Having the best camera on your smartphone does not always mean that the photographs you take with it are of quality. Depending on the phone and the lighting conditions, the photos are sometimes bad. But this situation can be remedied with a series of tricks that will give quality to your photos. Any camera and any phone is different from the others, so it is difficult to generalize when giving tricks to take better photos. However, most camera phones have the same weak points, especially when it comes to taking photos in low light situations.
The first step to take if you want to take good photos with your mobile is to adjust the camera settings according to each situation. In any case, if you have the option, it is best to adjust the advanced camera. For example, on the iPhone this option is called Camera + and on Android it is CameraZOOM FX, although there are many more applications of this style. Second, it is important to check the resolution. If what you want is to take a photo to send it by MMS, it is better to do it in low resolution, but if you want a photo to preserve it, the ideal is to take it in high resolution.
Another trick is to activate the steady shot, as it is difficult to keep the phone steady while taking a picture. The stable shot function uses the mobile's accelerometer to measure how much the terminal is moving, and does not take the photo until our hand is stable for a while (generally one or two seconds). In relation to the white balance, smartphones are usually quite good, although in low light situations there are usually problems. The first thing to do in these cases is give the camera five seconds to auto-adjust. Another thing you can do is point the camera at a different light focusto self-adjust with a different balance. If, even so, the photos continue to turn out bad, it is best to do the white balance manually, choosing the different options that are in the cameras, such as "bright", "cloudy", "fluorescent", etc. And is that, really, the biggest problem with smartphone cameras is their inability to compensate for low light. To solve this problem, it is best to play with the exposure: if we adjust the exposure to a high level we will allow the lens to capture more light and, if we adjust it to a lower level, we will produce the opposite effect.
So far we have counted the tricks when taking photos, but they can also be improved once they have been dumped on our computer. To do this, it does not take an expert from the Photoshop and, in fact, can make adjustments in any photo editor. And by the way, we can also retouch photos on the fly from the phone itself, although it is more difficult since the screen is smaller. One of the tweaks that can improve photo quality is adjusting the color levels. In all photo editors there is this option and it is very easy to use. For example, the red level can be increased to give the skin a more natural tone. And we can also solve problems caused by exposure or contrast. If, even with these tricks, the colors are still problematic, we can always resort to the sepia or black and white option.
Even with all these tricks, you still might not be very proud of your mobile photos. If you are demanding, you can also use many of the applications available for the mobile camera, such as Hipstamatic or Instagram for the iPhone, or FxCamera for Android. These apps add a new dimension to your photos. In any case, all the tricks that we have been listing are not always valid. As we have already said, it depends on the mobile and the camera, so it is best to experiment, although these tips can help you. And, by the way, if you have found out some other trick that we have not mentioned, you canshare it with us in the comments.
