Taking Better Photographs With a Phone

TECH · UNITED KINGDOM

Taking Better Photographs With a Phone

Light and composition, the lenses you have, portrait and night modes, and editing

Phone cameras are limited by physics and rescued by software, and the biggest improvements are free.

Light does most of it

A small sensor needs light. Photographs taken near a window, in shade rather than direct midday sun, or in the hour after sunrise and before sunset look better for reasons no setting can replicate.

Avoid the flash for people, since it flattens faces and produces harsh shadows. Turning on a nearby lamp does more.

Use the main camera

The main lens has the largest sensor and the best results. Ultrawide and macro lenses are usually much smaller sensors, and digital zoom beyond the optical range simply crops the image.

Moving closer beats zooming, and a small step to the side frequently fixes a cluttered background.

Composition

Turn on the grid. Put the subject off centre, watch the background before pressing the button, and keep horizons level. Get lower for children and pets so the camera is at their eye level.

Portrait and night modes

Portrait mode estimates depth and blurs the background, and it struggles with hair, glasses and complex edges. Night mode takes several exposures over seconds, so hold still and rest the phone on something.

Editing

Small adjustments to exposure, contrast and straightening do more than filters. Crop deliberately rather than shooting loose and hoping.

Keeping a phone longer

Check how many years of security updates a model will receive, since that determines how long it is safe to use. A case, a screen protector and a battery replacement at around three years extend a phone considerably.

Heat degrades batteries fastest, so avoid charging in direct sun or under a pillow.

Storage

Photographs fill a phone quickly. Back up to two places and clear duplicates and screenshots periodically.

Setting up a new phone

Go through the privacy settings rather than accepting defaults, remove preinstalled apps you did not ask for, and set up two-factor authentication on the main account. Review app permissions periodically.

Transfer photographs and messages using the manufacturer's tool rather than manually, which loses metadata.

Buying

Check the phone supports your network's bands and VoLTE, particularly on an imported handset, since a phone that has data but cannot make calls is a common trap.

Printing photographs

A phone holds thousands of images that nobody looks at. Printing a handful each year, or making a photo book, is what turns them into something used rather than stored.

Check the resolution before ordering anything large, since a heavily cropped image prints poorly.

Storage and backups

Photographs are the one irreplaceable thing on a phone. Back them up to two places, and print the ones that matter.

Clean the lens, which is covered in fingerprints.

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