How to take better photos on your phone
These days we’re all kinda photographers, right? Thanks to our cell phones? If you’re like me, you have thousands of photos saved on your phone. So, if this is how we’re going to document so much of our lives, let’s try to make them the best they can be! I wanted to share some of the things I think about when taking out my phone and pressing that little camera icon … while using images straight out of my own phone - completely unedited - as examples.
Be aware of where the light is
One of the biggest things to learn about when studying and practicing photography is lighting. I won’t go too deep into the weeds here, but I do want to point out how paying attention to where both the light and shade are is important. Below are a few examples of how not paying attention to light and shadows can make a photo look worse.
The first row of photos below are there to demonstrate how little tweaks can make a big difference. In the first two, my son and I were taking a selfie at the beach. The first one has the sun shining directly into the camera, making us less visible. In the second one, I moved the phone so that we were blocking the sun. You can see us so much better! In backlit situations (when the sun or light is behind the subject), a lot of times it can help to have something block the light (maybe it’s a tree, building, or even your subjects).
The second set is something I see a lot when the sun is behind you, so your subjects are facing the sun. You can see my shadow in the first photo. In the second, I bent down and moved the camera up a little so my shadow was out of the frame, and voila! Shadow no more!
The next several photos are more examples of different ways that the shadows take away from the photo. From placement of your body when you’re taking the photo, to placement of the people you’re taking a photo of, to placement of the phone itself - they’re all things to think about in terms of where the light and shadow is. Most of the time, a little move forward, backward, or holding the phone at a different angle can help a lot!
Pay attention to composition
What is composition, you ask? It’s essentially how the photo is arranged - it can include things like leading lines, symmetry, and framing of the image. A few questions that help me determine the composition when I’m taking cell phone photos are things like “what do I want to focus on?” or “what is the point of this photo?” Sometimes it might be the person, sometimes it might be the scene of where the person is.
Probably one of the biggest things I see and experience is centering your subject horizontally in the photo. If you’re not sure what I mean by that, please see some examples below.
I asked my son to take the first photo. I made it clear to him that I wanted the waterfall in the background, and this is what I got. I guess you could argue that you CAN see the waterfall, buuuuuut it’s not how I wanted it. The point of the photo for me was to see the magnificence of the waterfall itself. After reviewing, I set up the phone for him so all he had to do was keep it exactly where I held it, and press the button (the second photo). You’ll see how the first photo has my husband and I horizontally centered in the photo, so that WE are the focus, but I wanted it to showcase WHERE we were.
The second two photos where taken on some hanging bridges during a recent vacation. My husband captured a candid of me walking behind the boys on the bridge. Ok, great, thanks babe! He was doing what I asked of him and making sure that I was actually in some of the photos, rather than just taking all of them. The second was what I captured of the boys. Again, the first has me somewhat centered in the photo, but the second shows less of the bridge, and more of the trees and sky. Like, what's above the person’s height is more interesting that what’s below the person - usually ground.
I added in the last photo as a different example of composition. My sister and I were taking a selfie at the beach, but the sky was showing off that evening and we wanted more of that in the photo, so we used our faces/bodies to frame it and showcase the sunset. I love how it turned out. Composition is something you can play around with and see what you like!
Don’t over-zoom
Have you ever asked someone to take a photo of you, and when you hand them the camera they immediately zoom in to like 3.5x the size of the image? Yeah, me too. I know there’s a whole bunch of people who love the zoom, but I personally feel it’s used too much. Zoom can reduce the quality of your image. If you really want your subject to be closer, I recommend moving your body closer rather than zooming in. And before you zoom, ask yourself “what do I want to focus on in this photo?” So many times, you want to get a photo of a family or a person and the beautiful background isn’t captured. All because someone zoomed. This is my PSA to use zoom with caution. :) Please see below for some examples of when we zoomed when we didn’t need to (or maybe, shouldn’t have). That first one bothers me so much! Why did they ask us to hold up the “It’s my first time at Red Rocks” sign if they were just going to zoom in and crop it out?!
When taking selfies, closer (to each other) is better
Always the photographer, I take a lot of selfies with others when I want to include myself in the photo. And in taking them, I’ve learned that the closer the people are, the better the photo looks. I think that’s all I have to say about that - see below and the let the photos speak for themselves! You can decide which ones you think look better.
You don’t need to wait until they’re standing and smiling at the camera to take the photo
I realize I’m a broken record about this, but seriously some of my favorite photos are the ones that I snap before or after people are standing and smiling. Better yet, go ahead and take the photo while they’re doing whatever they’re doing, rather than asking them to stop, smile, and start back up again. When you do this, you’re actually documenting what’s actually happening, instead of taking people out of the moment.
Other things to think about:
Make sure your camera lens is clean
Don’t be afraid to use the wide-angle to show more of the scene behind subjects
Play around with angles! I know a lot of people take photos from above, but it’s fun to capture from different vantage points to add interest
Tap on the person / thing you want to focus on
When you take several photos, try to take the time and go back to delete the ones you don’t want. It’ll save space on your phone and future confusion over which ones you liked best
I hope these help! By no means are these tips the end-all-be-all of cell phone photography, but they are things I think about when taking photos on my phone. So next time you pull out your phone to capture something, maybe you will too!
