Photo Credit: Pixabay
Photo Credit: Pixabay

To take beautiful pictures you used to need a top-of-the-range camera. But these days smartphones phones are coming equipped with multiple, powerful lenses and a bundle of features. But how can you make the most of this new technology?

Whether you want to shine on Instagram or just take magical family photos, we asked experts for their tips.

Know your phone. The latest smartphones come with their own editing tools and a bucketload of manual modes. While you can take great photos in automatic, your photos will get more notice if you do something different. Get testing beyond the ‘selfie’ mode, with gridlines, aperture or low light settings to take your skills to the next level.

The power of zoom. Gone are the days of pixelated close ups. With the latest tech allowing up to 5x zoom, you can get close in for accurate detail without losing quality. It doesn’t stop there either. Some new phones even allow you to ‘zoom out’ on a shot. Doesn’t sound impressive? What it really means is that you can get a much wider angle without having to physically move backwards. Features like this are going to give you the creative edge, as Marcus Bronzy and Dev Griffin discovered as they put a new phone through its paces in New phone, who dis?

Customise lighting. Lighting is so essential to photography, but it’s easy to overlook. Bal Bhatla is a professional photographer who hits the city at night-time and plays with light to get spectacular results. His low light photography style stands out through a unique light blur effect. If portraits are your thing, increase shutter speed when you have a good light source for stunning portraits.

Focus on the background. It may be the last thing you consider when taking a picture, but backgrounds (or ‘negative space’) are just as important as the focus of the photo. Go-to grime music photographer Vicky Grout agrees. “If the background isn’t done right, you can ruin the image. You don’t want a background that’s too cluttered or noisy. Sometimes I can spend a long time getting the background right for a portrait.” Alternatively, you can blur out the background to focus on the foreground – which is done by using a wide aperture or low f-stop number.

Keep things on the level. Unless you’re purposely going for an artistic angle on your pictures, for a professional finish it’s really important to make sure that your image lines up with the horizon. There are two ways you can achieve this. Some new phones will have an electro-level meter – this is a line that will turn green when your picture is level. The alternative is to always take pictures with an overlay grid. This will also help you to create more interesting compositions.

Experiment with new angles and leading lines. How can you take a picture of a London landmark like St Paul’s but make it feel new? Angles and perspective maestro Neil Andrews says it’s all about finding a fresh approach. "I’m always looking for interesting lines. The lines of a shot can draw the viewer in. For example, when I walk along a canal, the canal’s drawing me in, the towpath’s drawing me in. That way of directing the viewer’s gaze is how you tell a story with a picture. That gives you the perspective. It gives you a certain amount of depth to your shot as well." Keep experimenting, looking for lines and taking the shot from many different angles. The beauty of today’s cameras is you can take as many shots as you like and just delete the ones that don’t work.

For some thought starters and practical tips, check out tutorial series O2 Sessions.


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