14 Tips to Assure Great Smartphone Photos

A phone is engineered for making phone calls

Naturally the challenge, is getting great-appearing images from a device primarily made for chatting. So just keep a few of these tips in mind, and you can acquire some pretty sharp photos either using an iPhone or Android phone. Here is the basics of the things you should know.

1. Start up the Camera Quicker:
Some phones have made it so difficult to get to at the camera leaving you to think they didn't want you to use the camera, which could mean missing out on many great photo moments. If your phone is a smartphone, see the operating system will allow you to move your camera app icon to a better suited location to be sure you can quickly get at your camera. For example, on the iPhone, make sure the camera app icon is on the very first screen, or place it within the quick-access section located at the foot of your screen. Some phones even allow you reassign function buttons to start up the camera.

2. Let There be Sunshine:
Your smart phone can handle many situations with ease, but it just can't capture every scene you come across. The teeny little image sensor is starved for light, and it's best outdoors, in broad daylight. For preeminent exposures, pursue the same recommendations that photographers have been following for many decades: So, let the sunlight help you get better photos. Try to keep the sun at your back or over a shoulder. do not shoot directly into a bright sun, or you'll drastically underexpose your subject. If you're photographing indoors, keep your back to all windows and turn the lights on.

3. Keep Your Phone Stable:
One reason your photos tend to be blurry using your phone is because it's thin and weighs very little, plus awkward to hold in contrast to a full-size digital camera. Grasp the phone as static as you can, using both hands, while keeping your elbows tucked close to your sides providing additional support. Take in a deep breath, then slowly and steadily exhale while you gently activate the shutter release of the phone.

4. Compose Your Images:
Acquiring a great photo isn't simply about the proper settings. Compose your photos the same way as the pros Partition your screen into thirds, simply envision a tic-tac-toe on your screen and place your subject at one of the intersecting lines, rather than stay in the center of the screen. As you divide your screen into thirds. Be prudent about keeping your camera level, also; nothing spoil a photo as much as a tilted horizon. Also keep an eye upon your background to be certain nothing is "growing" from the top of a person's head.

5. Use the Headset that Came With Your iPhone to Take Remote Pictures
If you want to capture a super-steady image from your iPhone or want to acquire a photo of yourself using a tripod, your iPhone's headset volume control can be used to shoot a picture. One of coolest shortcuts of the iOS 5 is it's ability to shoot a photo by using the up-volume button, which makes it behave somewhat more like a dedicated camera. Although, you may not realize is that by using the up-volume button located on the Remote Apple Earphones and are included with every iPhone can also capture a picture. In this way, you can place your iPhone upon a do-it-yourself tripod and shoot a photograph of you with your friends remotely, or just capture a super-steady image without your hands getting in the way of the shot. This even works with a few Bluetooth headsets, too. Although your mileage may be different using non-Apple devices.

6. Know the Moment the Shutter Fires:
If your phone experiences shutter lag, you'll need to take that into account. Some phones tend to have a surprising interval after you activate the shutter button. And if the button for the shutter is part of a touch-screen (as the way it happens to be on the iPhones), the shutter probably does not trip unitl after you lift up your finger, not as you press it down. Either way, continue to hold the camera composed while your image is being exposed. And never jab at the touch screen, or the resulting shake is going to blur your photos every time.

7. Change Your Viewpoint and Shoot From a Lower Angle:
The attraction to shooting photos using an iPhone is it can be moved around easily and even placed upon the floor to obtain really interesting images. Altering the angle from which you shoot changes the dimensions of your subject while additionally playing upon the the lighting, shading and object patterns.

8. Optimize Your Settings:
If the camera features a white balance setting, you'll typically get better results by leaving it set on automatic. Although if the colors turn out wrong, try adjusting the white balance to reflect any ambient light, like daylight, fluorescent, or sunset. However, make sure you reset it to auto when you're finished, or photos in the future just might come out looking weird. Be sure to render full use of settings your camera has available. If the camera provides an ISO setting (typically under Settings or under Camera on the Android device, and beneath the gear icon for the Windows Phone), take it off Auto. When you are outdoors in bright daylight, adjust the ISO down to its lowest number to minimize digital noise with in your photos. In low-light environments, bump up the ISO to it's highest setting.

9. Forget the Digital Zoom:
The camera in your phone has no lens to magnify the image. Instead, it uses a digital zoom, that simply makes the pixels bigger and blocky, destroying fine detail. If you need to fill up the frame? Move in nearer to your subject. If you actually want to zoom, the same effect can always be created using your an image editor on your computer later.

10. Turn Your Smart Phone Camera into Your Own Photo Lab:
The majority of smart phones provide relatively few choices for enhancing images. That's why Photoshop and other photo editing apps were created. However some phone cameras incorporate a veritable treasure chest of ways for tweaking your photos, so check on the camera settings to fine-tune things such as saturation, contrast, and other image effects. Most of these settings can be used similar to adding spices to a stew: Experiment and use the effects you prefer to taste. For example, the saturation control, adjusts the color intensity in your photos.

Play around with with the settings on your camera. Usually it's best to stay with low or the medium, as levels of high saturation tends to make everyone resemble an overcooked turkey. Image effects such as sepia, negative, black & white can lend a hand in capturing charming photos. However, keep in mind that if you take a photo using sepia, as an example, it will be forever tinted that way. there is no reverting to the actual colors. A better choice might be to ignore such controls and add a similar effect using your computer with a program such as Windows Live Photo Gallery, allowing you to always go back to the initial color.

11 Make the Dynamic Range Wider:
Some phones (like the iPhone 4 plus the Windows Phone 7, just to mention a couple), offers what's called High Dynamic Range that can capture an extraordinary amount of detail using a range of colors and tones in a solitary exposure. In case your phone has the High Dynamic Range function, find out how to use it. The resulting effect is comparable to how HDR software is able to combine multiple images to create a single rich, dynamic picture. If your smart phone has an HDR selection (it might be labeled Wide Dynamic Range, even some other like variation), try using it in place of using the flash when confronted with difficult lighting.

12. Use the camera flash to help reveal details in the daytime:
It may seem counterintuitive, although in bright daylight, a fill in flash is a secret tool. It delivers a burst to diminish shadows that brilliant sunlight creates. Although this flash won't have enough power to fill all the shadows, if you're near to your subject, the flash can deliver a pleasing, even lighting on the face of your subject. Naturally, this tiny flash on the majority of phone cameras only works at an extremely close proximity, so don't assume it's going t be of much help unless you're just a few feet from your subject.

13. Get a supply of software:
A great reason to own a smartphone is simply for the abundance of apps that can be installed for enhancing every facet of the smartphone, and the apps for photography are no exception. Browse the app store for your phone to find programs to enhance the way in which the camera functions, as well a apps that can augment the photos you shoot.

14. Smartphone Accessories.
Third party companies are manufacturing dozens of inexpensive attachments for smartphones that can easily adapt a mobile phone into a professional-mini camera. These accessories include fisheye, zoom, and ultra-close-up macro lenses all of which are designed to simply attach to a smartphone to create photos that resemble being shot with a more costly SLR camera. And most of them are simple to use.

iPhone 4 and 4S Camera Kit with 8X Zoom Lens, Mini Tripod and Case Great accessory your I phone . The mount fits tightly and perfectly holds the lens in place. Takes great photos, which will please any iphone user. it works good and it's certainly cost friendly. I am now taking better, more clear, and more focused photos than my friends that have iP4S. The zooming capability is simply amazing! It's simple to install while the included tripod feels durable yet light in weight. And the video mode is just cool as I am able to zoom in further than my friends can and capture better video. I recommend this accessory to anyone wanting to take better pictures with their iphone