Masbad: Wacky Tips: Better photos with your phone

IT'S the second month into the new year and it’s more than likely that you’re also on your second month with that brand new phone you got as a Christmas gift or it could be the phone upgrade you’ve been waiting for from your telco. Whatever it can be, I’ll bet big that you use your phone more often to take photos than that super nice camera you also bought last Christmas. I don’t blame you, really. The phone is always with you and me. It’s always in our pockets or bags always within reach.

But when it comes to taking photos, there’s probably room to improve on. Just because our phones are equipped with the latest and greatest AI to help with our photography doesn’t mean we just leave it up to it. For what it’s worth, it still is a good idea to not just “point and shoot.”

You get better photos from that nice phone if you know what you’re doing.

Here are a few tips that I can share with you.

Pick one subject

I can’t stress this enough. If you’re about to snap a photo, make sure that it’s about one thing in the photo. If it’s a groupfie, then that “one thing” is the group. If it’s a shoe you’re trying out, then that “one thing” is that pair of shoes. The idea here is that whoever sees your photo will know right away that it’s about without you having to explain it.

Find your composition

Composing your shots means following a number of composition guidelines that are out there. The most common one would be the Rule of Thirds. There are many more out there but the Rule of Thirds is a good place to start.

Tap on the main subject

Tapping on the main subject of your photo after you’ve made your composition makes sure that your phone’s camera locks focus on that subject and also adjusts the exposure to your main subject. Don’t let the AI make guesses on what your photo’s main subject is. You should be the one to tell the AI who or what your main subject is.

Keep it steady

Keep your hands steady when you take a photo. Even if you’re taking a photo in broad daylight. My tip to do that is to tap on the shutter button just after you take a breath. Don’t hold your breath. Just find that natural rhythm to your breathing. As you breathe in, you’ll find that point where you switch over to exhaling. That’s where you’ll be most stable and then lightly tap on the shutter button.

Get it printed

Today’s smartphones pack so much resolution into their cameras that it will be more than enough to have those photos printed out as 4x6s or 3x5s. Sure, you can always say that you upload them to Facebook and collated into an album and that’s how your family and friends check out the photos. That’s great, really, but having a physical photo album with choice prints from your recent vacation is still a joy to look at. In the end, there’s no digital album that will ever compare to a physical, touchable, smellable album of photos.