A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article on how cleaning your lens can help you to get better photos on your smart phone.  The article was well received, and it got me thinking about what other things one can do to get better images.  So I decided to put together a list of items that I think make a real difference to the quality of your images.  

So, in no special order here they are.

1 – Recap on my previous blog post.  Clean your lens.  This point alone can probably make more difference than any other thing.  If you want to read more about why this makes a difference have a look HERE.

 2 – Focus.  When you point your camera at a subject and you take the photo, your phone will make a guess at what it is that you want to focus.  If it can’t work it out, it will try to focus on everything.  This can result in images that are not as sharp as they could be. Before you take a picture, make sure you select your subject so that the camera knows what to focus on.  Usually this is done by just tapping the subject on the screen.  This will result in much sharper images.

 3 – Sharpness.  So you’ve selected the subject and your camera is now focused on the correct areas.  But sometimes you still get blurry images.  This is probably because of camera shake.  Because the shutter button is on the screen itself, just by touching the phone to fire off your shot, you will introduce camera shake.  That is, the camera is moving while the photo is being taken.  This will result in images that are not as sharp as they could be.  Most phones (such as the iPhone) will allow you to take a photo by pushing on the Volume Up button.  This provides you with a much more stable way of taking the shot.  It’s also a much more secure way to hold your phone as you can use two hands.

 4 – Light.  Most phone cameras can capture amazing photographs as long as it’s a well lit scene.  The minute it starts to get dark it will introduce something called “noise”.  Noise is a nasty thing that causes your shot to start to look like a bad quality video from the 80s.  It will also pixelate your image which simply means it will lose quality.  So, when taking a shot make sure your subject is brightly lit and if you are indoors, turn on all the lights in the room.  The camera can deal with excess light but doesn’t do so well with lack of light.

 5 – Avoid flash.  Flash will add to someone’s age.  It’s an unflattering light and should be reserved to only those times where there is no other solution.  The best thing is to turn on the lights in the room, move someone so they are near a window or take them outside.  Only use your flash as a last option.

 I hope you found these tips useful.  If you would like to pick up some more photography tips don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel HERE where I share a lot more tips and information on photography and all things related.