We’ve all been at events where we think to ourselves “it would be great to capture this moment” (to pass along to the This Week team, of course!). 

It turns out there are a few simple tricks you can use to help take great photos with your smartphone. We asked the University’s resident Photographer Joanne Stephan to spill her secrets.

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Getting the basics right

• Clean the lens
  Remember that your smartphone usually doesn’t have a lens cap to protect it from all the forgotten lint in your pocket or fingerprint smudges. This build-up of gunk can lead to hazy images that no amount of post-production editing can fix.

• Forget the flash
  Natural light is always better than artificial, so seek alternative light sources where possible. The light used for your phone’s flash is a small LED and almost always sits extremely close to the lens. This makes for blurry, strangely lit images that can give human subjects the dreaded Red Eye.

• Avoid shooting into the sun
  As painful as it is for the subjects, try to have them looking into the sun. If the camera is facing the sun, it will force the image to be under-exposed or natural highlights will be blown out. Additionally, if the sun is behind the camera, the subject will be illuminated evenly from the front and extremely well lit.

• Never zoom in
  Smartphones rely on ‘digital’ zoom, which increases the size of the image and crops it. But the camera isn’t actually receiving any new information which is why you just end up with a bigger, blurrier shot – it simply spreads out the current pixels. Always chose to move closer to the subject wherever possible.

• Turn your phone on its side
  By capturing images horizontally, you are giving yourself a much bigger frame to work with – instead of forcing everything to fit into narrow confines. Horizontal images are also much more versatile in post-production where you may need to crop the image. Another added benefit of shooting this way is that you are able to use the volume button as the shutter – forcing you to use both hands makes for a much steadier image.

Tips

• Consider the whole picture (what else is in the frame? What are they standing in front of?)
• When taking portraits, aim for the chest of the person to be in the centre of the frame as opposed to their head
• Make sure your phone has enough memory to store your photos
• Taking a range of both staged and candid shots accounts for many uses and platforms

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Don’t forget to send us your pictures when you’re out and about on campus to feature in our monthly Snapped On round up!