We love to take photos and share them with friends and family, either through social networks or messaging applications. Every time we shoot with the intention of immortalizing a moment we prefer that the photo be original, not just pretty and colorful. Nowadays this operation is easier thanks to the cameras that smartphones incorporate and the applications to improve it.
If what we want is to be something more original and create curious and interesting photographs for any viewer we must follow some guidelines or advice that we will leave here today, and we hope that they will serve you to emulate famous photographers or simply to improve your style.
Get to know your smartphone camera
It's very obvious, but the more familiar you are with the mobile camera settings and options the better photos will come out. If you only use the “Auto” mode you can skip this step, although it can always be good for you to spend some time in the camera application.
In addition to cleaning the objective well, it is convenient that we know how to adjust some parameters that will be very useful to us. We can set the camera resolution, panoramic format, use light and color filters, and if you can avoid using the zoom even better. If you like any area of the photo you have taken, you can always crop it or get closer to the subject of the photo in question.
Keep the target clean
It's kind of obvious, but on many occasions having a dirty lens can spoil the photos in the dumbest way. In addition, if we are going to take photos conscientiously, it is preferable to remove the cover, since it can bother us, make the photo ugly with reflections or if it has a cord that appears as an unwanted guest in the image.
It is best to have a chamois handy, and leave it very clean. Or failing that, clean it carefully with some part of your clothing that is soft and smooth, such as an area of a t-shirt where there is no drawing or print, a smooth area without seams, for example.
Besides, andIt is recommended that you put a protector on the lens, since if that glass is scratched it will damage your photos permanently, it is true that this glass is usually more reinforced against scratches, but nothing is infallible, and it is preferable to remove a damaged protector than to have the lens glass scratched.
rule of three thirds
It is a golden rule, or one of the most basic tips when taking a photograph. We must activate the option in the camera settings, depending on each terminal and brand it may vary, but it is usually in Settings. Y is activated in the Grid option, so we can see how the screen divides us into 9 equal squares.
With these lines on the screen we can better compose those photos that we are going to take. If we want to immortalize a landscape and we have a spectacular sky, we will give it more importance and occupy up to two strips with it, while we will leave the bottom line to the rest of the landscape. If, on the other hand, the sky does not stand out at all, we will do the opposite, giving two stripes of the grids to the landscape and one to the sky, for example.
In the case of wanting to give depth or greater importance to some element of the image or scene, place it at one of the lateral intersection points, giving another perspective to photography.
The importance of light
Something essential to take beautiful photos is to take light into account, it is advisable not to take photos against the light, and position yourself in such a way that the light falls on the object or person to be photographed and not having a light source in front of the lens. Lighting is a factor to take into account, since in low light conditions the photos taken with the phone lose a lot of quality.
If it can be natural light much better, outdoors it will always be easier for the result of the photo to be better, if it is a photo to be taken indoors, look for a good location next to places where light enters well, such as a window, or try to provide artificial light.
If it is a diffuse light avoid contrasts and you will achieve a more harmonic effect, use very useful light rings for selfies and night shots. And if you are going to use backlighting, look for original compositions using “silhouette effects” or contours and shadows, try until you get the desired result.
Shutter speed control
It may seem complex, but with a little practice you can achieve amazing results. You must enter the menu of your camera and the PRO section, each application and brand has different settings, but the Pro section is quickly located. in this mode we can modify values such as the ISO, the shutter speed that concerns us, white balance, focus, etc.
And it is that controlling the exposure time in photographs in the city can give us a lot of play, and make fun compositions, since there are countless situations with moving objects, cars, people, birds... If we put a shutter speed of half a second or one second we will get a very interesting set of lights and images.
But you should keep in mind that if you use values below 1/80 the image can be burnt, that is to say that it will come out white or with an unwanted and moved clarity. But everything has a solution, and it is that with a smartphone tripod we can solve this issue and so that they do not get burned we can use an ND filter for both a reflex camera and a mobile phone.
Now that you have a knowledge of your camera, we are going to see a series of ideas that you can take advantage of to enhance the originality of each photo.
color filter
Yes at the time of launching photographs we make our photos in mode RAW (which, simplifying a lot, we will say is the digital format equivalent to the negative of a lifetime), we will have the option of editing the color with applications such as Photoshop or Lightroom without affecting the quality of the photo.
Surely if you look in the camera options you will have the option to save the photos in RAW mode, It will take up more space in memory, but if you are going to retouch it, you are interested in not losing quality. But if you don't want to fill the memory you can use filters that change the light directly from our photo app.
You can use cellophane paper, lamps whose light falls on the object to be photographed, colored light bulbs...
use common elements
Have you thought about using things that we have at home to create fun photographs? Take a look around you and use everyday things like a vase, water, oil and some color. If you pour oil into the container with water, you will see some very attractive bubbles that, when removed, will make hypnotic movements.
You can even add a drop of dishwashing liquid so that the spheres are left with a very particular contoured style. If the container is rectangular pYou can take the photos from the bottom giving an even more curious result. If you place it at a certain height, using books or boxes as pillars, the effect is even better.
Use the macro mode to fill the photo so that no elements foreign to our composition appear, so you will surprise everyone with a fantastic result.
Changing the theme if your trip has bad weather or it's winter, you can make use of water or snow by taking photos with reflections obtained on the wet ground, where we will have an original mirror effect for our catalogue. Investigate macro mode to take snapshots small objects and from a short distance.