World-famous photographer Chase Jarvis says the best camera is the one you have with you. According to the Pew Research Center, 90% of Americans carry smartphones, which means each of us likely has that best camera right in our pocket, bag, or sitting close by. While we here at BoomerTECH Adventures are often asked which smartphone camera is the best, it really does come down to what you have with you right now. Although we are iPhone users, here are five quick tips for making the best use of your camera regardless of which brand of cellphone you are carrying.
Tip #1
Always make sure your camera’s lens is clean and free of dust and smudges. I remember when BTA Guide Ed Brazee couldn’t figure out why his iPhone camera wouldn’t focus correctly. No matter what he did his pictures and videos came out fuzzy and hard to see. All three BTA Guides tried everything from changing settings, soft and hard resets, editing the images, and even downloading third party cameras and software to figure out a solution. It wasn’t until Ed wiped the lens with a microfiber cloth that it became “clear” what the problem was. A couple swipes cleaned the lens and quality of his photography skills returned to their former high levels. As always, be sure to use a soft clean cloth, cotton swabs, or disposable wipes to clean the lenses of your phone’s camera. Do not drip or spray any liquid directly on your phone or lens when cleaning, and avoid any use of abrasives to remove dried on oils or smudges. Just lightly dampen the cloth cloth and gently rub until it’s clean. You can also find lens covers and cases for protection.
Tip#2
Make good use of light. Whenever possible make use of natural or ambient lighting. That means shooting outdoors during the day, near windows, or turning on multiple lights if you’re indoors or even outdoors when the sun is not out. If at all possible try to avoid depending on your camera’s built in flash. The light from cellphone cameras is often inadequate especially from a distance of more than a dozen feet away. Light can be the wrong color, or too harsh, creating deep shadows in the image. If you’re in a pinch for lighting and you’re in a group, ask your friends to pull out their phones and use their flashlights or bright screens as additional light sources. You can even look for specific colors on line, show them on the screen, and use them for customized lighting. Of course your friends may not be able to be in the picture unless you have a way to place and support the lights without them. Whenever possible, position yourself and your subject so that the light source is slightly above and in front of them, rather than silhouetting them from behind as you shoot the picture.
Tip#3
Enable High Dynamic Range (HDR) on your camera settings when taking landscapes or other still images, especially where there are bright lights and dark shadows in the frame. This may be outdoors in bright sunlight or deep shade, or indoors where light from windows, lamps, or flames cast sharp shadows. Here’s how it works. When HDR is turned on, the camera automatically takes multiple shots with a variety of exposure settings. Then the software digitally combines the range of exposures into a single image, hopefully creating a picture that shows both light and shadows accurately. Here are some cautionary things to note regarding HDR. The process of taking multiple images take longer than simply snapping a single picture. This means HDR doesn’t capture and freeze movement well. If the camera or the subject moves part or all of the image will be blurred. HDR images do take up more memory on your phone than regular photographs so you will want to delete any images you don’t want to keep. BTA recommends keeping HDR off unless it’s needed. Just a quick note, the new iPhone 12 can capture video in HDR!
Tip#4
Use the burst mode, or continuous shooting mode, on your camera for capturing movement. You can capture and freeze people engaged in sports, birds in flight, waves in motion or anything involving motion. Best of all, you can search through and select the perfect image while discarding all unwanted images. Burst mode is activated by simply pressing and holding your finger on the shutter button on most cellphone cameras. This will cause your camera to take a dozen or more shots every second the button is pressed. After iPhone X the burst mode is slightly different. In order to activate the burst mode on newer iPhones, slide the shutter button to the left while pressing it and you’ll hear the rapid clicking of the burst mode. Keep in mind that burst mode images will eat up a lot of storage space, so be sure to go through your photos and discard unwanted shots regularly.
Tip#5
Turn on your camera’s gridlines and use the Rule of Thirds. The Rule of Thirds is a fundamental guide for composing images. Here’s how it works. Imagine that your camera’s screen is cut into 9 blocks by the lines of a tic-tac-toe board. The Rule of Thirds states that the most important objects should be placed along the gridlines or at the intersections of the gridlines. Here are some of the many examples of how to apply the Rule of Thirds.
If there is a horizon line in your landscape try to position it along the top or bottom line of the grid and not in the middle of the frame. If the sky is more interesting (clouds, sunset, birds) put the horizon line on the bottom gridline so that one-third of the image is below the line and two-thirds is above the line. If the foreground is your focus (beach, dunes, ocean) place the horizon on the upper gridline.
If a subject such as a person or animal looks in one direction place them off-center on the left or right gridline opposite the direction they are facing. So if they are looking to the right place them to the left side of the picture. This balances the image and the observer’s eye will follow the subject’s gaze across the picture. The Rule of Thirds suggests that the face, eyes, or focal point of the subject be as close to the intersection of the gridlines as possible. If you have a picture of an eagle in profile, try placing the head, eye, or beak close to the intersection of the gridlines opposite of where the eagle is looking.
These are just a couple examples of using the Rule of Thirds. If you’re interested in learning lots more ways to apply the Rule of Thirds as well as dozens of other ways to make the most of your iPhone camera, plus experiencing some tasty Asian fusion recipes, check out our spring EXPLORAMA retreat in May here: https://www.boomertechadventures.com/bta-explorama-iphone-ipad-photography-meets-foodies-delight/
BoomerTECH Adventures (boomertechadventures.com) provides expert guidance and resources to help Boomers and older adults develop competence and confidence using their Apple devices. Boomers themselves, BoomerTECH Adventures rely on their skills as educators to create experiences that meet individual needs through videos, Zoom presentations, tech tips, and timely blog posts.
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