A fair amount of the picture you saw on this blog have been taken either with my iPad, or my phone. I only use the SLR when the light is low or I need a very detailed picture (typically my food pictures). And, I rarely use my point and shoot camera these days.
There seem to be that misconception that phone cameras will by default give you substandard quality pictures. That it is the type of camera that only comes handy in a pinch. The type of camera that only serves to post silly pictures on social medias.
Thanks to these clichés, a lot of people probably feel like taking picture for your own blog is out of their reach entirely. I already told you about free stock pictures you can use, and free Apps and softwares to edit your pictures.
Now, I am going to share a few tips to take good pictures with your phone.
Know your phone
Not all smartphones out there have been created equal, some have more sensitive cameras, some offer built in camera features other don't. So before you decide that the camera on your phone is crappy, get familiar with it. You'll get to know its strong points, and where it's weaknesses lie. Experiment with it. This is the beauty of digital pictures, you can delete them if they suck and it doesn't cost you a thing to take a bad picture anymore (those that knew film rolls and developing costs will know what I am talking about).
On iOS, you can download a better camera app than the one coming by default, it will allow you more control and option while taking the picture. I never checked with Android, but my HTC phones always came with in built features.
Both my phone and my iPad also let me refocus, brighten or darken a picture before taking it. This is a nifty little feature a lot of phone camera apps have that people overlook. Tap an area on the screen to tell your camera to focus on, and it will automatically adjust the overall light and focus around that specific point. Again tap around a few times to experiment and find the best light quality your camera can take at that specific time. Then, and only then take your picture.
Don't use the zoom.
The zoom on phone cameras usually SUCK. There said it. It makes the picture blurry, reduce the pixel quality, and you are just really better off without. You can always edit a picture later and get a much better result zooming and cropping in the photo editing app.
Favour close ups
The strong points of all phone cameras is that they are great at capturing close up details. They still will do fine capturing landscapes but this is not where they will really give you their best performances. Their lens is too small for that. After all, people tend to use their phone to capture candid moments, their loved ones, pets, food or even themselves.
Wipe your lens
Your phone probably reside in your back pocket or the bottom of your purse. That enough will ensure a lot of dust and grime will stick to the camera lens. Your fingers are likely to be all over the camera when you are making a phone call. And, a dirty lens will take a bad picture. Remember to wipe your camera lens regularly with a lens cleaner and a soft cloth. Which you already have around since it is the same product you use to wipe your touch screen clean. Before you take a picture, check if the lens is clean, and quickly wipe it if needed.
Edit your pictures.
I went over this in a previous blog post. Photo editing is a must for all pictures nowaday. Some will of course require less editing than others, but all will benefit from it.
There are plenty of free softwares and app to do it (I shared the link at the beginning of this post) and most are pretty easy to use. While filters are great, I use them only when I really want to make a soecial statement. Most of the time, I use the good old classic : brightness, contrast, clarity and saturation tools. It gives you a more unique and tailored result.
Also, do not hesitate to crop pictures, especially if you snapped a subject from afar. The cropping will bring what you wanted to be the focal point of the picture back in focus.
The photographer matters.
Phone cameras come pretty close to basic point and shoot cameras nowadays. The pictures taken even do great on prints. So do not let people tell you that taking pictures with your phone is dumb and going to be low quality. And remember, even a SLR will take a horrible picture if the person doesn't know how to use it.nthe quality of a picture depends greatly on who is behind the camera.