
With all technology, cameras and phones have advanced tremendously. The creation of the smartphone, with its excellent camera capabilities, has turned the phone into a technological instrument that everyone has to have. Those who have put total faith in these pocket-sized cameras have even replaced their old snapshot cameras completely.
Mobile photos are taken and shared freely by a variety of smartphone applications and Social Media Networks every minute, with who knows how many photos not being shared, which goes to show that people are taking more and more pictures with the advancement of the camera phone and the quality of images they can produce. If you’re one of those camera phone enthusiasts and take a lot of pictures, there are a few photography tips and tricks you can apply to all your mobile images that will turn them around from good to great.
Good Lighting
All images, whether taken with an SLR, film or camera phone, need to have a well-light subject. You can do a variety of simple things to improve the lighting, including turning on lights, moving closer to a light source, or using your phones built-in flash if it has one (a lot of newer smartphones have them). Any way to get more light on your subject will increase your camera phone’s image quality.
Get Up Close
The closer you are to your subject, the better and clearer your picture will be. Bring your phone as close to your subject as possible and your phone should focus better. Getting close and focusing on your subject bring me to what I think is the most important thing to remember of all when getting the best image quality from your phone…
Avoid Digital Zoom
When it comes to your phone, the zoom is not the same as the zoom from a digital camera, so it is important to avoid your phone’s digital zoom at all times. When using this type of zoom, as it gets up close, it actually crops your image, reducing the quality and resolution. I tend to just forget I even have zoom on my phone, which is a safe way to keep the quality of your mobile photos as good as possible.
Shutter Delay
Most of your have probably noticed that there is a pause between when you hit the button to take your image and when the shutter actually goes off. This is a shutter delay, and most camera phones have it. In this slight time lapse, something in your photo may have moved, or someone may have blinked, which ruins the photo and forces you to shoot it all over again. Understanding this shutter delay time will insure you can plan ahead with each photo to get that exact second you intended.

Hold Still
A stable image comes out more clearly than if you’re moving around. Camera movement can cause your image to become blurry or fuzzy, so it’s important you stabilize yourself for the shot. A lot of times I will lean against something sturdy to make sure I am not moving when taking a photo with my phone. And always have your phone’s stabilizer settings turned on to stop hand and camera movement.

Use High Resolution
Generally, camera phones are factory set to a medium setting for image resolution. To drastically improve your image quality you should set your resolution to the highest setting, which will use the most mega pixels your phone has available. In these photos below, you can see that the images look about the same until you zoom up close.
These zoomed in images show the slight difference in resolution between 0.3 megapixel resolution and 8 mega pixel resolution of the two images taken.

Frame & Composition
While looking through your phone screen at your subject make sure to give a quick look around the frame. Stray objects peeking in from the edges are discouraging and can easily be avoided by usually moving forward towards your subject or a little to the side. Good photo composition is important, as well. Determine what position works best for your subject.
Experiment
Playing around with your camera phone is the best way to know and understand how it works, which will show in your photos. The more you change settings and experiment with effects, the better you will be at using your camera phone and taking great mobile photos.
There are so many different ways to take a photo, and so many instruments in which to do it with, yet with all the smartphones in creation today it has become more and more common to use your phone to take pictures rather than carrying around a clunky camera. And even with the smaller cameras in creation today, nothing beats the convenience of a camera phone. With this in mind, in order to take quality shots among the rest, you need to practice good camera phone etiquette, like with any camera.
I hope these tips and tricks help everyone out. Personally I keep every one of these things in mind when taking a photo with my camera phone so I can share those clean, crisp moments with my friends and family.
Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think. And if you have any tips of your own, let me know!







