Before the days of smartphones — if y'all can remember such a time — taking a great photo was a labor-intensive process. You lot'd have to buy a fancy camera and editing software for your desktop computer, and invest some serious fourth dimension and energy into learning how to use them.

But, cheers to our mobile devices and the editing apps that come with them, we can now take high-quality photos and edit them without too many bells and whistles — all from the same device that we apply to brand calls. Download Now: The Marketer's Guide to Photoshop

Brands are communicable on, too — these kinds of visuals remain important to marketing. But make no error: Taking a great photo on your smartphone is not as simple as pointing and shooting. There are plenty of bad smartphone photos out there — I'm sure you've seen at least a few.

What's the secret to taking swell pictures with your smartphone, then? As it turns out, there are a few of them. Check out these tips below to improve your smartphone photography game. (And once y'all have the photograph-taking part downwardly, check out some of the best photo editing apps for mobile.)

How to Have Proficient Photos With Your Telephone: 25 Tips & Tricks

i. Use gridlines to residue your shot.

1 of the easiest and best ways to better your mobile photos is to turn on the camera's gridlines. That superimposes a serial of lines on the screen of your smartphone's camera that are based on the "rule of thirds" — a photographic composition principle that says an prototype should be broken down into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, and so you have nine parts in total.

According to this theory, if you place points of involvement in these intersections or along the lines, your photo will exist more than balanced, level, and allow viewers to collaborate with information technology more naturally.

rule-of-thirds.jpg

Source: Digital Photography Schoolhouse

To switch the grid on ...

  • iPhone: Get to "Settings," choose "Photos & Camera," and switch "Grid" on.
  • Samsung Galaxy: Launch the camera app, go to "Settings," scroll downwards and switch the "grid lines" option to "on."

gridlines.jpg

Source: Lynda.com

2. Gear up your camera's focus.

Today's phone cameras automatically focus on the foreground of your frame, but not every picture y'all take on your phone has an obvious subject. To suit where you lot want your camera lens to focus, open up your camera app and tap the screen where you want to sharpen the view.

If you lot're taking a photograph of something in movement, for case, it can exist difficult for your camera to follow this subject and refocus equally needed. Tap the screen to correct your telephone camera's focus just before snapping the picture to ensure the moving subject has every bit much focus as possible. A square or round icon should and so appear on your camera screen, shifting the focus of your shot to all of the content inside that icon.

iii. Focus on one subject.

Many of the all-time photos include only one, interesting subject. Then when taking a moving picture of one, spend some extra time setting up the shot. Some professional photographers say that the bailiwick shouldn't fill up the entire frame, and that two-thirds of the photo should be negative space — that helps the subject stand out fifty-fifty more.

But be sure y'all tap the screen of your smartphone to focus the camera on your subject area — that'll aid to ensure that it'due south focused and the lighting is optimized.

Pro Tip: Once you've taken your photograph, y'all can use filters and apps to make the subject even more vivid, or to ingather information technology to frame the subject correctly. The brightness, dissimilarity, and saturation of the photo tin can too be adjusted accordingly — all from your phone.

@aguynamedpatrick instagram picture of himself in mirror holding a phone taking a picture of himself

Source: Patrick Janelle

4. Encompass negative space.

"Negative space" just refers to the areas effectually and between the subjects of an image — and it can take a photograph from "skilful" to "great."

When you include a lot of empty space in a photo, your subject field will stand up out more and evoke a stronger reaction from your viewer. And what does negative space looks like? It's frequently a big area of open sky, an empty field, a big wall, or water, as in the example below.

eric christian in front of an ocean on instagram

Source: Eric Christian

5. Find different perspectives.

Taking photos from a unique, unexpected angle can brand them more memorable — it tends to create an illusion of depth or summit with the subjects. It also makes the prototype stand out, since most mobile photos are taken either directly -on or from a bird's heart view.

Try taking a photo directly upward and playing with the sky every bit negative infinite, like in the start photo below. Or, you tin endeavour taking information technology at a slight downward angle.

Pro Tip: If you lot take a photograph and detect the perspective is a little askew or tilted, apply the SKRWT photograph editing app to make the lines look clean and square.

bookshelf-perspective.png

Source: iPhone Photography School; Paul Octavious

half dozen. Play with reflections.

There's something so idyllic about seeing the sky reflected in a torso of water. In that location'southward a reason why we love seeing that — our eyes are drawn to reflections. So look for opportunities to play with them in photos.

There are enough of out-of-the-box places to find reflections — puddles, larger bodies of water, mirrors, sunglasses, drinking glasses, and metallic surfaces are just a few.

capture-reflections.png

Source: Joshua Lott

7. Use leading lines.

In some photos, there'due south a line that draws the viewer's center toward a certain part of the frame. Those are called leading lines. They can be straight or circulinear — think staircases, building facades, train tracks, roads, or even a path through the woods.

Leading lines are dandy for creating a sense of depth in an prototype, and can make your photo look purposefully designed — fifty-fifty if you just happened to come upon a actually cool shape by accident.

leading-lines-path.png

Source: Carlos Copertone

8. Look for symmetry.

Symmetry can be divers as "a vague sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and residue." And pictures that incorporate symmetry can exist incredibly pleasing to the eye — it's too one of the simplest and almost compelling ways to etch a photograph.

In photography, symmetry usually means creating an prototype that can be divided into two equal parts that are mirror images of each other. That's a bit different than reflections — symmetry tin exist found "in the wild," as per the staircase picture, or you can ready your photo appropriately, like photographer Eric Christian did in the first photo below.

And remember — utilise those gridlines from tip #1 to line everything up perfectly.

symmetry.png

Source: Eric Christian

9. Proceed an eye out for repetitive patterns.

Repetitive patterns are very pleasing to the middle — they appear whenever stiff graphic elements are repeated over and over again, like lines, geometric shapes, forms, and colors. These patterns tin make a strong visual impact, and photographing something like a cute, tiled floor can exist enough to create a striking prototype. Other times, it'due south more fun to proceed an center out for where they appear naturally or unintentionally, like with the congruent fire escapes on the left.

soup-pattern.png

Source: Patrick Janelle

ten. Play around with color blocking.

Isn't information technology cool when an entire photo is black and white, except for a unmarried object? Information technology turns out that aye, indeed, there are apps for that. I of our favorites is Touch Color — an app that automatically converts a film to grayscale and lets y'all make full in the parts you lot want to colorize.

Colour blocking can help to highlight the elements of a photograph that you want to stand out, like a plant or something else with a assuming hue. Information technology achieves a similar goal as negative space, in that it can assistance a single subject stand out — but with colour blocking, the photo's other elements remain intact for a cohesive image.

Grayscaled photo taken on mobile camera with color blocking to reveal purple flower in woman's hand

Source: Coloring Pages

xi. Avert zooming in.

When you have a photo from a altitude, information technology'southward tempting to zoom in on something specific yous're trying to capture. Simply it's actually better not to zoom in — doing then tin can make the photo appear grainy, blurry, or pixelated.

Instead, try to get closer to your subject — unless it's a wild creature, in which case nosotros would advise keeping your altitude — or take the photo from a default altitude, and crop it later on. That way, you lot won't compromise quality, and it's easier to play around or optimize a larger image.

crop-photo-1.jpg

Source: Obama Pacman

12. Capture small details.

You lot may have heard the phrase, "It'due south the petty things." Sometimes, that besides applies to photos. Close-upwards images that capture pocket-size, intricate, and delicate details can make for really compelling visual content. Keep an eye out for textures and patterns like peeling paint, a gravel road, or a tile tabletop.

Pro Tip: Use the "sharpen" tool in your favorite photograph editing app to (conservatively) acuminate the details of your photograph. Yous might also download the Camera+ app and utilise its Clarity filter, which is what The Wall Street Journal's Kevin Sintumuang calls the app'due south "secret sauce — it adds pro-photographic camera crispness to almost whatsoever shot."

tile-patterns.png

Source: Eric Christian

xiii. Use natural light.

It's hard to find a keen smartphone photo that was taken with a wink. Most of the time, they make a photograph expect overexposed, negatively altering colors and making man subjects wait done out. In fact, even the iPhone 7'south flash is rumored to have some flaws.

Take advantage of the sources of natural light you can observe, even later on dark. This gives you a take chances to play with shadows, like in the 2nd image below, or create a silhouette with other ambient sources of light, like traffic and surrounding buildings.

One time yous've taken the photo, play with the "Exposure" tool in your favorite photograph editing app to run across if you can make the image slightly brighter, without making it as well grainy.

no-flash-flower.png

Source: Paul Octavious

14. If you use wink, only exercise so during the day.

Sometimes, using your photographic camera's wink can improve a photo — but rarely does information technology do so at dark. Because dark shots reveal a much sharper dissimilarity against your phone'south wink, it can make any flash look look invasive and uneven

In already well-lit spaces, withal, a flash tin help to soften some dark shadows behind or below your main subject.

When framing your side by side shot, look on the ground or confronting vertical surfaces for whatever night shadows y'all might want to remove. If you run into any, flip on the flash manually in your photographic camera app. Setting your phone's camera wink to "auto" won't guarantee that your phone volition notice the shadows you want to get rid of. Simply remember to turn the flash off once again when you're done.

Consider the importance of flash for enhancing or hiding certain lines and features the next fourth dimension you're shooting product photography.

fifteen. Consider ownership a mobile tripod.

Although mobile devices brand information technology piece of cake to snap any photo on the go, there'south never been an piece of cake way to ensure the shot stays level and balanced when you shoot — especially if you want to be in the motion-picture show and not just have a typical selfie with your extended arm.

Mobile tripods give you the freedom to mountain your smartphone for quick hands-gratis shots without lugging whatever heavy equipment with you. Most mobile tripods are barely bigger than your mobile device, and can bend to whatsoever angle. Check out one of them from Joby, above, and acquire how these miniature tripods tin help enhance your mobile video experience below.

16. Set up your camera app's exposure manually.

Some other mobile camera characteristic you'll want to ready manually is your exposure. Tapping your screen when your phone'south camera is on doesn't just refocus the lens on a new discipline — it also automatically adjusts how much light the camera lets in. This, too, won't always look just correct. It's all-time to accommodate it by hand.

To change your mobile camera'due south exposure by hand, open your camera app and tap the screen. When you lot see the lens refocus, y'all'll see a very modest sunday icon and a vertical scale. Slowly swipe your finger up and downwardly this calibration to adjust the calorie-free level.

17. Create abstracts.

Abstruse photos are meant to capture the essence of an object, or a serial of them, without revealing the entire mural as a whole. In other words, they serve the purpose of creating unique, surprising images from ordinary subjects.

This look can exist achieved by cropping an abstruse portion of an otherwise normal photo, or by taking close-up shots of objects that leave the viewer wondering — in admiration, of course — what the subject might exist. And subjects with patterns or repetition are groovy candidates for abstruse photography, like in the photo of sliced figs below.

abstract-architecture.jpg

Source: iPhone Photography School

18. Take candids.

Posed photos can be groovy for the sake of memories — happy moments with friends, family, or the occasional run-in with a celebrity. But sometimes, candid shots of people doing things, or people with people, can be far more interesting.

That'due south because candid photos are better able to finer capture the emotion and essence of a moment. One of the best ways to capture this kind of shot is to just have as many photos as possible. Y'all'll take more to choose from, and the best photos oft happen when the "stars align," then to speak, in a unmarried moment — everyone's optics are open, one person is tilting their head simply so, and yous finally got a shot of your chronically closed-lip friend grin with his teeth.

eating-candid.png

Source: Patrick Janelle

19. Exist non-conventional.

Limerick is a huge part of what makes a photograph swell, simply so is the photo'southward discipline. Some of the near delightful and remarkable photos come out of cool, unique ideas. Images are more than effective than text at evoking emotion from your viewers — that often means getting your photos to say something.

Effort thinking exterior of the box when it comes to what you're capturing — your viewers could be pleasantly surprised by a cool or unexpected subject.

leaf-dog-constellation.png

Source: Paul Octavious

20. Brand 'em laugh.

Speaking of evoking emotion, sometimes the nigh memorable photos are the ones that make the states giggle. The image below of an older woman wearing a brightly-colored shirt stating "Howdy hater" is funny considering it's unexpected — and there'south a role of us that admires her, besides. The 2nd paradigm of the canis familiaris toy on a dinner plate pokes fun at classic Instagram food shots, but it's from a domestic dog'southward perspective. If you can make your audience laugh, they're likely to savour your photo.

pug-eating-toy.png

Source: Jeremy Veach

21. Make clean your phone's lens.

A smartphone photographic camera might be more convenient to acquit around than a full-fledged photojournalist'due south camera, but it comes at the cost of protection.

Your phone is usually in your pocket or your bag when you're out of the firm. All the while, the device's camera lens is collecting all kinds of dust and lint. Be sure to clean this lens with a soft handkerchief before taking a photo. You might not be able to tell just how muddied the lens was until you beginning editing your picture, and making sure the lens is crystal clear earlier taking a shot can go on you from starting from scratch.

22. Attach an external lens.

Want to get really fancy? External lenses are for y'all. There are really several out at that place that tin be attached to the peak of your smartphone's native camera lens — from fish-middle to wide-angle lenses, these add-ons tin bring an entirely new quality and perspective to your photos.

According to Wirecutter, the best camera lenses for iPhone photography are made by Moment, a manufacturer of mobile lenses. Start there, or do some research to find the lens add together-ons that fit your smartphone photography needs.

Horses looking into fisheye external lens attached to phone camera

Source: MobileFun.co.britain

23. Don't be agape to edit.

Composing and taking your smartphone photo is just the showtime step to making it visually compelling. Editing your photos is the side by side step — and a very disquisitional one, at that. Filters tin be a valuable photographic tool, particularly when it comes to ii goals: 1) Removing blemishes from a pic, and 2) making food look fifty-fifty more succulent.

For the beginning, InStyle mag compiled a fun list of "The Best Instagram Filters for Every Dazzler Complaint" — and now, the iPhone photos app offers many similar filters. There are too apps like Pho.to, which can automatically retouch facial photos without a lot of piece of work. And when it comes to those photos of your daily meals? One of the latest apps available is Foodie, which comes with its own set of filters optimized for different types of food.

Merely at that place are many other dandy photo and video editing apps out there for mobile devices — check out this post to run across some of the best ones out there.

51b3f40f.png

Source: LINE Corp.

Desire more tips on creating visual content? Check out these examples of explainer videos.

Editor's annotation: This mail service was originally published in November 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Marketer's Guide to Photoshop

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Originally published Oct 19, 2020 vii:00:00 AM, updated Oct 26 2020