Taking photos can be frustrating when your images don’t turn out how you want them to. Sometimes images can turn out blurry or grainy when taking photos on a smartphone, making it difficult to share on social media or put on your website. Maybe you would like to learn how to make your photos stand out. We have a few tips for you that will help you in your journey to better photo-taking to ensure that your photos are of the best quality. Here are 10 tips for taking photos on a smartphone.
Clean your lens: Cleaning your camera lens can be one of those small things that is easily forgotten. Photos on mobile devices often do not turn out well because of finger smudges, oil, makeup, or dirt on the lens. These things can cause the shot to look cloudy. Make sure to clean your lens with the proper materials to preserve your camera and obtain a clear image.
Use your highest resolution: Go into your device settings or camera settings and set it to HD or your camera’s highest resolution. This will ensure that resizing the image won’t cause the photo to be pixelated or grainy.
Use the gridlines: In your settings or camera settings activate the gridlines. This will help you line up the photo so that your picture appears straight.
Try not to zoom: Using the zoom function on your phone is convenient but it also reduces the quality of your photo, especially if you do not have good lighting. The picture may appear grainy or blurry. Get closer to your subject in order to reduce the amount of grain that can show up in your pictures.
Adjust your lighting: Be sure the light is shining on your subject rather than behind your subject. Backlighting (light behind a person or subject) makes people appear darker. So, avoid having your subject stand in front of windows. Also, it’s easier to darken an extremely bright photo than it is to lighten a dark photo.
Note: Natural light from the sun provides the best lighting for pictures.
Adjust your focus: Many smartphones have the ability to adjust the focus by simply tapping the screen once. Doing so, can help you avoid blurry photos. Be sure to tap the subject on the screen.
Check the background: Check your background to be sure the subject doesn’t have any distracting objects in the photo. Examples: Exit signs, fire extinguishers, trash cans, clutter. Also, if you’re using a wall, make sure your subject isn’t standing against the wall. This will produce unwanted shadows in your photo. Instead, have them stand in front of the wall, but a few feet from the wall.
Take multiple shots: Professional photographers will take 400 pictures just to choose 10! Taking multiple photos is great because people may blink or fail to smile when you take the initial photo. Take several, then choose the best photo to use.
Get a tripod: If you can, use a tripod to stabilize your photo. It’s impossible to remain perfectly still, especially if you hold your phone far from your body to see your screen. Some phones have stabilizing software to help but just in case, use a tripod or hold your elbows closer to your body, or use a prop like a wall or a table to stabilize your body.
Learn your editing tools: Your device has many photo editing abilities. Familiarize yourself with these features to help you make small edits to your photos.