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With just a few adjustments, you’ll find taking better smartphone photos much easier. From failing to adjust your lighting to over-reliance on filters, here are some of the main habits you must unlearn if you want better pictures—I’ll also show you what to do instead.
1Not Manually Adjusting Your Lighting
Although smartphone cameras have limited lighting customization tools, you should still adjust what you may. Even the most basic smartphones normally have some kind of brightness meter you can turn up or down.
To adjust your brightness, move the slider after holding your screen for a few seconds. Manually changing your brightness is especially important when taking pictures in situations where you have too much or not enough light, as this is when your camera is particularly susceptible to bad photos.
you’re able to alsouse light modifiers, but there’s no need to go to those lengths as a hobbyist.
2Taking Photos From the Same Angle as Everyone Else
One of the best things about smartphone photography is that you always have your camera with you. If you see something you like, you can simply snap it and continue with your day. However, if you want your pictures to look unique, you need to think differently.
There’s nothing wrong with taking pictures on your smartphone with your normal standing stance, but don’t limit yourself to that. Look for unique perspectives, such as holding your camera higher or lower. You can also try one of mysmartphone photography tricks that actually work, like photographing behind walls.
If you plan to use your smartphone for photography on your travels, it’s also worth checking out this guide ontaking unique photos in popular locations.
3Only Shooting in Portrait Orientation
Despite my historic love-hate relationship with the platform, I still think that Instagram is the most fun place to share your photos. Most of us optimize our images for the 4:5 format, which means that photographing in portrait orientation is often the default.
But whether you’re photographing for social media or somewhere else, always holding your smartphone upwards will limit your creativity. Landscape mode has several advantages, especially when you’re trying to capture cityscapes and expansive natural scenery. So, shoot whichever way feels necessary depending on the scenario.
If you want to share your landscape-orientation shots on Instagram, you may always use afree graphic design tool like Canva or Adobe Expressto add borders or frames where necessary. And if you want better landscape pictures, see myessential smartphone landscape photography guide.
4Ignoring the On-Screen Grid
You might have heard of photography concepts likethe rule of thirds, and these techniques don’t just apply to mirrorless or DSLR cameras. You can get excellent results with your smartphone, too, by paying attention to the grid on the screen.
Using the on-screen grid, you can frame your image more effectively. It’s also a great tool for determining whether you should wait for something to enhance your image, such as a person or cyclist.
Most smartphone cameras let you use a grid, but it may not be switched on by default. If it isn’t, you can turn it on via your Settings app. Here’show to enable grids on your iPhoneandhow to use the camera on your Android phone.
5Only Taking One Picture of the Same Thing
Smartphone cameras are defacto point-and-shoot devices, which is great for convenience. And while off-the-cuff snapshots can work out amazingly for action scenes (e.g. street photography), you should think outside the box when photographing inanimate objects or portraits.
Some people advise against snapping multiple shots of one thing, but I disagree (unless you start overthinking and subsequently miss other photo opportunities). There are two reasons I recommend you take multiple pictures:
Try photographing different angles and going back in different lighting conditions. If you’re photographing people, get them to perform different poses. You can also capture the same thing in portrait and landscape mode.
6Relying Too Much on Filters
I hold my hands up here because I love photo editing and am sometimes guilty of this. When you take lots of photos and start using tools like Adobe Lightroom or VSCO, you can quickly fall into the trap of thinking that every image is fixable with a filter. The same goes when you’re posting on social media, especially when there are so manyamazing filters for your Instagram photos.
But the truth is that filters should enhance your photos, not make them. Relying too heavily on filters can lead to complacency creeping in, resulting in worse photos over time. You also risk overdoing your edits, which is one of the biggest mistakes that most photographers—amateur or professional—make.
Use filters sparingly and focus on the most important smartphone photography aspects like lighting and composition. And if you like a photo straight out of your camera, don’t worry about posting it without editing.
7Overdoing Portrait Mode
Smartphone photography has evolved significantly since Apple first introduced Portrait Mode in 2016. It’s amazing that you can now control the aperture without needing to buy an expensive camera, and newer smartphones even have multiple modes that adjust lighting for you. However, this doesn’t mean that you need to use Portrait Mode oneveryimage.
A lot of people think that a blurry background automatically means the picture is good. This, however, is not always true. I’m not going to police when you should use Portrait Mode on your camera, but I do recommend that you ask whether it’s really necessary for the photo you’re taking.
The best way to determine if this is the case is by taking the same image in Portrait Mode and with your normal camera settings, and comparing them. Learn Portrait Mode on iPhonehere.
Taking great smartphone photos is more effortless than you think, and the easiest way to improve your photography is by doing less of the bad stuff. None of these are hard-and-fast rules, but you’ll notice a significant difference if you implement at least some of them.
