Smartphones have become the go-to device for photography today. Around the world, people are capturing an incredible number of pictures; as per Photutorial data1, 1.2 trillion pictures were taken worldwide in 2021. The number is expected to reach 1.72 trillion in 2022 and over 2 trillion by 2025. Interestingly, 92.5% of photos are taken with smartphones1. After all, smartphones bring out the best photographers in all of us. It allows us to quickly improvise our skills, and today phone cameras come with so many features, that all we need to do is point it at the subject and press the button.
With World Photography Day just around the corner (19 August to be precise), we have for you some some clever tips and tricks to hone our photography skills to get the best out of your smartphone camera:
1) Get to know your smartphone camera- the first step is to acquaint yourself with your smartphone camera. Does it have manual settings, if yes, explore those too. Pay attention to features such as focus and exposure. Click pictures using different settings and scrutinize the difference. Today many phones are capable of shooting even 8K video, while 4K or UHD has become pretty common. Higher resolution means more pixels in your video, so better detail and sharpness. You should use super-fast microSD cards such as SanDisk Extreme microSD card. Also, the best way to get to know your phone camera is to click a lot of pictures. The more pictures you click using different settings the better you get at using the one that works the best in different lights and situations. Don't restrict yourself to one setting, explore all of them.
2) Explore Natural lights– Try and click outdoors in natural lights. You will find the pictures clicked outdoor are vastly different and richer than the ones clicked indoors. The important point to notice is that the lighting doesn't only define the brightness and the exposure of your pictures, but it also defines the tone and the mood of the photo. Also, if possible, make sure that your subjects should be well-lit from the front and not silhouetted by a strong light from behind.
3) Enough Storage– You definitely wouldn't want a situation where you are in the middle of clicking some of the best pictures and your smartphone screen lights up with a "no more storage" message. We shouldn't be forced to delete pictures from our phones to click new ones. Our pictures are our memories, and we should be able to retain these. There are plenty of storage solutions available today, such as SanDisk Extreme® microSD card that offers up to 1TB1 of capacity and is Ideal for recording outdoor adventures, weekend trips, or sporting events without skipping frames. Other options include SanDisk Ultra® Dual Drive USB Type-CTM that easily frees up space on your smartphone and transfer content between compatible devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops. The rugged SanDisk®Extreme Portable SSD is also another good option that you can directly connect to your phones and save your memories on this on-the-go storage solutions.
4) Steady shot – Smallest of the movements can ruin your picture, therefore, it is extremely important to steady your smartphone. You can support it with a steady object, for example, try propping it on a wall, rock, or branch, etc. You can also buy a small, inexpensive tripod specially designed for smartphones. Steading your shot is even more important in low light, as exposure times will be longer
5) Try Editing – There are a lot of editing apps available today, many of these are even free- at least the basic functions are free. Don't limit your exposure to using only the edit options offered by your smartphones. Use these edit apps to add more elements such as depth, tone, and mood to your pictures. Many apps also offer just a "one-touch" fix, that will make a spectacular change in your picture with almost no effort from you.
The bottom line is to keep clicking to become a better photographer and always be armed with the right storage so that you can keep making memories without worrying about deleting any.
