Our smartphones offer us a close at hand way to preserve many memories that come throughout the day, but if we are not careful, the photos we take won’t be high-quality enough to be preserved well through printing. We talked to lots of different photographers and compiled a few easy-to-learn tricks and tips to taking great phone photography brought to you by Wyoming Storage Sheds.
Natural Light
Phone camera lenses function best in natural light, so use that to your advantage! The best pictures to take are those with the light coming from behind you. Many find the early morning hours or early evening hours to be the best lighting times.
Avoid the Flash
We aren’t talking about the DC superhero here–when you’re in too dark of a setting to use natural light, try to use another light source instead of the flash on your phone. This could be a lamp shining from behind you or someone else’s phone flashlight. This will still provide the light you need without the white-out look that accompanies your flash.
Get in Focus
To get your camera to focus on the subject of your photo, tap your finger down on the screen over the object or person you’re focusing on. A yellow box should appear, and there may be visible adjustments made to the sharpness of the image.
Adjust Brightness
Along with focusing on the subject of your image, you can also adjust the brightness of the photo you’ll be taking by moving the slider that appears next to the yellow box up or down. In general, aim for under-exposed and darker, as you can always brighten an image manually later in the editing process.
Don’t Zoom
As tempting as it may be, try to avoid zooming. This really reduces the quality of your picture! Better to be zoomed out in the photo you take and crop it later on. It’s best to get as close as possible to your subject to achieve as high of quality photo as possible.
Straight Horizons
Nothing can ruin a beautiful photograph as much as a bit of a crooked perspective. Your phone should give you some grid lines to help you keep your horizons straight. If, in the spur of the picture perfect moment, you should take a bit of a lopsided picture, you can always straighten it in the editing process, although this will cause a slight cropping to happen.
Try for Landscape
Turning your phone sideways will take a photo in landscape mode, which will be a higher quality photo overall than portrait. Also, try to avoid taking selfies if you’re looking for a sharper photo. The front camera is not nearly as good as the one on the back of your phone.
Following these simple steps, your phone can become a handy tool to preserve high-quality memories that look great both on the screen and in the scrapbook.
At Self Assured Storage, we love to support families in living a life of fun and adventure–and all the photo ops along the way. If stuff is taking up too much space, you need room for your next big thing, or you’re wanting a safe place to store belongings while traveling, give us a call! Our knowledgeable and helpful staff are ready to assist you!
