Common Smartphone Photography Mistakes and how to solve them

Wrong Settings

One of the most common photography mistakes you’re probably guilty of doing is failing to check your settings before the shoot. This is true regardless of whether you’re shooting with a DSLR or your phone. If your device is in the wrong shooting mode, then the result is inevitably going to be different and that can have disastrous consequences.

As for the image size, did you select photo (rectangular) square, or pano (panograph)? Furthermore, did you want to turn on HDR (High Dynamic Range) or just shoot with normal colors. For landscapes, you may consider turning on HDR to capture stunning, realistic colours, and use pano so you can capture a sweeping view of the scene.

No Subject

Some people like to take photos of everything without realising the importance of including a good subject. Before taking a photo, think about what your audience might like about the view. Don’t just shoot blank spaces, but include a point of interest that would attract them to the image. Try to incorporate some palm trees, people, or even a hut or a lifeguard station. It’s always helpful to have at least one subject to show your viewer where to look.

Not Properly Exposed

Another issue you have to worry about is not exposing your image properly. Sometimes when you take photos quickly, you don’t give the phone enough time to adjust the settings automatically. The resulting image could end up too bright or too dark.

To ensure your photo is properly exposed, give your phone a few seconds to adjust before you shoot. Sometimes, you can even see the screen brighten or darken as you hold up your device before taking a picture. Once the display stops flickering and the lighting appears uniform, feel free to press the shutter.

Tap on your subject to make a box appear and simply drag your finger up or down to change the exposure. To make sure your adjustment doesn’t change, tap the screen and hold until you see the AE/AF Lock on the screen. What this feature does is lock your setting so the phone doesn’t automatically change it while you’re shooting.

Image is out of focus

Just like with exposure, you can easily end up with an image that’s out of focus if you don’t allow the camera enough time to adjust. When it comes to smartphone photography, you have to adjust everything, including your focus, through the display. Therefore, when you find a scene to photograph, tap the subject which you want to be sharp on your screen. Once it’s focused, then take the photo.

Of course, you can also use the AE/AF lock to make sure your subject stays in focus. Again, all you have to do is tap and hold until the AE/AF lock appears. Once it’s activated, your phone will follow that subject and keep it sharp as you take photos.

Motion Blur

Another issue you might encounter when there isn’t enough light is motion blur. In order to compensate for inadequate lighting, your camera opens your shutter longer than usual to gather more light. Any movement that occurs while the shutter is still open will become blurry. To avoid this from happening, just look for a place that’s well lit. Alternatively, you can also ask your subject to stay stationary while you’re taking the photo.

Using Flash

A lot of people tend to think that using flash is a sensible solution when shooting in dimly lit conditions.

Unfortunately, flash actually often turns a bad photo even worse. It looks unnatural, it’s too bright, it causes red eyes, and it makes the image look flat and unappealing.

Avoid using flash at all cost when it comes to cell phone photography. Just look for a place with better lighting and your problem’s solved. It doesn’t even matter if it’s a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling, as long as it’s bright enough for you to not to use light from your phone.

Poor Composition

You’d be surprised how many people have no idea how to compose an image. Sometimes, it’s simply difficult for beginners to figure out where to place their subject in the frame. In fact, some of them aren’t even aware that rules in composition even exist.

Learning the basic concept of composition is essential to produce quality images consistently. There are a few rules out there, but perhaps among the most important one is the Rule of Thirds. To use it, you’ll need to activate your phone’s grid. Once it’s on your screen, all you have to do is place your subject in any of the spots where the lines intersect.

Busy Background

You can ruin an image by using a busy background. Unlike DSLRs that can blur out anything that’s behind the main subject, your phone’s lens has deep focus.

That means everything in the image your device takes–from the foreground to the background–is considerably sharp.

Since you don’t have any way of blurring out the background with your phone, then the best solution is to pick a plain backdrop to isolate your subject. Anything that offers enough negative space (such as a wall or even the sky) would work. When there aren’t any distractions behind the subject (such as crazy artwork or lamp posts), your viewer can easily identify the main point of interest.

Using Zoom

Mobile photography has become so advanced in the last few years that many smartphones now even feature optical zoom. Unlike digital zoom that crops the image to magnify a scene, optical zoom magnifies an image using the lens itself. The images are much sharper now than years ago. What they don’t realise is that images still look rather unappealing when they’re zoomed in whether it was done optically or digitally. The results often look flat, cut-off, and even detached.

To best way to avoid these smartphone photography mistakes and make your image appear closer and more intimate is by simply getting close to your subject. If you look at some of the best photographs ever taken, they’re usually really close that you almost feel like you can touch them. So if you want to take your photography to the next level, don’t take photos when you’re too far away.

Using Tripod

If you absolutely can’t physically get any closer to your subject and zooming in may be necessary, then consider setting up your phone on a tripod.

When you zoom in, even the smallest movements can cause your photo to turn out blurry. Using a tripod would keep your camera stable and prevent images that are out of focus.

Bad Editing

Filters are both a curse and a blessing in smartphone photography. Although they make editing so much easier, they’re also overused to the point that they destroy otherwise decent images. To make matters worse, many of them use Instagram filters that just make photos look over-processed.

The best editing programs to use on your mobile phone right now are VSCO and Adobe Photoshop. VSCO is best for applying quality presets (filters) and for changing exposure settings. If you want to use more complicated tools such as spot removal, then Photoshop would be the perfect app to use.