Before the invention of smartphones, capturing your favourite moments was no less than a hassle but a labour-intensive task which required a huge effort and heavy investment. But now, with the advancement of technology and invention of android smartphones, it has become an easy and interesting activity. You do not need to carry heavy cameras with you anymore. However, mobile cameras do not give the required results sometimes. Thus, to make your photos look more appealing we have suggested some brilliant and impressive tips that will add crunch to your android-captured photos. So, without any further ado, let’s begin.
Use the Grid Lines to Compose your Picture!
Composition is the most important aspect of photography.
Compositional strategies, such as the “rule of thirds,” should be studied. The “rule of thirds” is a photographic composition guideline that states an image should be divided into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, giving you a total of nine parts. This feature superimposes a set of lines on the screen of your smartphone’s camera, based on this idea. The rule of thirds grid will come in handy here, so use it on your phone. Look around the edges of the frame, or the “border,” of your photo for anything that could be a distraction.
Think about whether you would like to shoot the image in portrait (vertical) or landscape (horizontal) orientation. You should not constantly take shots with your phone held vertically just because that’s how you are used to holding it. Landscape mode is ideal for the majority of landscape photographs. Of course, there are situations when shooting in portrait mode is ideal. Smartphones, because of their large lenses and compact sensors, are capable of taking stunning near/far photos (with everything sharp from foreground to horizon).
Without a doubt, turning on the gridlines on your mobile camera is one of the simplest and most effective techniques to take better images. If you center your subject matter at one of these crossings or along one of these lines, your photo will be more stable and easy to engage with, as per this idea.
Adjust the Focus of Your Camera!
Even though most smartphone cameras are set to concentrate on whatever is in the foreground, not every photo you shoot will have a clear focal point. Simply launch the camera app and tap the screen in the area you would like the lens to concentrate on to make the subject stand out more clearly. Or go for the OPPO phones that are best known for their camera focus and bright colours.
Normally, it is challenging for an android’s camera to track a moving subject and adjust focus accordingly, as is the case when trying to take a picture of something. But OPPO smartphones use AI camera features that allow the camera to project the right focus. To get the clearest shot possible of a moving subject, tap the screen right before you snap the photo to adjust the focus of your phone’s camera. After this, a square or circular symbol will appear on your camera’s display, allowing you to zoom in on just that area.
Use HDR Feature to Add Crisp!
HDR, or high dynamic range, is a function included in many modern camera apps that helps to even out the exposure between the bright and dark areas of a shot. It’s versatile enough to be utilised to give a shot a creative or artistic feel, but it’s most often employed to provide an image that’s visually accurate to what the human eye sees.
Unfortunately, getting the right exposure for bright and dark regions is often a challenge when using a smartphone camera. Taking a picture of someone in low light against a bright wall or in a shady spot outside against a bright background are both possible scenarios. When the camera’s exposure is adjusted to match the background, the subject of the photo may be underexposed. On the other hand, if you focus on the subject when adjusting the exposure, the background may be overexposed.
HDR prevents this by conserving information in both bright and dark regions of an image. The default photo mode on the iPhone is High Dynamic Range. In some cases, the HDR settings on an Android device will need to be tweaked manually.
Seek Natural Light
It’s unusual to come across a high-quality smartphone photo that was taken using the flash. A common effect is to wash out colours and make people look washed out in an overexposed photo.
Don’t let the lack of artificial light prevent you from making use of any natural illumination you may come upon. This affords the opportunity to experiment with shadows, as in the second image below, or to cast a silhouette using natural light or artificial sources such as passing vehicles or nearby buildings. Use natural light when taking pictures with your phone.
To avoid over-graining the final product, try fiddling with the “Exposure” tool in your preferred photo editing app after you’ve taken the shot. Since most of us always have our phones on us, we can snap pictures whenever the mood strikes. No matter how good of a camera you have, shots taken in direct midday sunlight will rarely turn out well. All photos improve with improved lighting.
For this reason, it is recommended that you take your smartphone landscape photos in the “golden hours” of early morning or late evening for the best results.
Don’t rule out taking shots at night; the cameras in today’s smartphones have gotten fantastic.
Keep Your Phone Still, Using a Tripod Stand!
While smartphones’ built-in cameras have made it easier to capture moments as they unfold, these devices still have a hard time ignoring motion. If you want clear images instead of fuzzy ones, try holding the camera steady.
If you find that you are shaky at the hands or arms, lean on a friend or the wall, or use books or other items to support up your phone.
I use a tripod for roughly 85% of my shots as a landscape photographer. However, I frequently observe fellow landscape photographers engaged in productive activity without a tripod in sight.
With the advancements in lens and IBIS (in-body image stabilisation), as well as the possibility of using a faster shutter speed if lighting conditions allow the need for a tripod is sometimes diminished. Still, I think a tripod is essential for taking good landscape photos.
But the job of a tripod evangelist isn’t a picnic. The general public dislikes being interrupted. It’s time to try to persuade smartphone photographers to invest in a tripod.
But I feel I must admit: a tripod has its uses in smartphone landscape photography. Being able to keep the camera stationary is what separates a blurry photo from a tack-sharp one when the light is dim and the shutter speed is long. Once you factor in the potential to take really long exposures (yes, many smartphone cameras can now do this), you may find that a tripod is a worthwhile investment.
One positive aspect is that your tiny mobile doesn’t require a bulky tripod. Small, portable tripods can do the trick; team one with a Bluetooth remote trigger, and your smartphone is ready for long exposures. The creators of the GorillaPod, Joby, are a good place to start.
A smartphone adapter is a useful addition to your gear list if you plan on using a regular tripod with your mobile device.
Edit Your Photo to Give Perfect Colours
Some photographers are firm believers that you should nail the shot straight out of the camera. They rarely if ever alter their photos to improve them.
But I do not agree to this point!
Whether you took it on your DSLR or your phone, most photos can be enhanced in post-processing. In many cases, you’ll want to crop the image, change the exposure, and maybe even more. Fortunately, several high-quality editing apps are available for cellphones, and many of them are free of charge.
For me, Snapseed is the best photo editing app available. It’s free, and it works with both Android and iOS devices. The majority of the smartphone pictures I think are worth keeping have been edited with Snapseed since it is simple to use and offers a wide variety of useful features.
However, there are a plethora of other excellent mobile editing tools available. The mobile version of Adobe Lightroom is extremely powerful. Some people may object to modifying photos taken with a smartphone because they believe it defeats the purpose of the device. I get it, but I still think that with a little bit of tweaking, almost every image can look better.
Learn to Use Reflections!
To see the sky mirrored in the lake is a picture-perfect scene. Our eyes are naturally drawn to reflections, which is why we find them so fascinating. Seek out photo ops where you can have fun with them.
Puddles, larger bodies of water, mirrors, sunglasses, drinking glasses, and metallic surfaces are just a few of the unusual places you might see your reflection.
Conclusion
Never in a million years would I suggest that you ditch your dedicated camera in favour of a smartphone. You should expect better results from your photographs, especially if you plan to publish them on a large scale, if you use a DSLR or mirrorless camera that is designed specifically for photography. In contrast, smartphone cameras have been steadily improving over the years, to the point that they can no longer be dismissed as “fake.” It is the photographer, not the camera, who is responsible for the quality of the final product, and this has been the case ever since the invention of film.
Practice makes perfect, of course. There’s no harm in trying more smartphone landscape photography if it encourages you to take more shots and captures moments you would have missed had you been using a different camera.
