Take great pictures with a smartphone

I love to shoot with my smartphone and I think most people do. Sure it doesn’t have some of the capabilities of my compact camera let alone my professional SLR, but it’s just SO convenient that it often trumps their advantages. First off it’s small and always there. I can’t say the same for my SLR. My son just put underwear on his head and pretends to be a pirate? My SLR is in the closet, but my smartphone is handy! I’m having lunch and a road runner is in my backyard? (check out the image below this article) My compact is tucked away in my backpack, but my smartphone is next to me! As a pro photographer, I’m asked to shoot a high profile wedding of a wealthy and powerful entrepreneur? … Okay seriously what fluff-head would ever use their smartphone to shoot a wedding? That’s just silly, it’s the wrong tool. BUT for the underwear-headed pirate and lunchtime roadrunner, it’s the perfect tool. Not only was I able to capture the spontaneous picture at a moment’s notice, I’m able to edit it and send it to friends within a few minutes without having to go through my home computer as an intermediate step.

On upcoming articles, I’ll be writing about apps and other resources to edit, modify and share your images. But for today, I’d like to “focus” on the capture process. How to take great pictures with a smartphone.

Disclaimer: I own an iPhone. (about 40% of your are thinking YAYY! and the other 60% are mistakenly beginning to lose interest in this article … don’t) I don’t have anything against other smartphones. I can’t afford more than one smartphone. If anyone wants to provide me with additional smartphones, and a funding source so that I can evaluate apps and features, I’d be happy to do so. Until then, regretfully, I can only personally comment on certain apps and features that I have experienced on my iPhone. The good news is that MANY techniques and tips that I will share with you are smartphone agnostic (i.e. it won’t matter what kind of smartphone you have, for example: telling not to shake your camera for clearer pictures, universally applies).

Get light on your subject.
Phone cameras are notorious for needing a lot of light for good pictures. They have teeny lenses and teeny sensors. Remember all that smallness and convenience you appreciated so much? Well, small cameras generally have small components and in the case of smartphones teeny tiny lenses and sensors need lotsa light. So what to do? Get as much light on your subjects as you can. If you’ve got people squinting in the sun, rotate them just enough to get the light out of their eyes or give ‘em all sunglasses. Another trick outdoors is to put people in open shade. The background might blow out and be bright, but faces should come out OK. What if you’re outside and you need just a little more light. Try a reflector. Any large white surface will do. You can also buy one of these: Circular Reflectors (Collapsible Circular Reflector Disc). It collapses down so you can stow it in your backpack, but unfolds to a nice 12 inch circle for a great reflective surface. Especially nice to use on things like flowers, food and other close ups where a little more light on just the right side could save the picture. What about a dimmer, indoor situation? You can try to turn on as many lights as you can (without blowing a circuit) or pop the smartphone flash. The trouble is, the smartphone flash is … you guessed it: teeny, which = not very powerful. Here’s a tip if you have access to one of those ridiculously bright flashlights, don’t point it at your subject, point it at the ceiling. Bounce the light off of a white ceiling and you’ll get a soft even light on their faces. You might also try these gadgets to give you just a bit more light than your onboard smartphone flash. $20 LED smartphone “flash” (LED Light Portable Pocket Spotlight for iPhone) attaches to your headphone jack: Or try this $7 LED worklight. (LED Super Bright-led Compact Worklight)

Cut the clutter.
Make the subject the subject. Get rid of background distractions. Smartphones have a relatively wide angle lens. This is good to take in more of a scene, but not so good if you’re trying to isolate your subject matter unless you get nice and close. Move with your feet to get close. Not many smartphone have an actual zoom lens. Most of them use “digital zoom” or fake zoom to get closer by zooming. What you’re really doing with digital zoom is cropping the picture, which you can always do later in post production. Using digital zoom can reduce sharpness and cause a lot of grain or noise in the photo. Instead use heel-toe zoom and use your feet to get closer.

Hold it still.
Don’t hold the camera out at arms length. Hold it as close to your body as you can. Squeeze your ribs with your elbows. Get your feet in a good stable stance. Don’t walk around. Lean up against a pole / tree. Rest the phone on something solid.

Tap to select what you want to focus on and adjust exposure.
The image on your smartphone screen can magically transform from dark and blurry to properly exposed and focused with one tap. Tap on a person’s face or the close up of the leaf and the phone should adjust your focus and exposure accordingly. Tap and hold to lock in the focus and exposure. AE is your Auto Exposure (how bright or dim the picture is going to turn out) and AF is your Auto Focus. When you press and hold, it “locks” it on that setting even if you move the camera a bit.On most smartphones both the focus and exposure are locked on the same point. In order to separate them (i.e. focus on one spot and expose for a different spot, something I do OFTEN) you’ll need an app. My favorites are Procamera by Cocologics, Camera+ by tap tap tap and Pureshot by Michael Hardaker. I also really like VSCO Cam which is available on both iOS and Android.

Don’t tap the screen to take the photo.
Many smartphones actually take the photo on RELEASE of the button (as your finger comes off the screen) not the press. Never tap tap tap! Why would you tap tap? You’re just shaking the camera if you tap! Gently press instead. If you can, set it to continuous shooting and fire off several shots, all the while, hold it still!

Take many shots.
It’s digital! Shoot many, delete the junk, process and post the keepers!

So … Compose your shots well, pay attention to the light, cut the clutter, hold the phone steady, tap to focus, gently press to take the shot, take a bunch of shots and post the beauties online for all your friends to admire!

A fun $15 smartphone gadget