How to take stunning photos from your phone
Would you like to take amazing pictures with your mobile phone? Would you like to discover all the skills and tricks that the photography world can offer you? If your answer is yes then you are reading the right post! Usually when people think about high quality pictures we tend to refer to one taken by conventional cameras but we mustn’t ever underestimate what a mobile phone can also create. What is important is that you also realize that you don’t have to have the latest mobile phone to take great pictures but it is how you use it that matters. Let’s go and discover these tips!
First of all, one thing that people don’t usually do is something really simple like making sure that the glass in front of the lens is clean. We tend to carry our phone with us most of the day and between rain, sweat, dust, debris, oil etc. that can affect the quality of the image. It’s useful to always carry a small cloth in your bag or pocket and I would strongly recommend a microfiber cleaning cloth like the one that you usually use to clean your glasses with. These are great to effectively dry the lenses and to remove any trace of oil and avoid smearing.
Secondly, many non-skilled photographers tend to take pictures using one hand to hold the phone and the other one to take a picture. By doing that, the picture will come out blurry so the solution is to make sure that we hold the phone with both hands and use our thumb or index finger to take the picture. This is the only way, unless you have a tripod, to ensure that there’s no shake of the camera whilst taking a photograph.
Another important factor to consider is “symmetry“ (also known as composition) which is a great tool to make your photos more impactful and look better. What do we mean by symmetry? The best way of describing it is to take a photo of a heart and half it and we will see that both sides are identical. We find symmetry all around us in nature, art, architecture, man-made objects such as cars, ships, buildings, houses, furniture etc. The reason why it surrounds us so much and we can easily find it anywhere is because we all look for balance, beauty and harmony in our life and symmetry offers all of it. Of course, that doesn’t meant that all the photos need to be always symmetrical in order to look stunning but by playing with the camera we can see by taking different photos which one is the more appealing. What helps to make the whole process easier, is if you go in “settings” and your phone has a tool called “Grid lines” or in an iPhone will be in section Photos & Camera and then switch to “grid” this is an easy technique to help you position all the elements in a photograph. Bear in mind that even if you see the lines, they will not appear on the picture but they are there just to support you in taking more symmetrical pictures.
Lighting is a crucial part for any photographer who’s looking to get a nice high quality picture. Where you use artificial or natural lighting, the position of yourself and the subject that you are photographing is the key to take a good picture. Also check out the post "Amazing skills: how to stand out as a photographer " You need to play with the light source and try to move yourself around and the object or the person which or who you are taking a picture of. Usually by tapping the phone screen before you take the photo can help to get the right focus and exposure needed. Get to know your mobile phone camera and see how it works in different lighting scenarios and have fun using all the different tricks.
Look out for frames! Adding “Framing” to your photos can be a great technique to give an extra dimension to your shot leading the eye of the photo’s viewer towards the most important focal point. You can also play with the camera by getting closer to it or further away from it and selecting the one that most appears to be a good picture!
Applying the “rule of the thirds” in your photography! The rule of the thirds is a type of composition where you break an image down by using two horizontal lines and two vertical lines so that you have 9 parts and you then position the main elements along this lines. What this rule does makes your photos look more natural and the composition of your photos will look well-balanced and more visually appealing.
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There are many Photo editor apps that you can use to edit your pictures, make them more appealing, add effects etc. Please find below the best ones that you can download on Google Store
Snapseed is the most dominant photo-editing app for Android and iOS which was created by Nik Software, and is now owned by Google. It enables users to enhance photos and more with 29 tools and filters including Healing, Brush, Lens blur, Text, Double Exposure and so many more!
VSCO is a video and photo-editing app with many editing tools like Saturation and Contrast to make your photos pop and Grain and Fade to add texture and mimic optical film effects. It’s a place where you can express yourself and you can easily edit and import your own pictures. It also has advanced editing tools such as HSL and Split tone and you can frame your photos with a colour touch using Borders. It is also a video editor and with that you’ll be able to make a moving collage by layering videos, shapes and images. Again you can use advanced tool such HSL to modify white balance and adding different colours with colour control.
Adobe Photoshop Express: photo editor collage maker is an app more suited for serious photographers with Lightroom CC where you can edit RAW photos with lots of advanced features. You can get the same effect with multiple photos by copying and pasting them and you can adjust them by using different tools such as Haze and Grain (suitable for low-light photos) and with many others tools available to use.
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