Expand your phone camera skills by trying methods that differ from what is commonly used when taking a picture. These tested and proven techniques will assist you in taking more interesting photos and will automatically make your shots distinct from the rest.
Make the Most of Reflections
While there are many simple approaches to better photography, among them using symmetry and reflection. You won’t be disappointed with that since in that case you’ll be able to check it each time after a rainstorm or if you live near a river or a lake.
The next time you are near water, look for reflections of trees and buildings. This picture belongs to a series I took during a vacation many years ago. Besides the reflection itself I used the mist to create another element of this piece.
You can use this technique in all weather conditions, but it looks the most stunning on overcast days or during the golden hour. If you’re taking photos in the evening, make sure to use this captions that describe the golden hour on social media.
Include Another Camera in Your Picture
Snapshots of other camera-users (or of you, yourself) represent one of the most fascinating ways to add personality to your photos. It is also a wonderful way to take intriguing pictures of your friends who love taking pictures with their DSLR or mirrorless camera.
It’s the way you create those images that isn’t important. It is possible to capture the whole camera, which can be photographing or you might take a picture of the screen. In some cases, you may need to capture the photo of the lens instead.
In order to make pictures of the other cameras stand out, try to use a blurred background and keep the camera or the lens in focus.
Take Photos Through Objects With Frames
Do you want to capture the beauty of the popular or “touristy” spots, or are you just trying to give your pictures a unique character? It is up to you whether frames to help you to achieve this or not.
Starting with door frames and alleys certainly is the simplest method. Also, include these in your picture and shoot through them. Concentrate on imagining your composition; are you focused on buildings, plants, people, or everything at once?
Other frames you can use include:
Bridges and underpasses
Park benches
Airplane windows
While using frames for shooting, always make sure you touch the subject to achieve a focused object of interest. You may have to adjust the lighting, as phones often make these areas look overexposed.
Use Additional Lights in Your Images
Smartphone cam is usually without problem to shoot crystal clear pictures on a sunny day, but it is not as good one in a low light situation. If you are taking night time pictures with your camera, adding an artificial light in your images will make your photos more attractive and will give more exposure to your device camera.
Streetlights is the first thing that you can do. In addition, think about using lights from the buildings, but if you want to imitate your super-cool friends on Instagram, then neon lights is the best option.
If you desire to achieve the smooth shots of the phone, you can use in low light even you use additional light, then you may want to grasp the best phone tripods of getting the great moment.
Put Your Phone on the Floor
High zoom image quality is among the things the smartphone cameras have to outscore the DSLRs. Nevertheless, your best course of action at the moment (other than buying a zoom lens) is to be more inventive in the way you position your smartphone camera.
Kneeling down and setting your phone down on the floor instead will make it possible for you to get unusual angles and look around at your surroundings from a different perspective. This smartphone photography technique will be really helpful for street and architectural photography. Nevertheless, you can also use it if you want to take more unusual portraits and to make your main subject look bigger.
Capture Images in Tight Spaces With Your Smartphone
While smartphone cameras aren’t great when it comes to zoom image quality, they have a huge advantage compared to DSLRs or mirrorless cameras: they are also foldable and can be used in restricted areas. In Italy, especially in the Southern part, where towns face cities and all are densely populated, I prefer to take my pictures with my phone camera.
Take pictures with your smartphone through spaces where two walls are close together. Same way you can use this technique when taking photographs of people on a line in a subway or urban areas full of people. In addition to being an amusing smartphone photography technique, it’s certainly a better choice if you think nothing but a big camera draws more attention to you.
Use Water Droplets
My favorite smartphone photography technique, but also the most challenging one, is the use of water droplets in my images. You can carry it out in 2 ways. The first (and the most simple) would be going in on the rainy day and using your lens on a window’s droplets. The second one, which is also much more difficult to do it right, is putting water on your lens.
The water will normally freefall away from the camera of a modern smartphone as long as the raindrops aren’t huge. Noting this, be cautious when placing your phone in water to avoid damaging it which may result in voiding your warranty. Just tap the lens with your finger to apply the droplets.
If you are worried whether your gadget can stand the frost or not, it’s worth knowing the difference between the water-resistant and the waterproof.
Look Upwards
A simpler trick to make your smartphone pictures more fascinating is to look up when walking along. Many cities have buildings that are in a unique way—like the skyscrapers in Manhattan, which are the tallest buildings in New York.
In addition to outdoor, you may entertain yourself with indoor sights and gazing upward. For example, some old houses could have floor to ceiling chandeliers and unique patterns such as arches. Other illustrations are like you point your smartphone camera at mountain peaks or trees.
It is worth waiting even for pictures of some subjects, for instance, the ones of birds entering the frame. An alternative approach would be to take the steps to the lower levels and look up to see if there was any challenge for an interesting shot.
You don’t have to purchase a “proper” camera to take great photos. Differently, I want you to be creative and take your phone along to capture different angles and perspectives, not imitate the traditional photography styles. Changing the angle or position of your device is also a good way to get that movement going on as tinkering with lighting can be useful as well. After reading these tips, you are now ready to pull out your phone and start taking pictures!
