The top tips to help you take better pictures with your smartphone

We all carry around a smartphone which have also become our go to camera to snap our everyday pictures and selfies. Here are some tips to help you take better photos with your mobile.

There aren’t many people who carry around a dedicated digital camera AND their smartphone.

So if there’s anything we ever want to shoot our phone is the first thing we reach for.

The good news is cameras on smartphones are better than ever and they can produce some amazing pictures.

But there are also some common mistakes people make when trying to frame a good photo with their smartphone.

Here are the top tips to help you take amazing pictures with your phone.

USE NATURAL LIGHT

Any photographer will tell you, natural light is the best light you can have for your pictures.

Even after dark you can take advantage of ambient light sources to make your pictures even better.

Most smartphone cameras allow you to adjust the exposure and brightness by touching different parts of the screen.

In most cases, a slider will appear for you to make the photo brighter or darker.

FIND A DIFFERENT ANGLE

The advantage of taking a photo with a phone is it’s small and portable and easy to position to get a different angle on a shot.

You can create different illusions of size, length and depth with your pictures just by shifting the angle that you take your photograph.

KEEP IT STEADY

Most phone cameras have optical image stabilisation (OIS) so that can take the shakes out of your images.

But sometimes, especially shooting in low light, you will need more than just a steady hand.

Small tripods are fairly common and cheap and can fit in your pocket and be at the ready if you ever need to take a stable shot or video.

But also take a look around you for objects that can be used to stabilize your phone like posts, fences and other flat surfaces.

USE THE PHYSICAL SHUTTER BUTTON

Most phone photographers don’t realise their device has a physical shutter button that can make it a lot easier than trying to reach for the on-screen button when taking a picture.

The volume keys on iPhones and Android devices also double as the shutter key so you can hold the phone in the same way you hold a camera when framing your image.

TAKE A BURST

Most modern smartphones have burst mode where keeping the shutter button depressed captures multiple images in a split second.

This can come in handy when trying to photograph moving objects.

You can then go back and choose the best frame and delete the ones you don’t need.

DON’T ZOOM

One of the most common mistakes smartphone photographers make is trying to zoom in to far on their subject.

This will reduce the quality of your image and produce average results.

The simple answer to this is getting up and moving closer to your subject.

Remember, you’re not using a DSLR with a large lens, so don’t be afraid to get up close and personal.

KEEP THE LENS CLEAN

We use our smartphones every day so it is not uncommon for our camera lens to get a little dirty with dust and lint or covered with fingerprints.

The first thing to do before you take your shot is to give the lens a clean to give yourself the best chance of capturing a nice picture.

USE A DIFFERENT CAMERA APP

You don’t have to stick to the default app on your smartphone to take your photos.

There are plenty of third-party apps that offer different photography styles and control over how you take your photos.

EDIT YOUR IMAGES

After you press the shutter that doesn’t have to be the end of the photography process.

Don’t be afraid to use your device’s built-in editing tools to crop and enhance your picture.

There are lots of apps that can really pump up the colours and quality of your photos.

Many of the popular social media apps offer a number of filters you can apply to trick up your image.

You’ll be surprised how much better you can make a photograph with just a little editing.