It's often said that the best camera is the one that you have with you. These days, for most of us, that means the phone that's in our pockets or purses. They do have limitations, such as small sensor size, small screen size for editing, the lack of control over the cameras settings and the standard wide angle lens. But they are convenient, and can be used to make great images. The software built into the phone is amazingly good at noise management, exposure adjustments, creating HDR images, creating panoramic images, and there are apps that let you go deeper.
The real reason phone cameras can make great images has nothing to do with the camera. Great images are made by the photographer, just like great sculpture is not made by the sculpting tools but by the artist wielding those tools. Moreover, the photographer can use the digital darkroom to finalize their vision for the image, just as Ansel Adams did in the chemical darkroom. So it's not the tools, but how you use them.
The key is to go beyond just pointing and shooting. It's all about creative choices when you first record the image, and then when you edit that image. When photographing, those choices include how to use the light, the distance to your subjects, your point of view, the orientation of your phone to name just a few. Your subjects should be in the brightest light in the scene and all in the same light. Most phone cameras set the exposure for the brightest part of the image. So if your indoors, and position people in front of a window, then what you see through the window will look good, but the people will be dark. If you have one person in the shade and one in the sunlight, then the one in the shade will look very dark. Most phone cameras have a wide angle lens, which will often include a lot of extraneous stuff in the photo. So move closer to your subjects or zoom in. Try changing the angle of view. Getting above or below your subject, or repositioning your subject will often make a more interesting photo. And finally, orient the phone vertically or horizontally as most appropriate for your subject. People, trees, flowers, and a lot of subjects are inherently vertically, so orient the phone vertically. Scenic photos are often best made with the phone in the horizontal position. So try thinking, even for a few seconds, about what you want your photo to look like, make some adjustments, and then point and shoot.
And all digital images should be edited, otherwise, they'll look kind of boring. You can and should first edit them in the phone. Try adjusting exposure (brightness), contrast and saturation. It will just take a few seconds to make a much more appealing photo that looks better on your phone screen and when you export it to share with others. I always first edit on the phone, and then export the file so I can use Photoshop for more a more extensive edit.
Below are some examples of photos I recently made on my phone (or my wife's phone) and then edited.
The photos above were made while walking on a beach on the Oregon Coast late in the afternoon. The image on the left is straight out of the iPhone. I just pointed the phone, repositioned myself to get the best clouds, the S-curve in the water on the beach, and the reflection. Then made the photo and emailed it to myself. The one on the right was edited in the phone. I decreased exposure to darken it, increased contrast and saturation to make it pop. Then emailed the photo to myself. Amazing the how much better the edited version is.
The images above were made at Sares Head on Fidalgo Island, which overlooks the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Some of my favorite photos are made on days with dramatic weather like this. The first shot is straight from my iPhone with no editing. As you can see, it's ok, but a bit flat and drab. The second photo is result of a quick edit on my iPhone. I decreased exposure (darker), increased contrast and saturation to make the image pop. It's quite an improvement over the first, unedited image, and only took a few seconds to do.
The third image is the result of editing in Photoshop using the large screen connected to my computer. Photoshop enables you to be more precise and localized in your adjustments, such as bringing out the yellow in the sky under the clouds, and to removing unwanted junk like the bit of vegetation protruding into the photo from the bottom. I think this final image is really good. You can use just about any image editing software to achieve the same without extensive knowledge of the software.
So go make some photos with your phone, edit them, and email them to me at mark@photoartbymg.com. Good luck!
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