There ’s a with child contingent of photo enthusiast online who will dismiss a photo straight away if they find out it was taken with a smartphone . The rally vociferation of “ get a real tv camera ” can be heard echoing through the rafters of comment sections for many websites . We think everyone should have a consecrate camera , but a good photo is a good photograph , regardless of the gear used to take it .
photographic camera sound have some integral strengths and failing , and by accentuate the estimable and downplaying the bad , you’re able to take silence naysayers before they can get to the enter key . Here are some things to keep in nous when fire up the photo app on your iPhone , Droid , Lumia or whatever .
Smartphone cameras have gotten much better over the last duet of years . you’re able to get some very good results with them — especially if you love what you ’re doing . PopPhoto.comput together a great tutorial on go the most from your smartphone photographic camera .

Get close
Many cell phone cameras , especially the iPhone , really start to glisten when you bring them in stuffy to your subject area . The minuscule sensing element allow for a comparatively wide deepness of field of operation so you could get entire objects in nidus where cameras with bigger sensors and longer lens system would have trouble .
When getting close , you’re able to also usually have more ascendence over the lighting of your subject . Are bright speckle in the background of your composition flip off the camera ’s meter and make your topic dark ? Get closer and immobilise it out all together . modest detail shots can be quite efficient if done properly .
Image : A flattened pellet from an air rifle after having hit a metal target . fool away in flat light , you’re able to see the telling amount of item the camera phone lens can pull out of something so minor .

Crop, don’t zoom
Many smartphone photographic camera proffer a digital rapid growth function , but you ’re almost always best served by pretending it does n’t exist . Even in the liveview preview , you ’ll be able-bodied to see how observably your look-alike degrade the 2d you start to “ zoom . ” The camera is simply extrapolate what ’s already there and basically guessing what the mental image looks like . It get ugly tight .
When you ’re trim , however , you ’re actually just sampling pixel information that was actually recorded . Many smartphones have 8 - megapixels of result and sometimes more . That intend you’re able to crop considerably and still have heap of resolve leave for presentation on the World Wide Web . And the want of complete upscaling artifact will assist block out the fact that it was taken with a telephone .
Image : This image of a mountain in Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada has been cropped to about half its size of it . If I had zoomed to get this linear perspective , much of the fine tree detail would ’ve been suffer . It was shoot through a car windowpane , so the distortion visible in the frame would also have been augmented .

Edit, don’t filter
If you want your range to be unequalled , the last matter you should do is paint them with the same filters that literally billion of other mass are using . For the track record , I ’m not anti - Instagram . I recollect the sharing element is fantastic , but the pre - determined “ retro ” wash are dally out . And that goes for every other app sling the same hooey .
I suggest getting a full - on image editing app like the excellentSnapSeed , Photoshop Express , oriPhoto . They ’ll let you make sane adjustments , like contrast , sharpness , and colour temperature . Stuff you ’d in reality do with images from your fully grown camera . It ’s also not softheaded to knock down your images into Lightroom or another piece of redaction software if you do n’t palpate the need to deal them right away . OK , it ’s a lilliputian crazy , but people do it .
It ’s with this decision that you may in reality start to select your own flair , or even execute the style you ’ve already developed outside of your smartphone . It ’s a heck of a lot more effective than picking your favourite Hipstamatic filter and slapping it on every pic .

Image : A screen grab from inside the SnapSeed app . It gives you factual image editing selection rather than trying to get across up flaws with heavy vignetting or abnormal midtone dividing line .
Pick a better camera app
This one give more to iPhone exploiter than Android users , but in any case , the end is more control . There are a couplet of received choice in this category and any of them will treat you better than the line of descent camera app . I likeCamera Awesome(made by SmugMug ) because it allow you to bourgeon in burst and separates the AF lock from the exposure curl . It ’s also gratuitous . Other apps likeCamera+have similar pick for more controlled shooting .
Whatever you pick , it ’s worth it to pass a little time really getting used to it . It seems cockamamy to take out your telephone and recitation taking picture , but you ’ll be glad you did it if you manage to catch a great shot while others are still flipping through pages of apps or examine to move around off their stupefied flash .
double : A screenshot taken from inside the Camera Awesome app .

Keep your lens clean
Your pocket is not a clean topographic point , and the grime that live within loves to glom onto your smartphone tv camera lens . The solution are hazy , glowering images that wo n’t await salutary no matter how many retro filter you slap on them .
The lenses are now remarkably problematic , so give them a quick rub with a flaccid fabric ca n’t injure ( and your T - shirt will do OK in a pinch , but try not to make a riding habit of it ) . Once in a while , it ’s worth the effort to break out the lens clean solution and really get the dirt off of it . It may not count dirty and you might not even notice it in your photograph , but often a rich clean will make a difference of opinion .
ikon : Your pocket is n’t the only place your lens is likely to piece up grunge .

For more tip on shooting great pic with your smartphone , arrest out the whole article over at PopPhoto.com .
Popular Photographyis the world ’s big picture taking magazine and the leading technical authority , buyers channelise and how - to resource for the photo enthusiast ..
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