I am not an expert nor a professional photographer yet I would like to share some tips and few mistakes we often do while taking a photo with the most common and valuable camera we always have our mobile camera. As the post will be a little bit longer so I kept it two different posts. This will be the first for the two episodes.
Exposure
We always try to make photos brighter while we are taking pictures. But this leads the picture to blow away most of the details. It is always better to take the
photo with a little bit underexposed. You can improve the brightness in the editing after the shots and it will keep the details.
Focus
To me, it is the most important for good image capture. You have to know where to focus. If your mobile camera has an autofocus feature (most of the mobile back camera has) you are lucky. We should use that feature to focus only on the subject which is relevant to you or use the whole area focused on a landscape photo. But do not mix it up with metering. If you tap to focus the subject only, camera software will try to focus and meter the light on that specific area. This can blow away the surroundings. So try to focus the subject but adjust the metering according to the darker objects nearer to you or reduce the light.
Few LG phones have a focus peeping mood which will light the subject which is in the perfect focus. But most of the cases you have to rely on your eyes to make sure you are not missing the focus.
Avoiding Flash
We try to light up the picture while it is dark Same mistake like exposure, we try to light up the object as much as possible. But thus we blow away the object. Use the night mood of longer exposure time. Try to be creative to use light from surrounding sources.
Bokeh mood
Now a days most of the phone have software blur or bokeh mood. This is good if your subject is bigger (like a person) where you cannot go close enough to get the lens bokeh. But usually those software bokeh are not perfect so they miss out the edge quite often. So avoid using software blur in a macro shot like taking pictures of a flower or a smaller object. Go closure to the subject and it will create the shallow depth of field in the background if you focus perfectly.
Use of ISO
To get bright picture mobile software often compensate with higher ISO which eventually gives you a bright but granny picture. Sometimes a granny picture is totally useless and even more after posting in the social media (they usually downgrade the photo). So it is always better to use low ISO and compensate with other countermeasures like shutter speed and aperture. But except Samsung camera (S9 and S10) no mobile camera have the aperture control. So better to try with shutter speed if your mobile has a manual mood.
Tackling with shutter speed control
Recently mobile companies are giving users to have control over the shutter speed. But people are afraid to use it as long shutter speed can result in a blurry shot. So before using it make sure your hand does not tremble. Using a tripod or a gimbal will help to stabilize your shot.
