Take Your Mobile Phone Photography to the Next Level

For a lot of amateur photographers their mobile phone is the only digital camera that they ever use. It is fine too as mobile phones are ubiquitous, and the fact that they are it means taking pictures with them and sharing it instantaneously is that much more convenient. Till today mobile phones are nowhere near as sharp or come with the same features that a modern compact or digital SLR is and that means you will have to master a few tricks to ensure that you get it right every time you shoot anything with these cameras. Here are our top choices on how to improve your mobile phone photography.

Choose the highest resolution

Your mobile phone probably won’t come with an optical zoom but what it will is a resolution rev-up option. Every digital camera has more than two resolution options. If your phone has a high-resolution camera of say 5 megapixels or more, you’re in luck. Otherwise never set it to less than it’s lowest capability. Don’t worry about storage, you can always download the pictures to your PC or store them in the cloud later.

Follow the grid lines

Actually this is the best way to ensure that one of the fundamentals rules of composition, the rule of thirds is easily followed. Your camera comes with a ‘grid line’ or ‘guideline’ option. Turn it on and place the most interesting subjects in the frame on one of the four ‘sweet spots’. read more here

Steady hands

Camera phones don’t come with any image stabilization systems built-in. That makes them prone to shake and vibration which makes the pictures less than perfect. There are some specialized tripods designed for mobiles but they can be expensive. Additionally if you prefer to use a more complicated setup try one of the hand-held mobile phone stabilization systems from Flycam. If you can’t afford either of the two, the only option is to have a steady set of arms. For additional support try bracing your arms against your body, hold your breadth when you click the shutter and wait for a couple of seconds before the picture appears on the screen.

Avoid using flash

If possible try to avoid using flash. Most mobile phones can’t balance flash light properly.

Slow shutter speed

Be creative with motion blur. Sometimes you will achieve extraordinary ‘WOW’ result with this technique

Photo: Marie Sanchez | iPhone 4S

Changing the Perspective

This is applicable for all types of photography and not only mobile photography. The advantage of mobile phones is that they are small and that makes them easy to be moved around, up, down or side to side to change the perspective and shoot in a different way.

Photo Credit: Michael Sutton | iphone

Get Closer

If the subject is too far away, take several steps forward and fill the frame. Your mobile camera does not have an optical zoom and the digital zoom is nearly not impressive. It is only going to degrade the quality of the images.

Photo: Don Rademacher | Nokia 808 PureView

Create Panorama

This is a lovely & useful feature feature of modern mobile phones. Use it sometimes to get out of your usual style.

Photo Credit: Aaron McIntyre | iPhone

Practice, practice and practice

Innovation is the key when it comes to shooting images. Avoid shooting indoors and try and use the natural light of the sun to compose your pictures. Additionally there is no easy way to improve your photography, even with all those tips and tricks. So the only way to improve your photography is by shooting more images. Practice taking more than just one image every time you feel like tapping the camera icon and may be you will have some interesting photos to share at the end of the day.

This article is continuous project & will update time to time with new image samples & tips. If you like, share your own tips below.