Not everyone has access to a digital camera, and if they do they might not always have it with them. Luckily today’s lineup to cellphones from the likes of Apple, Samsung and Google have some high performance cameras with pixels your 2007 Canon Powershot would envy. No matter how good the cameras are on smartphones, you need to keep in mind digital cameras also keep advancing. If you’re trying to grow your account and are going to rely on smartphone photography to generate your Instagram content, other than a good quality phone you need to make sure you have the right tools in place to get the best images possible. Here’s some smartphone photography tips and tricks to get your content looking top quality and ready for Instagram!
Good Lighting
It goes to say that with capturing any image you need good lighting, but it’s especially important when using your smartphone camera. Things like aperture limitations and lack of manual features on your phone’s camera are the reasons why good lighting make a difference in your picture. We recommend using natural sunlight but that can limit when and where you take your pictures. You can actually get studio quality lighting for a pretty affordable price on places like Amazon or Aliexpress.
Tripod
A classic photography tool, tripods are key for taking a clear and crisp image. Although they are usually used for portrait and landscape photography, you can also use them for things like flat lays, self-portraits and so many other types of content for your Instagram. You can go with a table-top smartphone tripod, or purchase a professional quality tripod with a smartphone attachment. Regardless of what you decided to use, you’ll find adding the touch of stability to your smartphone will give you a great quality image.
Smartphone Lenses
Another photography tool that has expanded to smartphones are lenses. These mini versions of camera quality lenses come in a variety of types from macro lenses to wide-range and even fish eye lenses, and range from dollar-store to professional quality. You’d be surprised how mighty and powerful these tiny lenses can be, and the impact they can have on your content.
Use Editing Apps
A raw image is always nice but a few small edits can go a long way to changing the tone of an image. If you’re unhappy with small things like lighting or some tones in your image editing them with the wide range of apps available can take a dull average image and make it stand out from the rest! Our only advice is try not to over edit your image with things like contrast and exposure, or use too many different editors as you’ll begin to lose overall quality in your image. VSCO is probably the best place to start editing your mobile photography!
Don’t Zoom In
A big mistake people make when taking images with their smartphones is zooming in. Unlike a lense on a film or DSLR camera, the camera on your phone uses digital zoom instead of a physical zooming by a lense. This means the image is digitally altered to get in close rather than having the image magnified before being captured by mirrors. Zooming in with your smartphone drastically cuts the quality of your image significantly no matter how good smartphones these days are.
Stay tuned to the blog for more Smartphone Photography Tips!
