How to Take Good Pictures Using Your Old Smartphone Camera

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If you own a decent smartphone, you bought a few years ago, you do not have to go to fret a lot about taking nice shots. Of course, they will not be comparable to shots taken by the latest iPhones and Samsung phones.You still can get decent pictures out of them. 
And as long as you are not enrolling for a professional photo contest, the following photography tips should suffice to help create memorable albums with a smartphone camera.

I used an iPhone 4 to capture all pictures that feature in this article and if they are not the perfect ones out there, they should just about make a good enough album for posterity.

A camera on the phone is a miniature device and can only do much being what it is. In the following collection of paragraphs, I have looked at situations in which you will find yourself trying to capture decent pictures.
Having found myself in similar situations, I give you basic photography tips and techniques in order for you to capture some nice moments.

1. Day Time and Baby Photography
Phone cameras should only work very well in well lit rooms and during the daytime. A photo taken in the dark will look grainy unless used with a flash. A personal opinion here is that using a flash with a phone is not really the perfect idea. You need to be very sturdy and sure at every snap because flashes create a little discoloration and discomfort in the object.

You should also avoid using the flash when taking photos of babies. Much as the photos come out looking sharp, you and me should know that the natural touch in the little fellow is killed.
We all want to remember babies as natural as is possible. Flashes also surprise babies and they end up looking in the camera instead of doing what they were doing.(see image below) You will bear with me that capturing a smiling baby is one big task.

2. Tap to Balance Light
If you own an iPhone you can always adjust light and darkness in your picture by tapping on several parts of the target image on your touchscreen. Almost every modern smartphone camera accommodates this feature and you can supplement it with alternative apps.
You need to be careful though because a tap on a darker spot may totally darken the photo and a tap on the brighter spot may whiten everything. A balanced tap will produce a clear picture of the sky and the foreground like in the photo below.


A fairly balanced image with sharp sky and the foreground




3. Shadows
In order to integrate shadows and sunlight in your photos you have to learn to turn your phone in different angles. Some angles may totally darken everything whereas others will brighten up your photo. Too much angling towards brighter light could again cause a backlash of light. The sky may appear too bright and white. Once again, keep trying until you achieve the perfect photo. You can supplement this by tapping appropriately.


Fairly balanced lighting and shadows
4. Night Photos

A phone camera is not your best choice when it comes to capturing long-distance nocturnal images. There is so much grain and the edges are blurred.
A flush is a must in a close-up situation, but should not be used in distance photography.

A photo taken in the night
A photo taken in the night

5. No Zoom
Temptations to zoom in objects for better viewing is out of the question. What you are actually doing is create a fuzzy image. Use the zoom for reasons other than family and historic photography.
I have used zoom to capture tiny components inside the computer and only for technical reasons. I have done this twice in over two years and at night.


6. Clean Lens
Your phone camera lens is probably one of the most ignored areas on the phone. It is hard for you to note this unless you are intentionally keen. It is very easy to blame fuzzy images on other causes. Your lens will accumulate layers of oil or smudge and unless you have trained yourself to pay attention to this, you may ruin a whole evening of fun.



The New Smartphone Cameras
Some of the above shortcomings have certainly been addressed by what should be better smartphones of today. Technology is evolving faster than we can play catch up and there is no telling what the phone camera of the future will do.
Modern phone cameras are able to do almost everything a DSLR today does. 

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