By 2012 nearly 90% of cell phones will have a built in camera, according to a recent study. Does this mean we’ll soon be inundated with bad camera phone pictures? Not necessarily. Well, at least not from the technology angle. If the past couple of years can be used as an example, camera phone quality will continue to increase with more megapixels, better lenses, and higher functionality.
While we wait for camera phones to capture higher quality photos, that doesn’t mean the millions of customers carrying one in their pocket right now can’t take a good photo.
Taking a good photo isn’t a secret kept by photo journalists and fashion photographers. You don’t need a camera with a four-digit price tag either (though it helps). To take a good camera phone photo you just need 8 easy-to-follow steps.
Step 1: Take the right kind of photo.
When it comes to camera phones, not all subjects are created equal.
Look at it like this: you don’t see ping-pong players competing on a tennis court. Well, don’t use a camera phone to take pictures better suited for that four-digit price tag camera.
So what types of pictures are good for camera phones?
Candid photos! Pictures of your friends, that weird guy on the street corner, a funny sign, a neat dress in a window display, anything that you can get close to. One of the greatest things about camera phones is that you will always have it on you; whereas, with larger cameras you may opt to leave it at home. Take advantage of that, and take pictures of your life.
But stay away from scenery, high-fashion, and art photography. With the limitations in pixels and lenses, camera phones just can’t do these categories justice. Flat focus and degraded image quality will render landscape photography as dull and unimpressive; the same rings true for high-fashion and art photos.
That said, there are always ways to make photos pop, and a challenge lies in making that landscape photo come to life.
What will help make that photo come to life?
Step 2: Light it right.
It may not be as simple as point and click, but it’s really close. The same photography principles hold true for camera phones as for traditional cameras.
Your subject should be lit well. This is especially true when shooting with a camera phone. With the majority of camera phones on the market today, pictures taken in areas with not much light or photos taken at night have less than stellar results. Take pictures in rooms that have a lot of exterior light shining through the window, or that have many lights on.
You have good light, now how should you position your subject?
Toward the light source. With camera phones, the more light the better, so put that light on your subject, not behind them.
Step 3: Hold it right.
It’s almost as simple as it seems.
With camera phones, unlike true cameras, the shutter speed cannot be adjusted. In addition, there is often a slight delay between pushing the button and the camera taking the picture. Move during that delay and you get a blurred image.
To avoid this make sure to hold your hand very still before, during, and after you’ve pushed that button.
Step 4: Frame it right – get close.
Now that you’ve lit your subject, and you’re holding the camera steady, it’s time to frame the subject correctly. Properly framing a subject can be done in two steps.
Get in close. Fill the frame with the subject. When using your camera phone, you have to overcome less pixels and a lower quality lens. The best way to do this is to get in close; therefore, you’re eliminating a lot of the noise – or distractions – that would fill the frame otherwise.
Consider a crowded boardwalk. You’re trying to photograph your friend, and you’re backed up far enough to fit not only your friend, but also about twenty people gathered around your friend. That’s a lot of focal points in the picture, and your friend gets lost in them. Now if you step closer so that you shoot your friend from the waist up, the focal points drop dramatically, and all the attention is on your friend.
Step 5: Frame it right – Tic-tac-toe
Imagine a tic-tac-toe board on the view finder. There are two parallel horizontal lines, and two parallel vertical lines. Use these as your guide lines. The major elements in your frame should be lined up with the tic-tac-toe board.
Back to your friend on the boardwalk. You’ve positioned it so the sun is behind you and the ocean is behind your friend. You’re in close enough so that your subject is seen from the waist up (or maybe even closer at chest level). Now line the person’s body up with the tic-tac-toe board. Visualize your friend’s body as one of the vertical lines.
This means your friend will be pushed to the side of the frame. This is OKAY. Having the subject in the middle of the frame often leads to a dull photograph!
Now put the horizon on the top horizontal line. And snap the photo!
Step 6: Snap away – it’s digital!
Your first picture might be terrible, but by pic 15 you might be on to something.
In that first picture, your friend blinked. No big deal. The great thing about digital photography is that it’s digital. There are no costs for film or for development. Taking one photo or 100 photos will cost the same.
If your subject blinked, take another picture. But even if your subject didn’t blink, take another picture! Move a little to the left or right, stand on your tip toes or crouch down, do anything to change the framing, and take more pictures.
The theory is that if you take enough, one of the photos is bound to be good. Not to mention the practice you’ll get.
And just as easy as it is to take pictures, it’s as easy to delete them. Don’t be afraid of that delete button. You’ll save a lot of time cycling through those pictures later when you edit them.
Step 7: Edit it. No…seriously.
You took 15 pictures of your friend, and one is good. Now make it shine.
The majority of the time, pictures you take will be immediately sent to friends. This ability is one of the true advantages of a camera phone over a traditional camera. Some camera phones can even do minor edits such as applying a border to a picture or adjusting the brightness. These simple edits are quick and easy. But what if one of those pictures of your friend really stands out? How do you make it shine?
By editing it on your computer with photo editing software.
The editing can be very simple. The old adage “less is more” is true here. Take your photo and apply Color Correction tools to bring out the blue in the water and your friend’s eyes. Go to the Levels option and bring it down to make the picture less “hot” from the mid-day sun. Adjust the brightness.
These edits are quick and easy, and when applied with a discerning eye, will result in dramatic improvements to the photo.
Step 8: Send it. Print it. COMMUNICATE it.
This is what it’s all about.
E-mail that photo to friends, message it to loved ones, post it to social networking or photo sharing sites, or print it out! The photo was taken to be shown, so share it.
The future looks bright for camera phones. With new phones adding ever-more pixels to their images, better lenses, and more features, camera phones will soon rival traditional cameras. And with millions of customers carrying it in their pockets, camera phones are becoming as common as…well, as cell phones.
While we wait for the camera phone technology to match traditional cameras, just follow these 8 steps, and your camera phone photos, though still on the ping-pong table, will be playing at an Olympic level.
