Phone Shot

In this new era, the camera on a smart phone can be far superior to the point and shoots of yesteryear. But, this is not the case for all of them. A bad camera mixed with poor shooting practices will destroy an image.

First thing is first. How do you take a picture with a camera phone. It is different than using a DSLR. The first thing to keep in mind is the extreme lack of power. At most you will have 8mega pixels. Of course there is no optical zoom either. No changing of aperture, no adjusting of exposure times. You are alone.

Light is important. The more light, the better. Because of the small size of the image sensor; there will be a lot of noise in low light shots. Always look how you can bring more light into shot. Use lights to your advantage. Turn the lights on. Bring the subject toward a light source.

Do whatever it takes to reduce the noise in your shot. While outside this probably will not be as much of a problem, especially if the sun is out. At this point your basic rules will take over. Rules such as not placing the sun directly behind a subject.

Flash is a feature that will help if there is no way to increase lighting. While it will most likely wash out the color of the image, it is better than the alternative.

Zoom, now there is a tricky one. Zoom is really something that you should never touch. The idea is simple. The device crops the image more and more as it is zoomed. This relies on the clarity of the original image. Again the small size of the image sensor does us under here. Zooming will muddle the picture extensively.

If possible, take the extra effort to physically move closer to the subject. By moving closer to the subject, you get the best performance. Only when absolutely necessary should digital zoom be used.

If you must use digital zoom, consider what format the shot is saved in. If the camera saves the shot in RAW, do not use digital zoom. By cropping later in photoshop, the image quality will be equal or greater than if you used digital zoom. The exact opposite is true if the camera saves in jpeg format. Your best bet for superior image quality in this case is to use the phones digital zoom. Though, as stated before, no zoom is best.

Many phones have other settings. A good one will allow you to set white balance and exposure settings. These will be different with various phones. Play with them and see what you have. These are mostly guess and test as each phone is different.

There is is. Try not to use zoom. If you have to use zoom, be smart with it. Keep your subject lit, and play with your other settings. The rest is up to you. As simple as all of this may sound. I have seen over and over again, that people don't know how to take a picture correctly with a camera phone. I would never say that DSLR quality images are possible, but fair images are.