With the continuous progress of technology in the field of photography, comes the pursuit to take eye catching and breathtaking photos. In this modern age, Mobile Phones are extremely capable of taking jaw dropping pictures. Here are phone photography easy tips and tricks that would help you make that next Instagram post sensational!
Cameras are accessible to everyone! Everybody is able to capture photos with a single tap thanks to its availability on every smartphone. To capture excellent photos, the main things to take note of are lighting, composition, and the PRO-mode. Knowledge on these three things would definitely up your photo capturing game!
Table of Contents
Tip # 1 : Lighting
Photography literally is drawing with light. The word was coined by Sir John Herschel from the Greek words : phōtós meaning “light” and graphê meaning “drawing or writing”. [1]
Photography is the art or process of producing images by the action of radiant energy and especially light on a sensitive surface (such as film or an optical sensor). [2]
This concept is important towards the overall mood of the photo. Happy, celebrating, or hopeful? A bright photo would definitely portray this emotion! A darker photo could be used to portray solitude and sorrow.
By understanding how light touches a subject, you would also be able to portray depth. This would be noticeable due to the fact that a subject would have shadows that are distinct from its background. Even with mobile phone cameras, this still applies!
Phone Photography Easy Tips With Lighting : As a general rule of thumb, always try to take photos in well lit areas. Taking a photo during the day would yield better results than photos taken during the night.
Tip #2 : Composition
A criteria for a breathtaking photo is its attention to detail. An excellent composition would surely make your audience captivated.
There are countless rules and concepts that could improve your mobile photography. We’ll focus on the easiest and quickest to master! First step to becoming better is to turn on your gridlines. This would give you a sense of how to position your phone to best capture a scene or a subject.
Ever heard of the rule of thirds? This is the type of composition in which the subject is positioned at the intersection of a horizontal and vertical grid line. This makes the audience move their eyes towards a certain area of the photo then outwards to the scenery in the image. Knowledge on the rule of thirds would definitely make your photos stand out more!
Have you encountered a photo that draws you in towards a certain point by the use of straight lines? This photo makes use of the leading lines concept. Every time you go out on the streets, straight lines are really visible. Road pavements, poles, and edges of buildings are straight lines that you could use when taking street photos. Try this out the next time you think of pulling out your phone to capture a moment!
As humans, we are generally drawn to balance. This next concept in composition would come off as an instinct and therefore easy to execute! Symmetry in photos generally takes a scene or an area and divides it into two identical parts. Applications of symmetry could be at places with bodies of water and mirrors. Note that if you instinctively see that you could divide a scene into two apply this concept to capturing that photo!
Phone Photography Easy Tips With Composition : Turn on your gridlines, place your subject at the intersections of these lines, use straight lines from the environment to point towards a subject, and instinctively divide a scene with symmetry.
Tip #3 : The Pro-Mode
The ability to manually control the properties of your photos would make your images look good from the get go. Most Apple and Android phones already have the Pro-Mode feature available on the default camera app. Simply swipe your way through the interface to reach the Pro-Mode capture setting.
On older phones, this feature is not directly available thus another camera app should be installed. Just head over to the App Store or Google Play Store and search for “ProCam”. This would give you access to the Pro-Mode and you’re on your way to more beautiful pictures.
What’s inside? In the Pro-Mode setting, you’ll be able to see the options to adjust the following common properties : WB, F, S, and ISO.
Pro-Mode Properties
White Balance (WB): This refers to how cool or warm your photo will be. The lower the value is, the cooler(more blue) the picture will be. The higher, the warmer(more orange) the photo will be.
Aperture (F): This sets how much light is allowed to pass through the lens. A higher f/stop (f/1.8) would let in more light thus making the photo brighter. A lower f/stop (f/16) would let in less light making the photo darker. This also affects the depth of field – how blurred the background is. Test it out yourself and see the difference!
Shutter Speed (S): This is how fast the camera shuts its lens to capture the photo. The slower the shutter speed, the longer it will be able to capture light from the surroundings. Note that taking photos at slow shutter speeds requires a steady hand so it’s generally advisable to shoot at shutter speeds of 1/100 of a second.
ISO: This is the camera’s sensitivity to light. The lower the ISO is, the less is its sensitivity. This generally could be seen as grains on your photos. Grainy photos are captured at high ISO values.
Phone Photography Easy Tips With The Pro-Mode: Experiment and see for yourself how adjusting the different properties of the photo would affect its output. Combine the variation of different settings to see what settings are perfect for a specific situation. This is a very rewarding skill to master towards your goal of achieving more majestic photos!
Last But Not The Least
Remember the saying, “Practice makes perfect”? Believe that it’s true! People who dedicate the time and effort towards a certain skill eventually become skilled at it. Photography, like any artform, requires practice and lots of trial and error to yield the perfect results. The more often you take your mobile phone out to capture a photo, the faster you will be at mastering these Easy Tricks To Be A PRO In Phone Photography.
Sources:
[2] Merriam-Webster Dictionary
