Travel & Adventure Photography School
Today, we are talking about a type of photography nearly everyone has tried, phone photography. Most people know this by now, you don’t necessarily need to have another camera with you as you can produce some pretty stunning results simply by using the phone you already have. In a lot of cases for those of us who are hiking or traveling, it’s awesome to have such a highly powered camera that fits in a pocket and doesn’t weigh 10 or more pounds.
But too often I see great photographers who take terrible pictures with their phones and simply people who don’t know how to get the most out of this amazing device. So we are going to offer 8 tips to greatly improve your phone photography.
Tip #1 - Shoot in RAW
Most phones today have the ability to shoot in RAW. On some, this can be accessed through the native camera app. On others - like the iPhone 11, you have to use a third party camera app. RAW opens up a whole new world of editing options that simply aren’t there if you are shooting in any other format.
Tip #2 - Stay away from digital zoom.
There are many many phones that claim to have massive zoom ranges because of their digital zoom capabilities. But digital zoom is terrible. Even with the advent of computational photography, phones just can’t compare to actual optics.
Digital zoom happens whenever your phone leaves the available focal length of your optical zoom. It works like when you crop in on a photo in an editing program. It’s essentially enlarging your image. Digital zooming increases the pixel size, decreases resolution and decreases the image quality.
Tip #3 - Don’t use in-phone filters.
Most phones will give you the option to shoot with a filter enabled, like adding extra warmth or enhancing vibrancy. There are many reasons you don’t want to do this, but I’m going to give you two.
Firstly, this takes away your ability to edit the image. Secondly, phones overdo nearly every automatic editing process. So just do it yourself in post when you have a lot more control.
Tip #4 - Get an app that lets you shoot in manual mode.
Some phones will let you shoot in manual by digging into the settings of the native camera app, others force you to download a third party app to do this. But it is so well worth it. Just like on a bigger camera, get out of auto mode.
Tip #5 - Use an App You Love
This may take some trial and error to find the right one that fits your style. But there are many many different types of third party camera apps available on the market for both Android and iPhone. It is worth looking into the ones that allow you to shoot in RAW and in manual mode to find one that suits you.
Tip #6 - Brace yourself and stabilize that phone
So often I see people holding their phone out at arm’s length and putting themselves in unstable positions and trying to take photos.
Treat your phone like you would a big camera and brace it properly. Hold it close to your body, hold it with two hands, rest your arms or the phone down on a solid surface. Do what you can to reduce the shake you will put through the phone.
Tip #7 - Accessorize
Get a tripod. This lets y
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Find all the show notes and connect with Robert:
Website: robertmasseyphotography.ca
Instagram: @robertmasseyphotography