in an instant. So, if you’re interested in taking up photography or have already decided to do so, and this article has helped you get started using your smartphone. Remember, there are great resources available that can push you even deeper into the photography rabbit hole.