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How to take good pictures with your phone

How to take good pictures with your phone

Image result for galaxy s9 review tycoontech

both the iPhone X and Asus Zenfone 5 have great dual cameras

Have you ever taken a photo with your phone,but you weren't content with the photo quality? You probably have. Now the fact is that many factors contributed to that less-than-required photo quality that you experienced while taking that photo. The light condition,the angle at which you pointed the camera,the state of your lens,whether or not you used the flash and other factors can greatly contribute to the quality of your photos. And that is what we aim to answer in this post.So let's get started as you learn how to take good pictures with your phone.




"The light condition,the angle at which you pointed the camera,the state of your lens,whether or not you used the flash and other factors can greatly contribute to the quality of your photos"


In this post,I'm going to list 5 things which you can factor in to take awesome pictures with your phone. But before that,let's see what you need on your phone to get that perfect photo on your phone.


1. You need to have a great phone camera.
Image result for galaxy s9 review tycoontech
This is a major factor,and having a crappy camera and using these tips will do you no good. In fact,most manufacturers when smartphones started coming out were pushing megapixels on their phones. They kept on emphasizing that the larger your megapixel count,the better your photos. But other things also come into play when determining the quality of a phone camera based on on-paper specs. The pixel size,the cell manufacturer(technically Sony and Samsung are the best),the arpeture,the shutter size and others have great roles to play in how your photo looks. If you need more clarification on these kinds of nomenclature,here's a link to a post explaining it all.




2. You need to have light

Image result for photos showing light
credit:123RF.com
In short light is everything in photography. When using those large DSLR cameras,you have the ability to adjust your arpeture,shutter speed and other things,and you have a full fledged Xenon flash to use. On a phone? Nah,you don't have such freedom. You can only adjust features like the ISO,shutter speed and just newly in the Samsung Galaxy S9(review),the arpeture size. And basically nothing else. So the fact that you can't adjust so many features to compensate for loss of light on a smartphone means that you need to have lots of light to get that great shot.



3. Get a tripod 
Let's face it,your hands are shaky. Science has proven that you can't keep your hands straight due to several reasons,and your smartphone(except it has OIS) can't compensate for this factor. There are some phones like the Xiaomi Mi 6 which have 4-axis OIS,and can compensate for movement in almost all directions. So if your phone doesn't have OIS,then you need to get a tripod.
(If you don't know what OIS is,check this link for a detailed explanation)



4. Watch your lens!
Your lens can be an annoying factor in taking photos. Annoying because it seems like the part it plays is so small. But the problem isn't with the lens,but the lens cover itself. If your lens cover is dirty,smudged(a major problem with the S8(review),cracked or scratched,light would have a hard time passing through it without being diffused,and this ends up damaging your photos.So,you've got to watch those lens covers!

So with those 4 important factors in place,let's learn how to take good photos with our phones.

                                                                                                                                                                                 


Step 1: Choose your perspective
Your perspective really determines how great or bland your photos turn out to be. Take these two photos below as examples.







I took them with a device from 2016(the Infinix hot S) which I found in my drawer(I don't think I've used it since I reviewed it in 2016). In the first photo,I was facing the VR headset head on. This made for a somewhat good,if not too regular looking photo. Then in the second photo,I took the photo from a right end perspective. It not only looks cool,but it looks more 'practical'.

Perspective can also change the amount of light entering your lens at specific times when you are taking a photo. For instance,when you're taking a silhouette,your subject needs to be in front of the light source,therefore blocking the sun's(or light source's)rays from hitting your lens,thereby creating a shadowy image of himself. The position of the lens from the source of light is also important,but I consider it a sub category of perspective.




Step 2: Never,ever zoom
This might come as a surprise to those Nigerians who use their iPads to take photos at weddings,but you should never zoom while taking photos,especially if you don't own a phone with a dedicated lens for it. Again,a DSLR can easily solve this problem,but we're talking about phones here right?
Zooming leads to a great loss in quality,and it's much better to get closer to the subject or just to take the photo and crop it later.
Again,we take two photos as examples. In sample 1,I was extremely far away from the subject but I zoomed,and in sample 2,I got closer to the subject. You can see the increase in detail from the 1st photo.



Step 3: Use manual settings(if your phone has got them)
I'm going to do a separate post on this aspect,but for the purpose of this post,I'll explain the basic facts about manual mode.(I actually learn't this at one of my summer camps. Don't ask how.)
-ISO: In plain terms,ISO is the factor that determines your lens's sensitivity to light. Turning up the ISO can greatly lead to an increase in your photo quality in low light scenarios. The only downside is that it ups noise values real big(Noise in photography refers to the digital artefacting which occurs due to high ISO values. By the way,ISO stands for International Standards Organization. I don't know why.)

Exposure Value: This refers to the amount of time you allow light to enter the lens of your phone. It is greatly affected by the next value on this list.




Shutter speed: This is how fast or how slow the camera's shutter opens and closes in a second. A slower shutter speed is required for night shots to allow more light in while a faster shutter speed is required for those amazing night shots that make it seem like everything is moving quickly. Like this one.


Image result for slow shutter speed night image highway
photo credit:123RF.com

Arpeture size(or f stop value): Usually this value is fixed on most smartphones(with smaller f-stop values being better),but on the Galaxy S9,it's variable from f/1.5 to f/2.4,which f/2.4 ironically being smaller than f/1.5. Read up our article on how smartphone cameras work to learn more about all these terms.



4. Take the shot
Now,it's time to take the shot. After cleaning your lens,setting up your tripod and finding your subject,it's time to take the shot. Again,there's another sub heading here. And that is finding the right moment. Sometimes,the right moment isn't always immediate. If your subject is a living thing,get the person or animal to move about until you've got the perfect pose. If it's a plant,you move around it. And if it's a landscape,the right moment is waiting for you.



5. Slap on loads of filters
When you have taken the shot and you're happy with it,you can now use filters on your photos.
Let's take the review photos on this blog.
I don't have a 4K camera yet,but the photos I take with my Canon camera are usually touched up in Adobe LightRoom and they come out looking like they were graphics. That's the power of filters.
You can use free tools like Adobe Lightroom or pay for others.You can find these filters on the App Store or on the Play Store



So there you have it. That's our detailed post on how to take good pictures with your phone. If you liked it,your friends will too so be sure to share this on FaceBook and follow us on Twitter. How? Just look below the Subscribe bar up top. Thanks for stopping by.



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